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We consider approximate dynamic programming in $\gamma$-discounted Markov decision processes and apply it to approximate planning with linear value-function approximation. Our first contribution is a new variant of Approximate Policy…
Given a policy of a Markov Decision Process, we define a SafeZone as a subset of states, such that most of the policy's trajectories are confined to this subset. The quality of a SafeZone is parameterized by the number of states and the…
Policy iteration is one of the classical frameworks of reinforcement learning, which requires a known initial stabilizing control. However, finding the initial stabilizing control depends on the known system model. To relax this requirement…
This paper presents a safe robust policy iteration (SR-PI) algorithm to design controllers with satisficing (good enough) performance and safety guarantee. This is in contrast to standard PI-based control design methods with no safety…
We present a data-driven optimal control framework that can be viewed as a generalization of the path integral (PI) control approach. We find iterative feedback control laws without parameterization based on probabilistic representation of…
In this work we seek for an approach to integrate safety in the learning process that relies on a partly known state-space model of the system and regards the unknown dynamics as an additive bounded disturbance. We introduce a framework for…
In this paper we propose an on-line policy iteration (PI) algorithm for finite-state infinite horizon discounted dynamic programming, whereby the policy improvement operation is done on-line, only for the states that are encountered during…
Although learning-based methods have great potential for robotics, one concern is that a robot that updates its parameters might cause large amounts of damage before it learns the optimal policy. We formalize the idea of safe learning in a…
In this paper, we propose a new policy iteration algorithm to compute the value function and the optimal controls of continuous time stochastic control problems. The algorithm relies on successive approximations using linear-quadratic…
We study safe policy improvement (SPI) for partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs). SPI is an offline reinforcement learning (RL) problem that assumes access to (1) historical data about an environment, and (2) the so-called…
We present an anytime algorithm which computes policies for decision problems represented as multi-stage influence diagrams. Our algorithm constructs policies incrementally, starting from a policy which makes no use of the available…
Solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) is a recurrent task in engineering. Even though it is known that solutions for minimizing the infinite horizon expected reward can be found in polynomial time using Linear Programming techniques,…
This paper considers optimal control of dynamical systems which are represented by nonlinear stochastic differential equations. It is well-known that the optimal control policy for this problem can be obtained as a function of a value…
We consider the problem of learning a non-deterministic probabilistic system consistent with a given finite set of positive and negative tree samples. Consistency is defined with respect to strong simulation conformance. We propose learning…
Linear dynamical systems that obey stochastic differential equations are canonical models. While optimal control of known systems has a rich literature, the problem is technically hard under model uncertainty and there are hardly any…
We propose a safe exploration algorithm for deterministic Markov Decision Processes with unknown transition models. Our algorithm guarantees safety by leveraging Lipschitz-continuity to ensure that no unsafe states are visited during…
The safe operation of an autonomous system is a complex endeavor, one pivotal element being its decision-making. Decision-making logic can formally be analyzed using model checking or other formal verification approaches. Yet, the…
Considering uncertainties and disturbances is an important, yet challenging, step in successful decision making. The problem becomes more challenging in safety-constrained environments. In this paper, we propose a robust and safe trajectory…
The question of knowing whether the policy Iteration algorithm (PI) for solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) has exponential or (strongly) polynomial complexity has attracted much attention in the last 50 years. Recently, Fearnley…
We propose a method to optimise the parameters of a policy which will be used to safely perform a given task in a data-efficient manner. We train a Gaussian process model to capture the system dynamics, based on the PILCO framework. Our…