Rollout, Policy Iteration, and Distributed Reinforcement Learning
Rollout, Policy Iteration, and Distributed Reinforcement Learning

Author: Dimitri Bertsekas

Publisher: Athena Scientific

Published: 2021-08-20

Total Pages: 498

ISBN-13: 1886529078

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The purpose of this book is to develop in greater depth some of the methods from the author's Reinforcement Learning and Optimal Control recently published textbook (Athena Scientific, 2019). In particular, we present new research, relating to systems involving multiple agents, partitioned architectures, and distributed asynchronous computation. We pay special attention to the contexts of dynamic programming/policy iteration and control theory/model predictive control. We also discuss in some detail the application of the methodology to challenging discrete/combinatorial optimization problems, such as routing, scheduling, assignment, and mixed integer programming, including the use of neural network approximations within these contexts. The book focuses on the fundamental idea of policy iteration, i.e., start from some policy, and successively generate one or more improved policies. If just one improved policy is generated, this is called rollout, which, based on broad and consistent computational experience, appears to be one of the most versatile and reliable of all reinforcement learning methods. In this book, rollout algorithms are developed for both discrete deterministic and stochastic DP problems, and the development of distributed implementations in both multiagent and multiprocessor settings, aiming to take advantage of parallelism. Approximate policy iteration is more ambitious than rollout, but it is a strictly off-line method, and it is generally far more computationally intensive. This motivates the use of parallel and distributed computation. One of the purposes of the monograph is to discuss distributed (possibly asynchronous) methods that relate to rollout and policy iteration, both in the context of an exact and an approximate implementation involving neural networks or other approximation architectures. Much of the new research is inspired by the remarkable AlphaZero chess program, where policy iteration, value and policy networks, approximate lookahead minimization, and parallel computation all play an important role.

Reinforcement Learning, second edition
Reinforcement Learning, second edition

Author: Richard S. Sutton

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2018-11-13

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 0262352702

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The significantly expanded and updated new edition of a widely used text on reinforcement learning, one of the most active research areas in artificial intelligence. Reinforcement learning, one of the most active research areas in artificial intelligence, is a computational approach to learning whereby an agent tries to maximize the total amount of reward it receives while interacting with a complex, uncertain environment. In Reinforcement Learning, Richard Sutton and Andrew Barto provide a clear and simple account of the field's key ideas and algorithms. This second edition has been significantly expanded and updated, presenting new topics and updating coverage of other topics. Like the first edition, this second edition focuses on core online learning algorithms, with the more mathematical material set off in shaded boxes. Part I covers as much of reinforcement learning as possible without going beyond the tabular case for which exact solutions can be found. Many algorithms presented in this part are new to the second edition, including UCB, Expected Sarsa, and Double Learning. Part II extends these ideas to function approximation, with new sections on such topics as artificial neural networks and the Fourier basis, and offers expanded treatment of off-policy learning and policy-gradient methods. Part III has new chapters on reinforcement learning's relationships to psychology and neuroscience, as well as an updated case-studies chapter including AlphaGo and AlphaGo Zero, Atari game playing, and IBM Watson's wagering strategy. The final chapter discusses the future societal impacts of reinforcement learning.

Efficient Reinforcement Learning Using Gaussian Processes
Efficient Reinforcement Learning Using Gaussian Processes

Author: Marc Peter Deisenroth

Publisher: KIT Scientific Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 3866445695

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This book examines Gaussian processes in both model-based reinforcement learning (RL) and inference in nonlinear dynamic systems.First, we introduce PILCO, a fully Bayesian approach for efficient RL in continuous-valued state and action spaces when no expert knowledge is available. PILCO takes model uncertainties consistently into account during long-term planning to reduce model bias. Second, we propose principled algorithms for robust filtering and smoothing in GP dynamic systems.

Reinforcement Learning and Dynamic Programming Using Function Approximators
Reinforcement Learning and Dynamic Programming Using Function Approximators

Author: Lucian Busoniu

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-07-28

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1439821097

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From household appliances to applications in robotics, engineered systems involving complex dynamics can only be as effective as the algorithms that control them. While Dynamic Programming (DP) has provided researchers with a way to optimally solve decision and control problems involving complex dynamic systems, its practical value was limited by algorithms that lacked the capacity to scale up to realistic problems. However, in recent years, dramatic developments in Reinforcement Learning (RL), the model-free counterpart of DP, changed our understanding of what is possible. Those developments led to the creation of reliable methods that can be applied even when a mathematical model of the system is unavailable, allowing researchers to solve challenging control problems in engineering, as well as in a variety of other disciplines, including economics, medicine, and artificial intelligence. Reinforcement Learning and Dynamic Programming Using Function Approximators provides a comprehensive and unparalleled exploration of the field of RL and DP. With a focus on continuous-variable problems, this seminal text details essential developments that have substantially altered the field over the past decade. In its pages, pioneering experts provide a concise introduction to classical RL and DP, followed by an extensive presentation of the state-of-the-art and novel methods in RL and DP with approximation. Combining algorithm development with theoretical guarantees, they elaborate on their work with illustrative examples and insightful comparisons. Three individual chapters are dedicated to representative algorithms from each of the major classes of techniques: value iteration, policy iteration, and policy search. The features and performance of these algorithms are highlighted in extensive experimental studies on a range of control applications. The recent development of applications involving complex systems has led to a surge of interest in RL and DP methods and the subsequent need for a quality resource on the subject. For graduate students and others new to the field, this book offers a thorough introduction to both the basics and emerging methods. And for those researchers and practitioners working in the fields of optimal and adaptive control, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and operations research, this resource offers a combination of practical algorithms, theoretical analysis, and comprehensive examples that they will be able to adapt and apply to their own work. Access the authors' website at www.dcsc.tudelft.nl/rlbook/ for additional material, including computer code used in the studies and information concerning new developments.

A Concise Introduction to Decentralized POMDPs
A Concise Introduction to Decentralized POMDPs

Author: Frans A. Oliehoek

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-06-03

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 3319289292

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This book introduces multiagent planning under uncertainty as formalized by decentralized partially observable Markov decision processes (Dec-POMDPs). The intended audience is researchers and graduate students working in the fields of artificial intelligence related to sequential decision making: reinforcement learning, decision-theoretic planning for single agents, classical multiagent planning, decentralized control, and operations research.

Convex Optimization Theory
Convex Optimization Theory

Author: Dimitri Bertsekas

Publisher: Athena Scientific

Published: 2009-06-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1886529310

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An insightful, concise, and rigorous treatment of the basic theory of convex sets and functions in finite dimensions, and the analytical/geometrical foundations of convex optimization and duality theory. Convexity theory is first developed in a simple accessible manner, using easily visualized proofs. Then the focus shifts to a transparent geometrical line of analysis to develop the fundamental duality between descriptions of convex functions in terms of points, and in terms of hyperplanes. Finally, convexity theory and abstract duality are applied to problems of constrained optimization, Fenchel and conic duality, and game theory to develop the sharpest possible duality results within a highly visual geometric framework. This on-line version of the book, includes an extensive set of theoretical problems with detailed high-quality solutions, which significantly extend the range and value of the book. The book may be used as a text for a theoretical convex optimization course; the author has taught several variants of such a course at MIT and elsewhere over the last ten years. It may also be used as a supplementary source for nonlinear programming classes, and as a theoretical foundation for classes focused on convex optimization models (rather than theory). It is an excellent supplement to several of our books: Convex Optimization Algorithms (Athena Scientific, 2015), Nonlinear Programming (Athena Scientific, 2017), Network Optimization(Athena Scientific, 1998), Introduction to Linear Optimization (Athena Scientific, 1997), and Network Flows and Monotropic Optimization (Athena Scientific, 1998).

Learning Motor Skills
Learning Motor Skills

Author: Jens Kober

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-11-23

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 3319031945

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This book presents the state of the art in reinforcement learning applied to robotics both in terms of novel algorithms and applications. It discusses recent approaches that allow robots to learn motor. skills and presents tasks that need to take into account the dynamic behavior of the robot and its environment, where a kinematic movement plan is not sufficient. The book illustrates a method that learns to generalize parameterized motor plans which is obtained by imitation or reinforcement learning, by adapting a small set of global parameters and appropriate kernel-based reinforcement learning algorithms. The presented applications explore highly dynamic tasks and exhibit a very efficient learning process. All proposed approaches have been extensively validated with benchmarks tasks, in simulation and on real robots. These tasks correspond to sports and games but the presented techniques are also applicable to more mundane household tasks. The book is based on the first author’s doctoral thesis, which won the 2013 EURON Georges Giralt PhD Award.

Algorithms for Decision Making
Algorithms for Decision Making

Author: Mykel J. Kochenderfer

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2022-08-16

Total Pages: 701

ISBN-13: 0262047012

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A broad introduction to algorithms for decision making under uncertainty, introducing the underlying mathematical problem formulations and the algorithms for solving them. Automated decision-making systems or decision-support systems—used in applications that range from aircraft collision avoidance to breast cancer screening—must be designed to account for various sources of uncertainty while carefully balancing multiple objectives. This textbook provides a broad introduction to algorithms for decision making under uncertainty, covering the underlying mathematical problem formulations and the algorithms for solving them. The book first addresses the problem of reasoning about uncertainty and objectives in simple decisions at a single point in time, and then turns to sequential decision problems in stochastic environments where the outcomes of our actions are uncertain. It goes on to address model uncertainty, when we do not start with a known model and must learn how to act through interaction with the environment; state uncertainty, in which we do not know the current state of the environment due to imperfect perceptual information; and decision contexts involving multiple agents. The book focuses primarily on planning and reinforcement learning, although some of the techniques presented draw on elements of supervised learning and optimization. Algorithms are implemented in the Julia programming language. Figures, examples, and exercises convey the intuition behind the various approaches presented.