Reinforcement learning using expectation maximization based guided policy search for stochastic dynamics

• Published in: Neurocomputing (Amsterdam) Vol. 484; pp. 79 - 88
• Main Authors: Mallick, Prakash, Chen, Zhiyiong, Zamani, Mohsen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.05.2022
• Subjects: Expectation maximization; Guided policy search; Maximum likelihood; Reinforcement learning; Stochastic systems; Trajectory optimization; Expectation maximization; Maximum likelihood; Stochastic systems; Guided policy search; Trajectory optimization; Reinforcement learning
• ISSN: 0925-2312; 1872-8286
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neucom.2021.01.142

Guided policy search algorithms have been proven to work with incredible accuracy not only for controlling complicated dynamical systems, but also in learning optimal policies from exploration of various unseen instances. This paper deals with a trajectory optimization problem for an unknown dynamical system subject to measurement noise using expectation maximization and extends it to learning (optimal) policies which have less stochasticity in trajectories because of the higher exploitation efficiency. Theoretical and empirical evidence of learned optimal policies for the new approach is depicted in comparison to some well known baselines which are evaluated on an autonomous system with widely used performance metrics.