Reinforcement learning (RL) and adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) has been one of the most critical research fields in science and engineering for modern complex systems. This book describes the latest RL and ADP techniques for decision and control in human engineered systems, covering both single player decision and control and multi-player games. Edited by the pioneers of RL and ADP research, the book brings together ideas and methods from many fields and provides an important and timely guidance on controlling a wide variety of systems, such as robots, industrial processes, and economic decision-making.

A complete and accessible introduction to the real-world applications of approximate dynamic programming With the growing levels of sophistication in modern-day operations, it is vital for practitioners to understand how to approach, model, and solve complex industrial problems. Approximate Dynamic Programming is a result of the author's decades of experience working in large industrial settings to develop practical and high-quality solutions to problems that involve making decisions in the presence of uncertainty. This groundbreaking book uniquely integrates four distinct disciplines—Markov design processes, mathematical programming, simulation, and statistics—to demonstrate how to successfully model and solve a wide range of real-life problems using the techniques of approximate dynamic programming (ADP). The reader is introduced to the three curses of dimensionality that impact complex problems and is also shown how the post-decision state variable allows for the use of classical algorithmic strategies from operations research to treat complex stochastic optimization problems. Designed as an introduction and assuming no prior training in dynamic programming of any form, Approximate Dynamic Programming contains dozens of algorithms that are intended to serve as a starting point in the design of practical solutions for real problems. The book provides detailed coverage of implementation challenges including: modeling complex sequential decision processes under uncertainty, identifying robust policies, designing and estimating value function approximations, choosing effective stepsize rules, and resolving convergence issues. With a focus on modeling and algorithms in conjunction with the language of mainstream operations research, artificial intelligence, and control theory, Approximate Dynamic Programming: Models complex, high-dimensional problems in a natural and practical way, which draws on years of industrial projects Introduces and emphasizes the power of estimating a value function around the post-decision state, allowing solution algorithms to be broken down into three fundamental steps: classical simulation, classical optimization, and classical statistics Presents a thorough discussion of recursive estimation, including fundamental theory and a number of issues that arise in the development of practical algorithms Offers a variety of methods for approximating dynamic programs that have appeared in previous literature, but that have never been presented in the coherent format of a book Motivated by examples from modern-day operations research, Approximate Dynamic Programming is an accessible introduction to dynamic modeling and is also a valuable guide for the development of high-quality solutions to problems that exist in operations research and engineering. The clear and precise presentation of the material makes this an appropriate text for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate courses, while also serving as a reference for researchers and practitioners. A companion Web site is available for readers, which includes additional exercises, solutions to exercises, and data sets to reinforce the book's main concepts.

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.

This book presents a class of novel optimal control methods and games schemes based on adaptive dynamic programming techniques. For systems with one control input, the ADP-based optimal control is designed for different objectives, while for systems with multi-players, the optimal control inputs are proposed based on games. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods, the book analyzes the properties of the adaptive dynamic programming methods, including convergence of the iterative value functions and the stability of the system under the iterative control laws. Further, to substantiate the mathematical analysis, it presents various application examples, which provide reference to real-world practices.

The book reviews developments in the following fields: optimal adaptive control; online differential games; reinforcement learning principles; and dynamic feedback control systems.

A complete resource to Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP), including on-line simulation code Provides a tutorial that readers can use to start implementing the learning algorithms provided in the book Includes ideas, directions, and recent results on current research issues and addresses applications where ADP has been successfully implemented The contributors are leading researchers in the field

Reinforcement learning is a learning paradigm concerned with learning to control a system so as to maximize a numerical performance measure that expresses a long-term objective. What distinguishes reinforcement learning from supervised learning is that only partial feedback is given to the learner about the learner's predictions. Further, the predictions may have long term effects through influencing the future state of the controlled system. Thus, time plays a special role. The goal in reinforcement learning is to develop efficient learning algorithms, as well as to understand the algorithms' merits and limitations. Reinforcement learning is of great interest because of the large number of practical applications that it can be used to address, ranging from problems in artificial intelligence to operations research or control engineering. In this book, we focus on those algorithms of reinforcement learning that build on the powerful theory of dynamic programming. We give a fairly comprehensive catalog of learning problems, describe the core ideas, note a large number of state of the art algorithms, followed by the discussion of their theoretical properties and limitations. Table of Contents: Markov Decision Processes / Value Prediction Problems / Control / For Further Exploration

Reinforcement Learning for Optimal Feedback Control develops model-based and data-driven reinforcement learning methods for solving optimal control problems in nonlinear deterministic dynamical systems. In order to achieve learning under uncertainty, data-driven methods for identifying system models in real-time are also developed. The book illustrates the advantages gained from the use of a model and the use of previous experience in the form of recorded data through simulations and experiments. The book’s focus on deterministic systems allows for an in-depth Lyapunov-based analysis of the performance of the methods described during the learning phase and during execution. To yield an approximate optimal controller, the authors focus on theories and methods that fall under the umbrella of actor–critic methods for machine learning. They concentrate on establishing stability during the learning phase and the execution phase, and adaptive model-based and data-driven reinforcement learning, to assist readers in the learning process, which typically relies on instantaneous input-output measurements. This monograph provides academic researchers with backgrounds in diverse disciplines from aerospace engineering to computer science, who are interested in optimal reinforcement learning functional analysis and functional approximation theory, with a good introduction to the use of model-based methods. The thorough treatment of an advanced treatment to control will also interest practitioners working in the chemical-process and power-supply industry.

Learn the science of collecting information to make effective decisions Everyday decisions are made without the benefit of accurate information. Optimal Learning develops the needed principles for gathering information to make decisions, especially when collecting information is time-consuming and expensive. Designed for readers with an elementary background in probability and statistics, the book presents effective and practical policies illustrated in a wide range of applications, from energy, homeland security, and transportation to engineering, health, and business. This book covers the fundamental dimensions of a learning problem and presents a simple method for testing and comparing policies for learning. Special attention is given to the knowledge gradient policy and its use with a wide range of belief models, including lookup table and parametric and for online and offline problems. Three sections develop ideas with increasing levels of sophistication: Fundamentals explores fundamental topics, including adaptive learning, ranking and selection, the knowledge gradient, and bandit problems Extensions and Applications features coverage of linear belief models, subset selection models, scalar function optimization, optimal bidding, and stopping problems Advanced Topics explores complex methods including simulation optimization, active learning in mathematical programming, and optimal continuous measurements Each chapter identifies a specific learning problem, presents the related, practical algorithms for implementation, and concludes with numerous exercises. A related website features additional applications and downloadable software, including MATLAB and the Optimal Learning Calculator, a spreadsheet-based package that provides an introduction to learning and a variety of policies for learning.

A comprehensive look at state-of-the-art ADP theory and real-world applications This book fills a gap in the literature by providing a theoretical framework for integrating techniques from adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and modern nonlinear control to address data-driven optimal control design challenges arising from both parametric and dynamic uncertainties. Traditional model-based approaches leave much to be desired when addressing the challenges posed by the ever-increasing complexity of real-world engineering systems. An alternative which has received much interest in recent years are biologically-inspired approaches, primarily RADP. Despite their growing popularity worldwide, until now books on ADP have focused nearly exclusively on analysis and design, with scant consideration given to how it can be applied to address robustness issues, a new challenge arising from dynamic uncertainties encountered in common engineering problems. Robust Adaptive Dynamic Programming zeros in on the practical concerns of engineers. The authors develop RADP theory from linear systems to partially-linear, large-scale, and completely nonlinear systems. They provide in-depth coverage of state-of-the-art applications in power systems, supplemented with numerous real-world examples implemented in MATLAB. They also explore fascinating reverse engineering topics, such how ADP theory can be applied to the study of the human brain and cognition. In addition, the book: Covers the latest developments in RADP theory and applications for solving a range of systems’ complexity problems Explores multiple real-world implementations in power systems with illustrative examples backed up by reusable MATLAB code and Simulink block sets Provides an overview of nonlinear control, machine learning, and dynamic control Features discussions of novel applications for RADP theory, including an entire chapter on how it can be used as a computational mechanism of human movement control Robust Adaptive Dynamic Programming is both a valuable working resource and an intriguing exploration of contemporary ADP theory and applications for practicing engineers and advanced students in systems theory, control engineering, computer science, and applied mathematics.