PackIt creates a virtual space for testing geometric planning skills.
problem Evaluating geometric planning abilities in virtual environments.
method Developed a virtual environment, PackIt, for geometric planning tasks.
result Demonstrated the effectiveness of various methods for geometric planning.
New geometric approach controls motion of a spinning sphere on a plane.
problem Controlling the motion of a spinning sphere on a straight path.
method Geometric-based planning approach using Darboux frame kinematics.
result Iterative algorithm tunes inputs for desired configurations.
In this paper, we present a new task that investigates how people interact with and make judgments about towers of blocks. In Experiment~1, participants in the lab solved a series of problems in which they had to re-configure three blocks from an initial to a final configuration. We recorded whether they used one hand …
Survey on manifold complexities and motion planning in robotics.
problem Understanding topological complexities of manifolds in robotic motion planning.
method Overview of topological complexities, geodesic motion planning, and connections to critical point theory.
result Estimation of motion planning complexity using Riemannian geometry and critical point theory.
Motion planning and control are key problems in a collection of robotic applications including the design of autonomous agile vehicles and of minimalist manipulators. These problems can be accurately formalized within the language of affine connections and of geometric control theory. In this paper we overview recent r…
Proposes a framework for automated radiation therapy treatment planning with uncertainty quantification.
problem Quantifying uncertainties in dose-related quantities for automated treatment planning.
method Three-step pipeline: feature extraction, dose statistic prediction, and dose mimicking.
result Probabilistic treatment plans agree better with clinical counterparts than non-probabilistic ones.
Agents compose pre-trained policies for complex tasks, improving zero-shot performance.
problem Challenges in long-horizon predictions and estimating visitation distributions induced by policy sequences.
method Learn predictive jumpy world models of multi-step dynamics, enhancing predictions with a consistency objective.
result Compositional planning with jumpy world models yields, on average, a 200% relative improvement over primitive actions on long-horizon tasks.
EDGI improves sample efficiency and generalization in tasks with spatial and temporal symmetries.
problem Sample inefficiency and poor generalization in tasks with geometric symmetries.
method Equivariant Diffuser framework, SE(3)xZxSn-equivariant diffusion model.
result EDGI is more sample efficient and generalizes better than non-equivariant models.
Optimizes pension fund management under funding risks.
problem Managing DB pension fund under underfunded and overfunded conditions.
method Stochastic model with Ornstein-Uhlenbeck interest rate, geometric Brownian motion for benefits, and cash, bond, stock investments.
result Optimal wealth process, portfolio, and efficient frontier obtained under various tolerance levels for solvency risk.
Proposes a new model for predicting future motion of road actors in autonomous vehicles.
problem Forecasting the long-term future motion of road actors for safe autonomous driving.
method Recurrent graph-based attentional approach with interpretable geometric and social relationships.
result Can produce diverse predictions conditioned on hypothetical or 'what-if' scenarios.
New method constructs geometric flat outputs for robotic systems using symmetry.
problem Finding flat outputs for arbitrary robotic systems remains an open question.
method Employing symmetry directly to construct a flat output.
result Demonstrated geometric flat outputs for various robotic systems.
New method learns state embeddings from demonstrations for improved reinforcement learning.
problem Difficult relationship between observed state and useful policy actions in dynamic problems.
method Variational framework for learning state embeddings that optimize trajectory linearity.
result Learning embedding spaces improves policy gradient reinforcement learning performance.
Study optimal investment under uncertain conditions.
problem Optimal investment in uncertain market conditions.
method Modelled Knightian uncertainty through multiple priors, solved using stochastic backward equations.
result Existence and uniqueness of optimal investment plan derived.
Geometric Algebra Transformer (GATr) handles various geometric data types efficiently.
problem Lack of a single architecture for diverse geometric data types.
method GATr uses projective geometric algebra, equivariant to E(3), and is a Transformer architecture.
result GATr outperforms non-geometric and equivariant baselines in various geometric tasks.
In this paper the Buchen's pricing formulae of (higher order) asset and bond binary options are incorporated into the pricing formula of power binary options and a pricing formula of "the normal distribution standard options" with the maturity payoff related to a power function and the density function of normal distri…
New kinematic model for a spin-rolling sphere using Darboux frame.
problem Control and planning of an underactuated sphere on a plane.
method Darboux frame transformation to fully-actuated model.
result Underactuated sphere model transformed into fully-actuated model.
This work enables UAVs to autonomously form desired trajectories without needing a central plan.
problem Autonomous formation of complex trajectories in UAVs.
method Decentralized control system using geometric embeddings.
result Quadcopters self-organize into desired trajectories while maintaining separation.
New method designs fairer transport plans with uncertainty.
problem Designing fair and balanced mass transport plans.
method Hierarchical fully probabilistic design (HFPD) for transport plans.
result Optimal hyperprior for transport plans with uncertain marginals.
Improves RL planning by proposing sub-goals hierarchically.
problem Sequential planning assumption in RL.
method Divide-and-Conquer Monte Carlo Tree Search (DC-MCTS).
result Improves navigation and control tasks.
We aim to reduce the burden of programming and deploying autonomous systems to work in concert with people in time-critical domains, such as military field operations and disaster response. Deployment plans for these operations are frequently negotiated on-the-fly by teams of human planners. A human operator then trans…
Study integrates reliability constraints into generation planning models.
problem Challenges in integrating reliability constraints with generation planning models.
method Leverages a weighted oblique decision tree (WODT) technique to embed reliability verification constraints.
result Demonstrates effectiveness in achieving reliable and optimal planning solutions.
New approach improves black-box planning efficiency by discovering focused macros.
problem Difficulty of deterministic planning increases exponentially with depth.
method Discovering macro-actions with focused effects to improve goal-count heuristics.
result Focused macros dramatically improve black-box planning efficiency.
Study motion planning for points avoiding obstacles in a plane.
problem Avoiding collisions for multiple points in a plane with unknown obstacles.
method Algebraic and topological tools for motion planning.
result New topological complexity for planar motion planning.
Selective planning with imperfect models reduces harmful effects of model inadequacy.
problem Harmful effects of using an imperfect model in reinforcement learning.
method Selective planning with heteroscedastic regression to estimate predictive uncertainty from model inadequacy.
result Effective selective planning requires considering both parameter uncertainty and model inadequacy.
CoMPNetX uses neural networks to efficiently solve constrained motion planning problems.
problem Finding collision-free paths on constraint manifolds efficiently.
method Neural generator and discriminator with neural gradients-based projection operator.
result CoMPNetX finds path solutions with high success rates and lower computation times.
This article asks how planning scholarship may effectively gain impact in planning practice through media exposure. In liberal democracies the public sphere is dominated by mass media. Therefore, working with such media is a prerequisite for effective public impact of planning research. Using the example of megaproject…
We introduce Dynamic Planning Networks (DPN), a novel architecture for deep reinforcement learning, that combines model-based and model-free aspects for online planning. Our architecture learns to dynamically construct plans using a learned state-transition model by selecting and traversing between simulated states and…
New method combines heuristics and search techniques to speed up cooperative planning for autonomous vehicles.
problem Efficient cooperative planning for autonomous vehicles in complex traffic scenarios.
method Combining learned heuristics with Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) to guide search towards promising actions.
result Better solutions at lower computational costs achieved through accelerated planning.
This paper presents a unifying framework for reinforcement learning and planning.
problem Sequential decision making in AI, formalized as MDP optimization.
method A unifying algorithmic framework (FRAP) for reinforcement learning and planning.
result Identifies common dimensions in MDP planning and learning algorithms.
A planning approach learns skills from interactions, balancing exploration and exploitation.
problem Learning robust high-level skills in noisy environments with unknown pre-conditions.
method Formulates skills as high-level policies, learns plans via bandit problems, balances exploration and exploitation.
result A planner capable of learning robust high-level skills in high-dimensional state spaces.
Survey of integrating planning and learning in model-based reinforcement learning.
problem Sequential decision making in AI, formalized as MDP optimization.
method Systematic coverage of dynamics model learning and planning-learning integration.
result Broad conceptual overview of model-based reinforcement learning.
Fast and efficient motion planning algorithms are crucial for many state-of-the-art robotics applications such as self-driving cars. Existing motion planning methods become ineffective as their computational complexity increases exponentially with the dimensionality of the motion planning problem. To address this issue…
New approach for obstacle avoidance in robotics using learned representations.
problem Challenges in sensor-based motion planning for new and dynamic environments.
method Proposes a new obstacle representation using PointNet architecture trained jointly with policies for obstacle avoidance.
result Significant improvements in accuracy and efficiency compared to state of the art.
Reinforcement learning and symbolic planning have both been used to build intelligent autonomous agents. Reinforcement learning relies on learning from interactions with real world, which often requires an unfeasibly large amount of experience. Symbolic planning relies on manually crafted symbolic knowledge, which may …
SRL embeds combinatorial optimization into RL for better decision-making.
problem Challenges of standard RL in complex, structured decision-making problems.
method Structured Reinforcement Learning (SRL) with combinatorial optimization layers in actor neural network.
result SRL outperforms unstructured RL and imitation learning by up to 92% on dynamic problems.
A key challenge in complex visuomotor control is learning abstract representations that are effective for specifying goals, planning, and generalization. To this end, we introduce universal planning networks (UPN). UPNs embed differentiable planning within a goal-directed policy. This planning computation unrolls a for…
We prove a version of Poincaré's polyhedron theorem whose requirements are as local as possible. New techniques such as the use of discrete groupoids of isometries are introduced. The theorem may have a wide range of applications and can be generalized to the case of higher dimension and other geometric structures. It …
This work clarifies the role of inference types in planning.
problem Lack of consistency in using inference types for planning.
method Variational framework and loopy belief propagation.
result All inference types correspond to different weights in variational problems.
In recent years, deep generative models have been shown to 'imagine' convincing high-dimensional observations such as images, audio, and even video, learning directly from raw data. In this work, we ask how to imagine goal-directed visual plans -- a plausible sequence of observations that transition a dynamical system …
This work tackles long-term visual planning by goal-conditioned hierarchical predictors.
problem Current learning approaches fail on long-horizon tasks due to lack of goal information and coarse-to-fine planning.
method Formulate goal-conditioned predictors (GCPs) and hierarchical models to predict trajectories between observations.
result GCPs enable effective long-term planning with much longer horizons than before.
Knowledge-based planning (KBP) is an automated approach to radiation therapy treatment planning that involves predicting desirable treatment plans before they are then corrected to deliverable ones. We propose a generative adversarial network (GAN) approach for predicting desirable 3D dose distributions that eschews th…
We designed a grid world task to study human planning and re-planning behavior in an unknown stochastic environment. In our grid world, participants were asked to travel from a random starting point to a random goal position while maximizing their reward. Because they were not familiar with the environment, they needed…
This work defines a complexity measure for BAMDP planning and introduces state abstraction for more efficient approximate planning.
problem The computational intractability of exact BAMDP planning solutions.
method Define a complexity measure for BAMDP planning, introduce state abstraction, and develop an approximate planning algorithm.
result Introduces a computationally tractable approximate planning algorithm using state abstraction.
Information planning enables faster learning with fewer training examples. It is particularly applicable when training examples are costly to obtain. This work examines the advantages of information planning for text data by focusing on three supervised models: Naive Bayes, supervised LDA and deep neural networks. We s…
PALM learns abstract models for efficient planning and task transfer.
problem Efficiently learning and transferring hierarchical models for planning.
method PALM uses a new formal structure (L-AMDP) to learn independent, modular models at multiple levels of abstraction.
result PALM integrates planning and execution, facilitating rapid learning of abstract models.
The computational costs of inference and planning have confined Bayesian model-based reinforcement learning to one of two dismal fates: powerful Bayes-adaptive planning but only for simplistic models, or powerful, Bayesian non-parametric models but using simple, myopic planning strategies such as Thompson sampling. We …
Conventional wisdom holds that model-based planning is a powerful approach to sequential decision-making. It is often very challenging in practice, however, because while a model can be used to evaluate a plan, it does not prescribe how to construct a plan. Here we introduce the "Imagination-based Planner", the first m…
Automatically identifies geometric flat outputs for robotic systems.
problem Lack of systematic and practical means to identify flat outputs for arbitrary robotic systems.
method Casts the search for a globally valid, equivariant flat output as an optimization problem using Riemannian geometry, Lie group theory, and differential forms.
result Approximate transcription of continuum formulation to a quadratic program achieves precise agreement with known closed-form flat outputs.