Safe Approximate Dynamic Programming via Kernelized Lipschitz Estimation

IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst. 2021 Jan;32(1):405-419. doi: 10.1109/TNNLS.2020.2978805. Epub 2021 Jan 4.

Abstract

We develop a method for obtaining safe initial policies for reinforcement learning via approximate dynamic programming (ADP) techniques for uncertain systems evolving with discrete-time dynamics. We employ the kernelized Lipschitz estimation to learn multiplier matrices that are used in semidefinite programming frameworks for computing admissible initial control policies with provably high probability. Such admissible controllers enable safe initialization and constraint enforcement while providing exponential stability of the equilibrium of the closed-loop system.