Domain Randomization is Sample Efficient for Linear Quadratic Control

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Fujinami, Tesshu, Lee, Bruce D., Matni, Nikolai, Pappas, George J.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866915157292089344
author Fujinami, Tesshu
Lee, Bruce D.
Matni, Nikolai
Pappas, George J.
author_facet Fujinami, Tesshu
Lee, Bruce D.
Matni, Nikolai
Pappas, George J.
contents We study the sample efficiency of domain randomization and robust control for the benchmark problem of learning the linear quadratic regulator (LQR). Domain randomization, which synthesizes controllers by minimizing average performance over a distribution of model parameters, has achieved empirical success in robotics, but its theoretical properties remain poorly understood. We establish that with an appropriately chosen sampling distribution, domain randomization achieves the optimal asymptotic rate of decay in the excess cost, matching certainty equivalence. We further demonstrate that robust control, while potentially overly conservative, exhibits superior performance in the low-data regime due to its ability to stabilize uncertain systems with coarse parameter estimates. We propose a gradient-based algorithm for domain randomization that performs well in numerical experiments, which enables us to validate the trends predicted by our analysis. These results provide insights into the use of domain randomization in learning-enabled control, and highlight several open questions about its application to broader classes of systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_12310
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Domain Randomization is Sample Efficient for Linear Quadratic Control
Fujinami, Tesshu
Lee, Bruce D.
Matni, Nikolai
Pappas, George J.
Systems and Control
We study the sample efficiency of domain randomization and robust control for the benchmark problem of learning the linear quadratic regulator (LQR). Domain randomization, which synthesizes controllers by minimizing average performance over a distribution of model parameters, has achieved empirical success in robotics, but its theoretical properties remain poorly understood. We establish that with an appropriately chosen sampling distribution, domain randomization achieves the optimal asymptotic rate of decay in the excess cost, matching certainty equivalence. We further demonstrate that robust control, while potentially overly conservative, exhibits superior performance in the low-data regime due to its ability to stabilize uncertain systems with coarse parameter estimates. We propose a gradient-based algorithm for domain randomization that performs well in numerical experiments, which enables us to validate the trends predicted by our analysis. These results provide insights into the use of domain randomization in learning-enabled control, and highlight several open questions about its application to broader classes of systems.
title Domain Randomization is Sample Efficient for Linear Quadratic Control
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.12310