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Main Author: Molloy, Timothy L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05030
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author Molloy, Timothy L.
author_facet Molloy, Timothy L.
contents We introduce a class of partially observed Markov decision processes (POMDPs) with costs that can depend on both the value and (future) uncertainty associated with the initial state. These Initial-State Cost POMDPs (ISC-POMDPs) enable the specification of objectives relative to a priori unknown initial states, which is useful in applications such as robot navigation, controlled sensing, and active perception, that can involve controlling systems to revisit, remain near, or actively infer their initial states. By developing a recursive Bayesian fixed-point smoother to estimate the initial state that resembles the standard recursive Bayesian filter, we show that ISC-POMDPs can be treated as POMDPs with (potentially) belief-dependent costs. We demonstrate the utility of ISC-POMDPs, including their ability to select controls that resolve (future) uncertainty about (past) initial states, in simulation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_05030
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle ISC-POMDPs: Partially Observed Markov Decision Processes with Initial-State Dependent Costs
Molloy, Timothy L.
Systems and Control
We introduce a class of partially observed Markov decision processes (POMDPs) with costs that can depend on both the value and (future) uncertainty associated with the initial state. These Initial-State Cost POMDPs (ISC-POMDPs) enable the specification of objectives relative to a priori unknown initial states, which is useful in applications such as robot navigation, controlled sensing, and active perception, that can involve controlling systems to revisit, remain near, or actively infer their initial states. By developing a recursive Bayesian fixed-point smoother to estimate the initial state that resembles the standard recursive Bayesian filter, we show that ISC-POMDPs can be treated as POMDPs with (potentially) belief-dependent costs. We demonstrate the utility of ISC-POMDPs, including their ability to select controls that resolve (future) uncertainty about (past) initial states, in simulation.
title ISC-POMDPs: Partially Observed Markov Decision Processes with Initial-State Dependent Costs
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05030