Computationally and Sample Efficient Safe Reinforcement Learning Using Adaptive Conformal Prediction

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Zhou, Hao, Zhang, Yanze, Luo, Wenhao
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866915209450356736
author Zhou, Hao
Zhang, Yanze
Luo, Wenhao
author_facet Zhou, Hao
Zhang, Yanze
Luo, Wenhao
contents Safety is a critical concern in learning-enabled autonomous systems especially when deploying these systems in real-world scenarios. An important challenge is accurately quantifying the uncertainty of unknown models to generate provably safe control policies that facilitate the gathering of informative data, thereby achieving both safe and optimal policies. Additionally, the selection of the data-driven model can significantly impact both the real-time implementation and the uncertainty quantification process. In this paper, we propose a provably sample efficient episodic safe learning framework that remains robust across various model choices with quantified uncertainty for online control tasks. Specifically, we first employ Quadrature Fourier Features (QFF) for kernel function approximation of Gaussian Processes (GPs) to enable efficient approximation of unknown dynamics. Then the Adaptive Conformal Prediction (ACP) is used to quantify the uncertainty from online observations and combined with the Control Barrier Functions (CBF) to characterize the uncertainty-aware safe control constraints under learned dynamics. Finally, an optimism-based exploration strategy is integrated with ACP-based CBFs for safe exploration and near-optimal safe nonlinear control. Theoretical proofs and simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed framework.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_17678
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Computationally and Sample Efficient Safe Reinforcement Learning Using Adaptive Conformal Prediction
Zhou, Hao
Zhang, Yanze
Luo, Wenhao
Robotics
Safety is a critical concern in learning-enabled autonomous systems especially when deploying these systems in real-world scenarios. An important challenge is accurately quantifying the uncertainty of unknown models to generate provably safe control policies that facilitate the gathering of informative data, thereby achieving both safe and optimal policies. Additionally, the selection of the data-driven model can significantly impact both the real-time implementation and the uncertainty quantification process. In this paper, we propose a provably sample efficient episodic safe learning framework that remains robust across various model choices with quantified uncertainty for online control tasks. Specifically, we first employ Quadrature Fourier Features (QFF) for kernel function approximation of Gaussian Processes (GPs) to enable efficient approximation of unknown dynamics. Then the Adaptive Conformal Prediction (ACP) is used to quantify the uncertainty from online observations and combined with the Control Barrier Functions (CBF) to characterize the uncertainty-aware safe control constraints under learned dynamics. Finally, an optimism-based exploration strategy is integrated with ACP-based CBFs for safe exploration and near-optimal safe nonlinear control. Theoretical proofs and simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed framework.
title Computationally and Sample Efficient Safe Reinforcement Learning Using Adaptive Conformal Prediction
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17678