Model-Based Reinforcement Learning for Control under Time-Varying Dynamics

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Iten, Klemens, Lee, Bruce, Li, Chenhao, Treven, Lenart, Krause, Andreas, Sukhija, Bhavya
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Iten, Klemens
Lee, Bruce
Li, Chenhao
Treven, Lenart
Krause, Andreas
Sukhija, Bhavya
author_facet Iten, Klemens
Lee, Bruce
Li, Chenhao
Treven, Lenart
Krause, Andreas
Sukhija, Bhavya
contents Learning-based control methods typically assume stationary system dynamics, an assumption often violated in real-world systems due to drift, wear, or changing operating conditions. We study reinforcement learning for control under time-varying dynamics. We consider a continual model-based reinforcement learning setting in which an agent repeatedly learns and controls a dynamical system whose transition dynamics evolve across episodes. We analyze the problem using Gaussian process dynamics models under frequentist variation-budget assumptions. Our analysis shows that persistent non-stationarity requires explicitly limiting the influence of outdated data to maintain calibrated uncertainty and meaningful dynamic regret guarantees. Motivated by these insights, we propose a practical optimistic model-based reinforcement learning algorithm with adaptive data buffer mechanisms and demonstrate improved performance on continuous control benchmarks with non-stationary dynamics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_02260
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Model-Based Reinforcement Learning for Control under Time-Varying Dynamics
Iten, Klemens
Lee, Bruce
Li, Chenhao
Treven, Lenart
Krause, Andreas
Sukhija, Bhavya
Machine Learning
Robotics
Learning-based control methods typically assume stationary system dynamics, an assumption often violated in real-world systems due to drift, wear, or changing operating conditions. We study reinforcement learning for control under time-varying dynamics. We consider a continual model-based reinforcement learning setting in which an agent repeatedly learns and controls a dynamical system whose transition dynamics evolve across episodes. We analyze the problem using Gaussian process dynamics models under frequentist variation-budget assumptions. Our analysis shows that persistent non-stationarity requires explicitly limiting the influence of outdated data to maintain calibrated uncertainty and meaningful dynamic regret guarantees. Motivated by these insights, we propose a practical optimistic model-based reinforcement learning algorithm with adaptive data buffer mechanisms and demonstrate improved performance on continuous control benchmarks with non-stationary dynamics.
title Model-Based Reinforcement Learning for Control under Time-Varying Dynamics
topic Machine Learning
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.02260