[Colloquium] 11/13 TTIC Colloquium: Benjamin Recht, UC Berkeley

[Mary Marre via Colloquium]

When:     Monday, November 13th at 11:00 a.m.

Where:    TTIC, 6045 S. Kenwood Avenue, 5th Floor, Room 526

Who:       Benjamin Recht, UC Berkeley


Title:      The Statistical Foundations of Learning to Control


Abstract: Given the dramatic successes in machine learning and
reinforcement learning over the past half decade, there has been a
resurgence of interest in applying these techniques to continuous control
problems in robotics, self-driving cars, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Though such applications appear to be straightforward generalizations of
standard reinforcement learning, few fundamental baselines have been
established prescribing how well one must know a system in order to control
it.  In this talk, I will discuss how one might merge techniques from
statistical learning theory with robust control to derive such baselines
for such continuous control.  I will explore several examples that balance
parameter identification against controller design and demonstrate finite
sample tradeoffs between estimation fidelity and desired control
performance.  I will describe how these simple baselines give us insights
into shortcomings of existing reinforcement learning methodology.  I will
close by listing several exciting open problems that must be solved before
we can build robust, safe learning systems that interact with an uncertain
physical environment.

Bio:  Benjamin Recht is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of
California, Berkeley.  Ben's research group studies the theory and practice
of optimization algorithms with a focus on applications in machine learning
and data analysis. They are particularly interested in busting machine
learning myths and establishing baselines for data analysis.  Ben is the
recipient of a Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and
Engineers, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the 2012 SIAM/MOS
Lagrange Prize in Continuous Optimization, the 2014 Jamon Prize, and the
2015 William O. Baker Award for Initiatives in Research.



Host: Nathan Srebro <nati at ttic.edu>



For more information on the colloquium series or to subscribe to the
mailing list, please see http://www.ttic.edu/colloquium.php



Mary C. Marre
Administrative Assistant
*Toyota Technological Institute*
*6045 S. Kenwood Avenue*
*Room 504*
*Chicago, IL  60637*
*p:(773) 834-1757*
*f: (773) 357-6970*
*mmarre at ttic.edu <mmarre at ttic.edu>*
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