Learning to Control Under Uncertainty with Data-Based Iterative Linear Quadratic Regulator

This paper studies the learning-to-control problem under process and sensing uncertainties for dynamical systems. In our previous work, we developed a data-based generalization of the iterative linear quadratic regulator (iLQR) to design closed-loop feedback control for high-dimensional dynamical systems with partial state observation. This method required perfect simulation rollouts which are not realistic in real applications. In this work, we briefly introduce this method and explore its efficacy under process and sensing uncertainties. We prove that in the fully observed case where the system dynamics are corrupted with noise but the measurements are perfect, it still converges to the global minimum. However, in the partially observed case where both process and measurement noise exist in the system, this method converges to a biased “optimum”. Thus multiple rollouts need to be averaged to retrieve the true optimum. The analysis is verified in two nonlinear robotic examples simulated in the above cases.