We present a method for Temporal Difference (TD) learning that addresses several challenges faced by robots learning to navigate in a marine environment. For improved data efficiency, our method reduces TD updates to Gaussian Process regression. To make predictions amenable to online settings, we introduce a sparse approximation with improved quality over current rejection-based sparse methods. We derive the predictive value function posterior and use the moments to obtain a new algorithm for model-free policy evaluation, SPGP-SARSA. With simple changes, we show SPGP-SARSA can be reduced to a model-based equivalent, SPGP-TD. We perform comprehensive simulation studies and also conduct physical learning trials with an underwater robot. Our results show SPGP-SARSA can outperform the state-of-the-art sparse method, replicate the prediction quality of its exact counterpart, and be applied to solve underwater navigation tasks.
When it comes to other approximate methods, the state-of-the-art uses a low-rank approximation to the full covariance matrix @cite_14 : @math , where @math is a projection matrix. Before adding new data to the active set, checks if new data points increase the conditional covariance by a desired error threshold, @math . In Section , we compare the approximation quality of and .
@cite_14
2103193999 2949962875 2169661502 2059867647
This paper presents a new method for estimating high dimensional covariance matrices. The method, permuted rank-penalized least-squares (PRLS), is based on a Kronecker product series expansion of the true covariance matrix. Assuming an i.i.d. Gaussian random sample, we establish high dimensional rates of convergence to the true covariance as both the number of samples and the number of variables go to infinity. For covariance matrices of low separation rank, our results establish that PRLS has significantly faster convergence than the standard sample covariance matrix (SCM) estimator. The convergence rate captures a fundamental tradeoff between estimation error and approximation error, thus providing a scalable covariance estimation framework in terms of separation rank, similar to low rank approximation of covariance matrices . The MSE convergence rates generalize the high dimensional rates recently obtained for the ML Flip-flop algorithm , for Kronecker product covariance estimation. We show that a class of block Toeplitz covariance matrices is approximatable by low separation rank and give bounds on the minimal separation rank r that ensures a given level of bias. Simulations are presented to validate the theoretical bounds. As a real world application, we illustrate the utility of the proposed Kronecker covariance estimator for spatio-temporal linear least squares prediction of multivariate wind speed measurements. In sparse principal component analysis we are given noisy observations of a low-rank matrix of dimension @math and seek to reconstruct it under additional sparsity assumptions. In particular, we assume here each of the principal components @math has at most @math non-zero entries. We are particularly interested in the high dimensional regime wherein @math is comparable to, or even much larger than @math . In an influential paper, johnstone2004sparse introduced a simple algorithm that estimates the support of the principal vectors @math by the largest entries in the diagonal of the empirical covariance. This method can be shown to identify the correct support with high probability if @math , and to fail with high probability if @math for two constants @math . Despite a considerable amount of work over the last ten years, no practical algorithm exists with provably better support recovery guarantees. Here we analyze a covariance thresholding algorithm that was recently proposed by KrauthgamerSPCA . On the basis of numerical simulations (for the rank-one case), these authors conjectured that covariance thresholding correctly recover the support with high probability for @math (assuming @math of the same order as @math ). We prove this conjecture, and in fact establish a more general guarantee including higher-rank as well as @math much smaller than @math . Recent lower bounds berthet2013computational, ma2015sum suggest that no polynomial time algorithm can do significantly better. The key technical component of our analysis develops new bounds on the norm of kernel random matrices, in regimes that were not considered before. Matrix approximation is a common tool in recommendation systems, text mining, and computer vision. A prevalent assumption in constructing matrix approximations is that the partially observed matrix is of low-rank. We propose a new matrix approximation model where we assume instead that the matrix is locally of low-rank, leading to a representation of the observed matrix as a weighted sum of low-rank matrices. We analyze the accuracy of the proposed local low-rank modeling. Our experiments show improvements in prediction accuracy over classical approaches for recommendation tasks. We give near-optimal space bounds in the streaming model for linear algebra problems that include estimation of matrix products, linear regression, low-rank approximation, and approximation of matrix rank. In the streaming model, sketches of input matrices are maintained under updates of matrix entries; we prove results for turnstile updates, given in an arbitrary order. We give the first lower bounds known for the space needed by the sketches, for a given estimation error e. We sharpen prior upper bounds, with respect to combinations of space, failure probability, and number of passes. The sketch we use for matrix A is simply STA, where S is a sign matrix. Our results include the following upper and lower bounds on the bits of space needed for 1-pass algorithms. Here A is an n x d matrix, B is an n x d' matrix, and c := d+d'. These results are given for fixed failure probability; for failure probability δ>0, the upper bounds require a factor of log(1 δ) more space. We assume the inputs have integer entries specified by O(log(nc)) bits, or O(log(nd)) bits. (Matrix Product) Output matrix C with F(ATB-C) ≤ e F(A) F(B). We show that Θ(ce-2log(nc)) space is needed. (Linear Regression) For d'=1, so that B is a vector b, find x so that Ax-b ≤ (1+e) minx' ∈ Reald Ax'-b. We show that Θ(d2e-1 log(nd)) space is needed. (Rank-k Approximation) Find matrix tAk of rank no more than k, so that F(A-tAk) ≤ (1+e) F A-Ak , where Ak is the best rank-k approximation to A. Our lower bound is Ω(ke-1(n+d)log(nd)) space, and we give a one-pass algorithm matching this when A is given row-wise or column-wise. For general updates, we give a one-pass algorithm needing [O(ke-2(n + d e2)log(nd))] space. We also give upper and lower bounds for algorithms using multiple passes, and a sketching analog of the CUR decomposition.