About
The topic of the present workshop is stochastic optimal control theory and its relations to machine learning and robotics, statistical mechanics, quantum theory and the theory of large deviations.
For many years, the deterministic control theory has dominated control applications in robotics and autonomous systems, mainly because of computational restrictions. Relatively recently, there have been several approaches to restate the stochastic optimal control computation as an inference problem and to obtain efficient solutions using approximate inference. In these control theories, concepts from classical mechanics and control theory (variational calculus and Hamilton-Jacobi equations) and stochastic processes and large deviations theory (Feynman-Kac formula) are intimately related. This approach provides novel insights for the design of efficient algorithms to efficiently compute optimal stochastic control solutions in robotics.
The Hamilton Jacobi equation also plays a crucial role in the computation of non-equilibrium large deviations. In recent developments, this large deviation theory has provided a rather general framework in which the macrobehavior of non-equilibrium systems can be studied. In addition, there is a connection between these control formulations and Nelsons stochastic mechanics, which aims to provide a particle interpretation of quantum mechanics.
This workshop brings together researchers from control theory, machine learning, physics and mathematics to explore these connections.
To find out more please visit the workshop´s homepage.
Videos
Control and statistical physics

Stochastic Control as a Non-Equilibrium Statistical Physics: Gauge Invariant Bel...
Oct 16, 2012
·
4079 views

Maxwell demons, feedback control, and fluctuation theorems
Oct 16, 2012
·
4033 views

Fluid Mechanics = "Single"-Particle Control: From Control to Turbulence and Back
Oct 16, 2012
·
4203 views

PAC-Bayesian Analysis: A Link Between Inference and Statistical Physics
Oct 16, 2012
·
3973 views

Physical implementations and limitations in control theory
Oct 16, 2012
·
3989 views

A thermodynamical theory for nonequilibrium systems
Oct 16, 2012
·
3585 views

The thermodynamics of port-Hamiltonian systems
Oct 16, 2012
·
3584 views
Duality between control and inference

Path integral control from probabilistic viewpoint
Oct 16, 2012
·
4260 views

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking at the Fluctuating Level
Oct 16, 2012
·
3042 views

Duality Between Estimation and Control
Oct 16, 2012
·
4322 views
Perception and action, duality in biology

Free energy and active inference
Oct 16, 2012
·
13055 views

How to discount Information: Information flow in sensing-acting systems and the ...
Oct 16, 2012
·
4043 views

From linearly-solvable optimal control to trajectory optimization, and (hopefull...
Oct 16, 2012
·
4204 views

Thermodynamics as a theory of bounded rational decision-making
Oct 16, 2012
·
4674 views
Algorithms for control

A message-passing approach to stochastic optimization and inverse dynamical prob...
Oct 16, 2012
·
3249 views

Activation and control of extreme trajectories in network dynamics
Oct 16, 2012
·
2916 views
Inference and statistical physics

An Optimal Architecture for Decentralized Control over Posets
Oct 16, 2012
·
2978 views

Making centralized (graph) computation faster, distributed and (at times) better
Oct 16, 2012
·
2599 views

Occam's razor in massive data acquisition: a statistical physics approach
Oct 16, 2012
·
4299 views
Quantum mechanics

Quantum information and stabilization of quantum states by feedback control
Oct 16, 2012
·
3488 views

The Quantum Geometric Limit
Oct 16, 2012
·
4015 views
Robotics and control

Free Energy and Relative Entropy Dualities: Connections to Path Integral Control...
Oct 16, 2012
·
5587 views

Generalizations of the Theory of Linearly Solvable MDPs
Oct 16, 2012
·
3366 views

Iterative Path Integral Method for Nonlinear Stochastic Optimal Control
Oct 16, 2012
·
6749 views

Attention as a Design Criterion and Analysis Tool in Control Problems
Oct 16, 2012
·
3698 views

Stochastic variational principles for dissipative and conservative systems
Oct 16, 2012
·
3903 views

The statistical physics of optimal control theory
Oct 16, 2012
·
7530 views