Deep Reinforcement Learning, Decision Making, and Control

Deep learning methods, which combine high-capacity neural network models with simple and scalable training algorithms, have made a tremendous impact across a range of supervised learning domains, including computer vision, speech recognition, and natural language processing. This success has been enabled by the ability of deep networks to capture complex, high-dimensional functions and learn flexible distributed representations. Can this capability be brought to bear on real-world decision making and control problems, where the machine must not only classify complex sensory patterns, but choose actions and reason about their long-term consequences?

Decision making and control problems lack the close supervision present in more classic deep learning applications, and present a number of challenges that necessitate new algorithmic developments. In this tutorial, we will cover the foundational theory of reinforcement and optimal control as it relates to deep reinforcement learning, discuss a number of recent results on extending deep learning into decision making and control, including model-based algorithms, imitation learning, and inverse reinforcement learning, and explore the frontiers and limitations of current deep reinforcement learning algorithms