Author ORCID Identifier
Degree Year
2021
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Computer Science
Keywords
POMDPs, Artificial intelligence, Computer Science, Planning, Uncertainty, Domain, Markov Decision Process, POMCP
Abstract
Prior studies have demonstrated that for many real-world problems, POMDPs can be solved through online algorithms both quickly and with near optimality [10, 8, 6]. However, on an important set of problems where there is a large time delay between when the agent can gather information and when it needs to use that information, these solutions fail to adequately consider the value of information. As a result, information gathering actions, even when they are critical in the optimal policy, will be ignored by existing solutions, leading to sub-optimal decisions by the agent. In this research, we develop a novel solution that rectifies this problem by introducing a new algorithm that improves upon state-of-the-art online planning by better reflecting on the value of actions that gather information. We do this by adding Entropy to the UCB1 heuristic in the POMCP algorithm. We test this solution on the hallway problem. Results indicate that our new algorithm performs significantly better than POMCP.
Repository Citation
Pokharel, Gaurab, "Increasing the Value of Information During Planning in Uncertain Environments" (2021). Honors Papers. 833.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/833
