Papers › Learning-based Model Predictive Control for Safe Exploration

Learning-based Model Predictive Control for Safe Exploration

22 Mar 2018arXiv:1803.08287archive 2025-07-28

Torsten Koller, Felix Berkenkamp, Matteo Turchetta, Andreas Krause

Learning-based methods have been successful in solving complex control tasks without significant prior knowledge about the system. However, these methods typically do not provide any safety guarantees, which prevents their use in safety-critical, real-world applications. In this paper, we present a learning-based model predictive control scheme that can provide provable high-probability safety guarantees. To this end, we exploit regularity assumptions on the dynamics in terms of a Gaussian process prior to construct provably accurate confidence intervals on predicted trajectories. Unlike previous approaches, we do not assume that model uncertainties are independent. Based on these predictions, we guarantee that trajectories satisfy safety constraints. Moreover, we use a terminal set constraint to recursively guarantee the existence of safe control actions at every iteration. In our experiments, we show that the resulting algorithm can be used to safely and efficiently explore and learn about dynamic systems.

PaperPDFCodeCode Syntology ran

In Syntology Open this paper in Syntology's Atlas, the map of the papers in Syntology's graph and their citations.

For agents, Syntology's MCP tool lists every function and class Syntology harvested from this paper and whether it ran (how to connect): get_harvested_code_for_paper(arxiv_id="1803.08287")

Code

Syntology Ran 0 of 4 code samples harvested from 1 repository linked to this paper; 4 have no recorded run.

By repository: community (archive-listed): 4 samples from 1 repository, 0 ran. The run record, sample by sample. “Ran” means executed on a synthesized input, not that the code is correct or reproduces the paper.

befelix/safe-exploration mentioned on GitHubpytorchMIT report

Repository list and official/mentioned flags are the archive's, frozen 2025-07-28. Reachability, where shown, is from one Syntology probe window (2026-09-16 to 2026-09-18); repositories not probed show nothing. GitHub stars are not tracked.

Code Syntology ran Syntology

4 samples harvested; 0 ran; 0 honoured the contract we drafted; 4 have no recorded run. Read from Syntology's graph 2026-09-24; that is when this build read the record, not when the samples ran.

4unverified

Licence: 0 of the 4 samples are pointer only, meaning Syntology does not serve that copy's text. This page shows no code text for any sample; each one links to its file in the repository.

Harvested from befelix/safe-exploration. “Ran” means the sample executed on a synthesized input. It does not mean the output is correct, and nothing here reproduces the paper's results. “Honoured” and “violated” refer to a contract Syntology drafted from the code itself; “our draft was wrong” and “fixture could not drive it” are failures of Syntology's instrument, not of the code.

Each sample ends with its code_sha256, Syntology's identity for that exact code. An agent fetches the stored sample with Syntology's MCP tool get_code(code_sha256="…") (how to connect); click an identity to copy that call.

Repository labels, per sample. official repository: The archive marks this repository official for the paper. named in the paper: The archive records that the paper mentions this repository; it is not marked official. community (archive-listed): In the archive's code links for this paper, not marked official and not recorded as mentioned in the paper. found in paper text by Syntology: Syntology found this repository in the paper's own text; whether it is the authors' implementation is not asserted. community: Not in the archive's code links for this paper; a community repository Syntology harvested. Samples from a repository marked official are listed first. Licence labels name the repository's licence as recorded at harvest. “Pointer only” means Syntology does not serve that copy's text, for one of four reasons: no licence file was found; the licence was not identified; the licence is recorded as permissive but that copy's record is not marked cleared; or the licence is outside the permissive list Syntology serves text under (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD and similar). Some licences outside that list permit redistribution, such as WTFPL, and GPL-3.0 under its conditions; they are simply not on the list. Hover a licence label for the reason. File links open the file on GitHub at the default branch, which may have changed since the harvest.

lin_ellipsoid_safety_distance befelix/safe-exploration/safe_exploration/gp_reachability.py community (archive-listed) unverified MIT (permissive) · 52ed3ed66973745e · report
multistep_reachability befelix/safe-exploration/safe_exploration/gp_reachability.py community (archive-listed) unverified MIT (permissive) · e2a29b555f29a3df · report
onestep_reachability befelix/safe-exploration/safe_exploration/gp_reachability.py community (archive-listed) unverified MIT (permissive) · daf3bca74354762e · report
save_results befelix/safe-exploration/safe_exploration/exploration_runner.py community (archive-listed) unverified MIT (permissive) · 3312052c79a756a7 · report

Tasks

Model Predictive ControlSafe Explorationmodel

Results from the paper archive 2025-07-28

No leaderboard rows for this paper in the archive.

Methods

Gaussian Process

Report a problem or propose a change · a person checks every report against the paper or source before anything changes; decisions are listed on /corrections