Decision theory
Related papers: 20
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Decision theory is a mathematical framework for making optimal choices under uncertainty by formally representing actions, possible outcomes, and their associated probabilities and utilities. Rooted in probability theory and expected utility maximization, it provides principled methods for selecting actions that best achieve a given goal when the consequences of those actions are not fully predictable. In robotics and AI, decision theory underpins a wide range of applications including autonomous navigation, probabilistic search, sensor selection, and multi-agent coordination. It integrates naturally with planning frameworks such as Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), Bayesian inference, and the situation calculus, enabling robots to reason about sequences of actions over time while accounting for uncertainty in perception, environment dynamics, and human behavior. Extensions like Conformal Decision Theory and quasi-Bayesian approaches address real-world challenges such as imperfect predictions and partial ignorance. Decision theory matters because it replaces ad hoc heuristics with rigorous, mathematically grounded principles for autonomous behavior. By quantifying trade-offs between risk and reward, it enables robots and AI systems to act rationally in complex, uncertain environments, forming the theoretical backbone of modern intelligent autonomous systems.
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A Decision-Making Framework for Control Strategies in Probabilistic Search
Timothy H. Chung, Joel W. Burdick
Citations: 69 • 2007
Decision Theory, the Situation Calculus and Conditional Plans
David Poole
Citations: 47 • 1998
Measurement-theoretic frameworks for fuzzy set theory with applications to preference modelling
İ.B. Türkşen, Taner Bi̇lgi̇ç
Citations: 21 • 1996
Learning Probabilistic Models for Decision-Theoretic Navigation of Mobile Robots
Daniel Nikovski, Illah Nourbakhsh
Citations: 18 • 2000
A Bayesian decision theoretic approach for adaptive goal-directed sensing
Haicheng Wu, A. Cameron
Citations: 17 • 2002
Conformal Decision Theory: Safe Autonomous Decisions from Imperfect Predictions
Jordan Lekeufack, Anastasios N. Angelopoulos, Andrea Bajcsy, Michael I. Jordan, Jitendra Malik
Citations: 15 • 2024
Expected Utility Theory For Monitoring-Based Decision Support System
Daniel Tonelli, Andrea Verzobio, Carlo Cappello, Denise Bolognani, Daniele Zonta, Oreste S. Bursi, Carlo Costa
Citations: 14 • 2017
Combining decision theory and hierarchical planning for a time-dependent robotic application
Piotr J. Gmytrasiewicz, Edmund H. Durfee, D.K. Wehe
Citations: 12 • 2002
A Framework for Decision-Theoretic Planning I: Combining the Situation Calculus, Conditional Plans, Probability and Utility
David Poole
Citations: 11 • 2013
Quasi-Bayesian Strategies for Efficient Plan Generation: Application to the Planning to Observe Problem
Fábio Gagliardi Cozman, Eric Krotkov
Citations: 7 • 2013
The Utility of Affect in the Selection of Actions and Goals Under Real-World Constraints.
Paul Schermerhorn, Matthias Scheutz
Citations: 5 • 2009
Predicting Human Operator’s Decisions Based on Prospect Theory
Paulo Eduardo Ubaldino de Souza, Caroline Ponzoni Carvalho Chanel, Mélody Mailliez, Frédéric Dehais
Citations: 5 • 2020
Cognitive Science as a Source of Forward and Inverse Models of Human Decisions for Robotics and Control
Mark K. Ho, Thomas L. Griffiths
Citations: 4 • 2021
Decision dynamics in cooperative search based on evolutionary game theory
Masayuki Fujita, Takeshi Hatanaka, Mamoru Saitō
Citations: 2 • 2011
A Heuristic Search Algorithm for Acting Optimally in Markov Decision Processes with Deterministic Hidden State
Jamieson Schulte, Sebastian Thrun
Citations: 2 • 2001
Decision-theoretic transformational planning
Michael Beetz
Citations: 2 • 1992
Deciding under partial ignorance
Frans Voorbraak
Citations: 2 • 2002
Online Structure, Parameter, and Utility Updating of Bayesian Decision Networks for Cooperative Decision-Theoretic Agents
Iheanyi C. Umez-Eronini
Citations: 2 • 2007
Sensible decisions: toward a theory of decision-theoretic information invariants
Keiji Kanazawa
Citations: 2 • 1994
Anticipatory Networks: Concepts and Selected Applications
Andrzej M. J. Skulimowski
Citations: 1 • 2025