Learning Constraints from Locally-Optimal Demonstrations under Cost Function Uncertainty

Abstract: We present an algorithm for learning parametric constraints from locally-optimal demonstrations, where the cost function being optimized is uncertain to the learner. Our method uses the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) optimality conditions of the demonstrations within a mixed integer linear program (MILP) to learn constraints which are consistent with the local optimality of the demonstrations, by either using a known constraint parameterization or by incrementally growing a parameterization that is consistent with the demonstrations. We provide theoretical guarantees on the conservativeness of the recovered safe/unsafe sets and analyze the limits of constraint learnability when using locally-optimal demonstrations. We evaluate our method on high-dimensional constraints and systems by learning constraints for 7-DOF arm and quadrotor examples, show that it outperforms competing constraint-learning approaches, and can be effectively used to plan new constraint-satisfying trajectories in the environment.