Biography

Christian Hidber has a PhD in computer algebra from ETH Zurich. He did a postdoc at UC Berkeley where he researched online data mining algorithms. Currently he applies machine learning to industrial hydraulics simulation, part of a product with 7,000 installations in 42 countries.

Talk

Reinforcement Learning: a Gentle Introduction with a Real Application

RL learns complex processes autonomously. No big data sets with the “right” answers are needed: the algorithms learn by experimenting. In 2017, RL algorithms beat the reigning Go World Champion.

The lecture intuitively shows “how”and “why” works. As a practical example, we apply RL to syphonic roof drainage: The choice of the “right” dimensions of trillions of possibilities is extremely difficult. By the way, this prevents large buildings, such as airports or stadiums, from collapsing in heavy rain.

The talk shows how RL complements our existing machine learning solution, delivering a by 56% reduced fail rate.