Model Predictive Control and Reinforcement Learning

Block Course, 06.10.2025 - 10.10.2025, 9:00-18:00

Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Joschka Boedecker (Uni Freiburg), Prof. Dr. Moritz Diehl (Uni Freiburg), Prof. Dr. Sebastien Gros (NTNU Trondheim)

Exercises: Leonard Fichtner, Andrea Ghezzi and Jasper Hoffmann

Contacts: for any questions feel free to contact us mpcrl@cs.uni-freiburg.de.

Locations: Kollegiengebäude I, HS 1199, Platz der Universität 3, 79098 Freiburg, Google Maps

Event announcement: MPCRL25

Download our flyer and feel free to share it!

Course topics (may be subject to updates)

  • Dynamic Programming (DP) concepts and algorithms - value iteration and policy iteration
  • Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and Riccati equations
  • Dynamic Systems: Simulation and Optimal Control 
  • Markov Decision Processes (MDP)
  • Reinforcement Learning (RL) formulations and approaches  
  • Nonlinear Model Predictive Control
  • When to use RL in MPC?
  • Differentiable MPC within Actor-Critic methods
  • Closed-loop tuning of MPC with RL
  • Overview of possible synergies between MPC and RL

 

A more detailed program will be shared soon!

Registration is open!

For registering, please complete this form

Registration deadline: within August 31, 2025, until the limit of 60 participants is reached (first come first served). 

Participation fee: 400 EUR (free of charge for master’s students from the University of Freiburg). The fee includes coffee breaks during the event, a welcome reception, and a dinner with the participants. 

Cancellation policy: no refund possible.

Registration for master students of Uni Freiburg is free of charge, please fill this form: UFR student registration


Please note that your registration will be considered complete only after we have received your payment. You will receive bank transfer details via email shortly after submitting your registration form. As registrations are processed manually, please allow some time before receiving your confirmation email.

Targeted audience

This block course is intended for master students and PhD students from engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, and other mathematical sciences. 

For interested Master students:

  • We accept registration only from master students from the University of Freiburg
  • We strongly recommend the students to have taken at least two of the following courses: Numerical Optimization (Diehl, 6 ECTS), Numerical Optimal Control (Diehl, 6 ECTS), and Reinforcement Learning (Boedecker, 6 ECTS)
  • The evaluation of the course will be based on the exercise sessions and the project works. Further details on evaluation will be published soon.

Formal requirements

Relevant only for students of the university of Freiburg.

In order to receive 3 ECTS for this course, students need to pass all of the following:

  • Studienleistung (SL, ungraded)
    • Participation in the exercise session
  • Prüfungsleistung (PL, graded)
    • Project report

Every student from the University of Freiburg needs to fill out the registration form.

Please also read the project instructions from above.

On the first day (October 6th), students further need to decide whether they want to commit themselves to do the PL. The registration will take via the PL registration form below.