# Rao-Blackwellized POMDP Planning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.16392 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.16392/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 27 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Sep 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Rao-Blackwellised Particle Filtering for Dynamic Bayesian Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1301.3853/) (2013)
- [The Value of Inferring the Internal State of Traffic Participants for Autonomous Freeway Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.00858/) (2017)
- [Learning in POMDPs with Monte Carlo Tree Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.05631/) (2018)
- [Weak in the NEES?: Auto-tuning Kalman Filters with Bayesian Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.08855/) (2018)
- [Human-Centered Autonomy for UAS Target Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06395/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Scalable Rao-Blackwellized Online Planning for High-Dimensional POMDPs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.01351/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) provide a structured framework for decision-making under uncertainty, but their application requires efficient belief updates. Sequential Importance Resampling Particle Filters (SIRPF), also known as Bootstrap Particle Filters, are commonly used as belief updaters in large approximate POMDP solvers, but they face challenges such as particle deprivation and high computational costs as the system's state dimension grows. To address these issues, this study introduces Rao-Blackwellized POMDP (RB-POMDP) approximate solvers and outlines generic methods to apply Rao-Blackwellization in both belief updates and online planning. We compare the performance of SIRPF and Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filters (RBPF) in a simulated localization problem where an agent navigates toward a target in a GPS-denied environment using POMCPOW and RB-POMCPOW planners. Our results not only confirm that RBPFs maintain accurate belief approximations over time with fewer particles, but, more surprisingly, RBPFs combined with quadrature-based integration improve planning quality significantly compared to SIRPF-based planning under the same computational limits.