Generalized Model Predictive Path Integral Control as Expectation--Maximization
This work interprets Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control as an Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm applied to probabilistic inference in optimal control. It derives a generalized EM-MPPI framework, establishing convergence guarantees and characterizing local linear convergence rates for Gaussian MPPI, providing a unified optimization perspective.