Seminar
Simulation-Driven Soft Robotics
Abstract: Soft-bodied robots present a compelling solution for navigating tight spaces and interacting with unknown obstacles, with potential applications in inspection, medicine, and AR/VR. Yet, even after a decade, soft robots remain largely in the prototype phase without scaling to the tasks where they show the most promise. These systems are difficult to design and [...]
From Understanding to Interacting with the 3D World
Abstract: Understanding the 3D structure of real-world environments is a fundamental challenge in machine perception, critical for applications spanning robotic navigation, content creation, and mixed reality scenarios. In recent years, machine learning has undergone rapid advancements; however, in the 3D domain, such data-driven learning is often very challenging under limited 3D/4D data availability. In this talk, [...]
Learned Imaging Systems
Abstract: Computational imaging systems are based on the joint design of optics and associated image reconstruction algorithms. Of particular interest in recent years has been the development of end-to-end learned “Deep Optics” systems that use differentiable optical simulation in combination with backpropagation to simultaneously learn optical design and deep network post-processing for applications such as hyperspectral [...]
ARPA-H and America’s Health: Pursuing High-Risk/High-Reward Research to Improve Health Outcomes for All
Dr. Andy Kilianski will provide an overview of ARPA-H, a new U.S. government funding agency pursuing R&D for health challenges. He will review the unique niche occupied by ARPA-H within the Department of Health and Human Services and how ARPA-H is already partnering with academia and industry to transform health outcomes across the country. Discussion [...]
Robots Crossing Boundaries
Abstract: Over the last 50 years, autonomous robots have made the leap from being novel research contributions in university labs to becoming the fundamental technology upon which companies are built. While they traditionally have belonged to the engineering and computer science disciplines, robots have now crossed into other areas of study and research - making impacts in oceanography, geology, archaeology, biomechanics and biology. [...]
Sampling and Signal-Processing for High-Dimensional Visual Appearance in Computer Graphics and Vision
Abstract: Many problems in computer graphics and vision, such as acquiring images of a scene to enable synthesis of novel views from many directions for virtual reality, computing realistic images by integrating lighting from many different incident directions across a range of scene pixels and viewing angles, or acquiring and modeling the appearance of realistic materials [...]
Unlocking Magic: Personalization of Diffusion Models for Novel Applications
Abstract: Since the recent advent of text-to-image diffusion models for high-quality realistic image generation, a plethora of creative applications have suddenly become within reach. I will present my work at Google where I have attempted to unlock magical applications by proposing simple techniques that act on these large text-to-image diffusion models. Particularly, a large class of [...]
Instant Visual 3D Worlds Through Split-Lohmann Displays
Abstract: Split-Lohmann displays provide a novel approach to creating instant visual 3D worlds that support realistic eye accommodation. Unlike commercially available VR headsets that show content at a fixed depth, the proposed display can optically place each pixel region to a different depth, instantly creating eye-tracking-free 3D worlds without using time-multiplexing. This enables real-time streaming [...]
Remote Rendering and 3D Streaming for Resource-Constrained XR Devices
Abstract: An overview of the motivation and challenges for remote rendering and real-time 3D video streaming on XR headsets. Bio: Edward is a third year PhD student in the ECE department interested in computer systems for VR/AR devices. Homepage: https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~elu2/ Sponsored in part by: Meta Reality Labs Pittsburgh
Vectorizing Raster Signals for Spatial Intelligence
Abstract: This seminar will focus on how vectorized representations can be generated from raster signals to enhance spatial intelligence. I will discuss the core methodology behind this transformation, with a focus on applications in AR/VR and robotics. The seminar will also briefly cover follow-up work that explores rigging and re-animating objects from casual single videos [...]