RI Seminar
Byron Boots
Amazon Professor
Machine Learning in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science, University of Washington

Machine Learning and Model Predictive Control for Adaptive Robotic Systems

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: In this talk I will discuss several different ways in which ideas from machine learning and model predictive control (MPC) can be combined to build intelligent, adaptive robotic systems. I’ll begin by showing how to learn models for MPC that perform well on a given control task. Next, I’ll introduce an online learning perspective on [...]

RI Seminar
Dorsa Sadigh
Assistant Professor
Computer Science Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

Learning Representations for Interactive Robotics

Newell-Simon Hall 1305

In this talk, I will be discussing the role of learning representations for robots that interact with humans and robots that interactively learn from humans through a few different vignettes. I will first discuss how bounded rationality of humans guided us towards developing learned latent action spaces for shared autonomy. It turns out this “bounded rationality” is not a [...]

RI Seminar
Russ Tedrake
Professor
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, MIT

Motion Planning Around Obstacles with Graphs of Convex Sets

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: In this talk, I'll describe a new approach to planning that strongly leverages both continuous and discrete/combinatorial optimization. The framework is fairly general, but I will focus on a particular application of the framework to planning continuous curves around obstacles. Traditionally, these sort of motion planning problems have either been solved by trajectory optimization [...]

RI Seminar
Jorgen Pedersen
Chief Operating Officer
Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation

RE2 Robotics: from RI spinout to Acquisition

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: It was July 2001.  Jorgen Pedersen founded RE2 Robotics.  It was supposed to be a temporary venture while he figured out his next career move.  But the journey took an unexpected course.  RE2 became a leading developer of mobile manipulation systems.  Fast forward to 2022, RE2 Robotics exited via an acquisition to Sarcos Technology and [...]

RI Seminar
David Fouhey
Assistant Professor
University of Michigan

Understanding the Physical World from Images

1305 Newell Simon Hall

If I show you a photo of a place you have never been to, you can easily imagine what you could do in that picture. Your understanding goes from the surfaces you see to the ones you know are there but cannot see, and can even include reasoning about how interaction would change the scene. [...]

RI Seminar
Lerrel Pinto
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Robotics and Machine Learning, New York University

A Constructivist’s Guide to Robot Learning

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Over the last decade, a variety of paradigms have sought to teach robots complex and dexterous behaviors in real-world environments. On one end of the spectrum we have nativist approaches that bake in fundamental human knowledge through physics models, simulators and knowledge graphs. While on the other end of the spectrum we have tabula-rasa approaches [...]

RI Seminar
Luca Carlone
Leonardo Career Development Associate Professor
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Next-Generation Robot Perception: Hierarchical Representations, Certifiable Algorithms, and Self-Supervised Learning

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Spatial perception —the robot’s ability to sense and understand the surrounding environment— is a key enabler for robot navigation, manipulation, and human-robot interaction. Recent advances in perception algorithms and systems have enabled robots to create large-scale geometric maps of unknown environments and detect objects of interest. Despite these advances, a large gap still separates robot [...]

RI Seminar
Phillip Isola
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Structures and Environments for Generalist Agents

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: We are entering an era of highly general AI, enabled by supervised models of the Internet. However, it remains an open question how intelligence emerged in the first place, before there was an Internet to imitate. Understanding the emergence of skillful behavior, without expert data to imitate, has been a longstanding goal of reinforcement [...]

RI Seminar
Vandi Verma
Deputy Manager
Mobility and Robotics Systems, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars Robots and Robotics at NASA JPL

Newell-Simon Hall 4305

Abstract: In this seminar I’ll discuss Mars robots, the unprecedented results we’re seeing with the latest Mars mission, and how we got here. Perseverance’s manipulation and sampling systems have collected samples from unique locations at twice the rate of any prior mission. 88% of all driving has been autonomous. This has enabled the mission to [...]

Special Talk
Chris Timperley
Senior System Scientist
Software and Societal Systems Department (S3D), Carnegie Mellon University

Special RI Seminar

NSH 4305

Title: Testing, Analysis, and Specification for Robust and Reliable Robot Software Abstract: Building robust and reliable robotic software is an inherently challenging feat that requires substantial expertise across a variety of disciplines. Despite that, writing robot software has never been easier thanks to software frameworks such as ROS: At its best, ROS allows newcomers to assemble simple, [...]