RI Seminar
Dave Rollinson
Co-Founder
HEBI Robotics

Building a Force-Controlled Actuator (Company)

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: In 2014, I was lucky enough to be one of 5 people to start HEBI Robotics, with the dream of eventually making the task of building custom robots as easy as building with Lego.  A few years later we are now 10 people, and our first product, a series of modular force-controlled actuators, is [...]

RI Seminar
Shaojie Shen
Assistant Professor
Director, HKUST-DJI Joint Innovation Lab, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Minimalist Visual Perception and Navigation for Consumer Drones

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: Consumer drone developers often face the challenge of achieving safe autonomous navigation under very tight size, weight, power, and cost constraints. In this talk, I will present our recent results towards a minimalist, but complete perception and navigation solution utilizing only a low-cost monocular visual-inertial sensor suite. I will start with an introduction of [...]

RI Seminar
Consulting Professor
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Social Perception for Machines

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: Despite decades of progress, machines remain intelligent tools rather than collaborative partners in individual human enterprise. A key reason is that machine perception of inter-personal communication is largely unsolved and a computationally accessible representation of such behavior remains elusive. In this talk, I will describe our research arc over the past decade at CMU [...]

RI Seminar
Lining Yao
Assistant Professor
Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII), Carnegie Mellon University

Robotic Morphing Matter

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: Morphing matter harnesses the programmability in material structures and compositions to achieve transformative behaviors and integrates sensing, actuation, and computation to create adaptive and responsive material systems. These material systems can be leveraged to design soft robots, self-assembling furniture,  adaptive fabrics, and self-folding foods. In this talk, Lining presents the recent works in the [...]

RI Seminar
Robert J. Wood
Professor
School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard

The Mechanical Side of Artificial Intelligence

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence typically focuses on perception, learning, and control methods to enable autonomous robots to make and act on decisions in real environments. On the contrary, our research is focused on the design, mechanics, materials, and manufacturing of novel robot platforms that make the perception, control, or action easier or more robust for natural, unstructured, and [...]

RI Seminar
Tim Bretl
Associate Professor
Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Three surprises and a story of prison education

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: I will talk about three results that surprised me. First, I will show that the free configuration space of an elastic wire is path-connected, a result that makes easy a manipulation planning problem that was thought to be hard. Second, I will show a linear relationship between stimulation parameters, skin impedance, and sensation intensity [...]