Student Talks
Lightweight Robotic Excavation
Subtitle: The advantageous scaling of continuous excavator configurations, high payload ratio, and high driving speed
Event Location: NSH 1507Abstract: Excavating regolith, or loose soil, on the Moon and Mars enables outposts, fuel depots, and sustained space exploration. In space missions mass is always at a premium because it is the main driver behind launch costs. Low mass, especially when combined with reduced gravity, results in machines with limited weight available [...]
Probabilistic Reasoning and Learning on Permutations: Exploiting Structural Decompositions of the Symmetric Group
Event Location: NSH 1305Abstract: Probabilistic reasoning and learning with permutation data arises as a fundamental problem in myriad applications such as modeling preference rankings over objects (such as webpages), tracking multiple moving objects, reconstructing the temporal ordering of events from multiple imperfect accounts, and more. Since the number of permutations scales factorially with the number [...]
Recognizing and Interpreting Objects With the Visual Memex
Event Location: NSH 1305Abstract: Recognizing and reasoning about the objects found in an image is one of the key problems in computer vision. This thesis is based on the idea that in order to understand a novel object, it is often not enough to recognize the object category it belongs to (i.e., answering “What is [...]
A Framework for Manipulation in Cluttered Environments
Event Location: GHC 8102Abstract: We want our robots to work in human environments. However, human environments are cluttered and clutter creates problems for robotic manipulation. We propose to develop a framework for manipulation in highly cluttered environments. We propose to rearrange the environment using prehensile and non-prehensile actions. We present our preliminary work, a framework [...]
Behavioral Correlates of Hippocampal Neural Sequences
Event Location: NSH 3305Abstract: Sequences of neural activity representing paths in an environment are expressed in the rodent hippocampus at three distinct time scales, with different hypothesized roles in hippocampal function. As an animal moves through an environment and passes through a series of place fields, place cells activate and deactivate in sequence, at the [...]
Inference Machines: Parsing Scenes via Iterated Predictions
Event Location: NSH 3305Abstract: Semantic understanding of the environment is critical for many robotic tasks such as path planning, mapping, and object tracking. While important progress has been made, extracting a rich representation of the environment remains a challenging problem. This process includes not only recognizing individual objects but also understanding the contextual relations among [...]
Search and Pursuit of Non-cooperative Targets with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Event Location: NSH 1109Abstract: Across many rescue, surveillance, and scientific applications, there exists a broad need to perform wide-area reconnaissance and terrain surveys, for which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly popular. This thesis considers the task of using one or more UAVs to locate an object of interest, provide continuous viewing, and rapidly re-acquire [...]
Representation, Planning, and Learning of Dynamic Ad Hoc Robot Teams
Event Location: GHC 8102Abstract: Task allocation involves the division of tasks among a team of robots, such that each robot is responsible for a subset of the tasks. Similarly, in role assignment, roles are typically defined to be performed by a single robot whose performance is independent of the composition of its team. Complex tasks, [...]
Improving Robot Locomotion and Situational Awareness through Learning Methods for Expensive Black-Box Systems
Event Location: GHC 6501Abstract: The modular snake robots in Howie Choset’s lab provide an intriguing platform for research: they have already been shown to excel at a variety of locomotive tasks and have incredible potential for navigating complex terrains, but much of that potential remains untapped. Unfortunately, many techniques that are commonly used in robotics [...]
Segment-based SVMs for Time Series Analysis
Event Location: NSH 3305Abstract: Enabling computers to understand human and animal behavior has the potential to revolutionize many areas that benefit society such as clinical diagnosis, human-computer interaction, and social robotics. Critical to the understanding of human and animal behavior, and any temporally-varying phenomenon in general, is the capability to segment, classify, and cluster time [...]