Robots at the Johnson Space Center and Future Plans
Abstract: The seminar will review a series of robotic systems built at the Johnson Space Center over the last 20 years. These will include wearable robots (exoskeletons, powered gloves and jetpacks), manipulation systems (ISS cranes down to human scale) and lunar mobility systems (human surface mobility and robotic rovers). As all robotics presentations should, this [...]
Biometrics in a Deep Learning World
Abstract: Biometrics is the science of recognizing individuals based on their physical and behavioral attributes such as fingerprints, face, iris, voice and gait. The past decade has witnessed tremendous progress in this field, including the deployment of biometric solutions in diverse applications such as border security, national ID cards, amusement parks, access control, and smartphones. [...]
Towards Robotic Tree Manipulation: Leveraging Graph Representations
Abstract: There is growing interest in automating agricultural tasks that require intricate and precise interaction with specialty crops, such as trees and vines. However, developing robotic solutions for crop manipulation remains a difficult challenge due to complexities involved in modeling their deformable behavior. In this study, we present a framework for learning the deformation behavior [...]
Tracking Any”Thing” in Videos
Abstract: Being able to track anything is one of the fundamental steps to parse and understand a video. In this talk, I will present two pieces of work that tackle this problem at different spatial granularities. In the first half of the talk, I will discuss tracking any video pixel or particle through time in [...]
Exploring Diverse Interaction Types for Human in the Loop Robot Learning
Abstract: Teaching sessions between humans and robots will need to be maximally informative for optimal robot learning and to ease the human’s teaching burden. However, the bulk of prior work considers one or two modalities through which a human can convey information to a robot—namely, kinesthetic demonstrations and preference queries. Moreover, people will teach robots [...]
Learning Generalizable Robot Skills for Dynamic and Interactive Tasks
Abstract: Enabling robots to perform complex dynamic tasks such as picking up an object in one sweeping motion or pushing off a wall to quickly turn a corner is a challenging problem. The dynamic interactions implicit in these tasks are critical for successful task execution. Furthermore, given the interactive nature of such tasks, safety, in [...]
Customizing Large-scale Text-to-Image Models
Abstract: Advancements in large-scale generative models represent a watershed moment. These models can generate a wide variety of objects and scenes with different styles and compositions. However, these models are trained on a fixed snapshot of available data and often contain copyrighted or private images. This assumption makes them lacking in two aspects – (a) [...]
Building Robot Hands and Teaching Dexterity
Abstract: Our shared dream is to have robot humanoids with hands complete similar tasks that humans do. While there are a few robot hands available today, the popular opinion is that they are difficult to use, expensive, and hard to obtain which precludes their ubiquitous usage. We argue that this is not an inherent problem [...]
Neural World Models
Abstract: Computer vision researchers have pushed the limits of performance in perception tasks involving natural images to near saturation. With self-supervised inference driven by recent advancements in generative modeling, it can be debated that the era of large image models is coming to a close, ushering in an era focused on video. However, it's worth [...]
How to Design Robotic Hands That Wield Tools
Abstract: Tool manipulation is an essential human skill. It extends our manipulation capability beyond the capability of the biological hand, and is a defining feature of many important jobs centered on physical interaction with the real world. Yet, wielding a tool is drastically different from generally grasping an object. The prime examples are pens and [...]
Becoming Teammates: Designing Assistive, Collaborative Machines
Abstract: The growing power in computing and AI promises a near-term future of human-machine teamwork. In this talk, I will present my research group’s efforts in understanding the complex dynamics of human-machine interaction and designing intelligent machines aimed to assist and collaborate with people. I will focus on 1) tools for onboarding machine teammates and [...]
Robotics Institute Winter Party
Please join us for some fun, food, beverages and conversation! All RI faculty, staff, students and visitors are invited to the Robotics Institute Winter Party! We apologize but due to space limitations in the Atrium we regretfully cannot include family or other non-RI guests.