PhD Thesis Defense
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Learning Structured World Model for Deformable Object Manipulation

NSH 4305

Abstract: Manipulation of deformable objects challenges common assumptions in robotic manipulation, such as low-dimension state representation, known dynamics, and minimal occlusion. Deformable objects have high intrinsic state representation, complex dynamics with high degrees of freedom, and severe self-occlusion. These properties make them difficult for state estimation and planning. In this thesis, we introduce benchmarks and [...]

PhD Speaking Qualifier
PhD Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Safe control under input limits with neural CBF

NSH 4305

Abstract: In theory, control barrier functions (CBFs) provide a convenient means to construct provably safe controllers. However, a typical problem is that the constructed controller will exceed input limits, and merely clipping the inputs will break all safety guarantees. To address this practical flaw, we consider synthesizing a CBF that will respect input limits. We [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk – Chi Yen Lee

NSH 3001

Title: Enhancing Quadruped Locomotion Stability with Reaction Wheel Systems and Model Predictive Control Zoom: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/96808397411?pwd=YnFDaFk1WVVyZjc5UndlOTBZL0tjUT09 Abstract: The development of quadruped robots offers a mobility solution that allows robot agents to navigate complicated terrains, making them extremely versatile robots in a variety of environments. Today, there are a number of research challenges facing quadruped development. First, the [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
MSR Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk – Chu Er Pan

NSH 4305

Title: 6D Object Pose Estimation for Manipulation via Weak Supervision Abstract: 6D object pose estimation is essential for robotic manipulation tasks. Existing learning-based pose estimators often rely on training from labeled absolute poses with fixed object canonical frames, which (1) requires datasets with annotations of object absolute pose that are resource-intensive to collect; (2) is hard [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk: Ruoyang Xu

NSH 3001

Title: Using 3D Imaging Radar for Indoor Localization and Mapping Zoom: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/95090884062?pwd=dVZDVHJDTGVUWW9iSlJLTWtidThBUT09 Meeting ID: 950 9088 4062 Passcode: 411959 Abstract: 3D Imaging Radars offer robust perception capability through visually demanding environments due to the unique penetrative and reflective properties of millimeter waves. However, the utilization of Imaging radar for robot navigation and mapping remains under-explored due [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk: Gaurav Pathak

NSH 4305

Title: Programmable light curtains for Safety Envelopes, SLAM and Navigation Abstract: Conventional robot perception and navigation pipelines are built using traditional sensors such as RGB cameras, stereo depth sensors and LiDARs.These sensors scan the entire scene in a fixed and uniform way. In contrast, programmable light curtains are a recently-invented, resource-efficient sensor that measure the [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk: Andrew VanOsten

NSH 4305

Title: Lidar-Visual-Inertial Odometry via Modifications and Improvements to Super Odometry Abstract:     The main focus of this thesis involves improvements and extensions to Super Odometry, a preexisting method for lidar-inertial odometry. This was done in the context of the DARPA RACER program as a member of Carnegie Mellon's DEAD Fast team, aiming to provide reliable [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk – Bassam Bikdash

NSH 3305

Title: Boundary-Aware Demons Algorithm with Applications in Electronic Waste Recycling Abstract Electronic waste (e-waste) refers to electronic devices that are nearing the end of their useful life, and are discarded, donated, or given away. Valuable metallic and plastic components in e-waste (gold, silver, platinum) is estimated to value upwards of $60 billion and although e-waste represents [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk – Mary Hatfalvi

NSH 4305

Title: Introspective Perception through Identifying Blur, Light Direction, and Angle-of-View Abstract Robotic perception tasks have achieved great performance, especially in autonomous vehicles and robot assistance. However, we still often do not understand how and when perception tasks fail. Researchers have achieved some success in creating introspective perception systems that detect when perception tasks will fail, [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk: Bowei Chen

NSH 3305

Title: Image Synthesis with Appearance Decomposition Abstract: Our visual world is compositional and its appearance can be decomposed into various components. Leveraging these components can be beneficial for challenging image synthesis tasks. To this end, this thesis focuses on studying how appearance decomposition can improve image synthesis methods using two examples. (1) Structural decomposition: we introduce [...]