RI Seminar
Ankur Mehta
Assistant Professor & Samueli Fellow
Electrical & Computer Engineering, UCLA

Towards $1 robots

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: Robots are pretty great -- they can make some hard tasks easy, some dangerous tasks safe, or some unthinkable tasks possible.  And they're just plain fun to boot.  But how many robots have you interacted with recently?  And where do you think that puts you compared to the rest of the world's people? In [...]

VASC Seminar
Wei-Chiu Ma
PhD Candidate
MIT

Mental models for 3D modeling and generation

Newell-Simon Hall 3305

Abstract:  Humans have extraordinary capabilities of comprehending and reasoning about our 3D visual world. One particular reason is that when looking at an object or a scene, not only can we see the visible surface, but we can also hallucinate the invisible parts - the amodal structure, appearance, affordance, etc. We have accumulated thousands of [...]

PhD Speaking Qualifier
PhD Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

On Interaction, Imitation, and Causation

GHC 6501

Abstract: A standard critique of machine learning models (especially neural networks) is that they pick up on spurious correlations rather than causal relationships and are therefore brittle in the face of distribution shift. Solving this problem in full generality is impossible (i.e. there might be no good way to distinguish between the two). However, if [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
PhD Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Learning via Visual-Tactile Interaction

NSH 3305

Abstract: Humans learn by interacting with their surroundings using all of their senses. The first of these senses to develop is touch, and it is the first way that young humans explore their environment, learn about objects, and tune their cost functions (via pain or treats). Yet, robots are often denied this highly informative and [...]

PhD Thesis Defense
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Accelerating Numerical Methods for Optimal Control

NSH 3305

Abstract:  Many modern control methods, such as model-predictive control, rely heavily on solving optimization problems in real time. In particular, the ability to efficiently solve optimal control problems has enabled many of the recent breakthroughs in achieving highly dynamic behaviors for complex robotic systems. The high computational requirements of these algorithms demand novel algorithms tailor-suited [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
PhD Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Tactile SLAM: perception for dexterity via vision-based touch

NSH 3002

Abstract: Touch provides a direct window into robot-object interaction, free from occlusion and aliasing faced by visual sensing. Collated tactile perception can facilitate contact-rich tasks---like in-hand manipulation, sliding, and grasping. Here, online estimates of object geometry and pose are crucial for downstream planning and control. With significant advances in tactile sensing, like vision-based touch, a [...]

Faculty Events

RI Faculty Business Meeting

Newell-Simon Hall 4305

Meeting for RI Faculty. Discussions include various department topics, policies, and procedures. Generally meets weekly.

PhD Thesis Proposal
PhD Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Resource Allocation for Learning in Robotics

NSH 3002

Abstract: Robots operating in the real world need fast and intelligent decision making systems. While these systems have traditionally consisted of human-engineered behaviors and world models, there has been a lot of interest in integrating them with data-driven components to achieve faster execution and reduce hand-engineering. Unfortunately, these learning-based methods require large amounts of training [...]

RI Seminar
Nidhi Kalra
Senior Information Scientist
RAND Corporation

What (else) can you do with a robotics degree?

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Abstract: In 2004, half-way through my robotics Ph.D., I had a panic-inducing thought: What if I don’t want to build robots for the rest of my life? What can I do with this degree?! Nearly twenty years later, I have some answers: tackle climate change in Latin America, educate Congress about autonomous vehicles, improve how [...]