Student Talks

MRSD Annual Poster Presentation

Newell Simon Hall Atrium

Four student teams from the MRSD program will use posters, videos, and hardware to show their project work on robots for room disinfection, search & rescue, increasing human capability via a third arm, and increased-efficiency factory-floor obstacle avoidance.

PhD Thesis Proposal
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

3D Representation Learning for Perception and Prediction: A Modular Yet Highly Integrated Approach

Abstract: Modularized and cascaded autonomy stacks (object detection, then tracking and then trajectory prediction) have been widely adopted in many autonomous systems such as self-driving cars due to its interpretability. In this talk, I advocate the use of such a modular approach but improve its accuracy and robustness by developing different 3D representations for each [...]

MSR Thesis Defense
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

MSR Thesis Talk: Avi Rudich

1305 Newell Simon Hall

Title: Kinematic Analysis of 3D Printed Flexible Delta Robots   Abstract: Flexible Delta robots show significant promise for use in a wide array of manipulation tasks.  They are simple to design and manufacture, and they maintain a high level of repeatability and precision in open loop control.  This thesis analyzes the kinematic properties of flexible [...]

PhD Speaking Qualifier
PhD Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Reconstructing common objects to interact with

Abstract: We humans are able to understand 3D shapes of common daily objects and interact with them from a wide range of categories. We understand cups are usually cylinder-like and we can easily predict the shape of one particular cup, both in isolation or even when it is held by a human. We aim to [...]

VASC Seminar
Robert Collins
Associate Professor
Penn State University

Activity Understanding of Scripted Performances

Abstract: The PSU Taichi for Smart Health project has been doing a deep-dive into vision-based analysis of 24-form Yang-style Taichi (TaijiQuan). A key property of Taichi, shared by martial arts katas and prearranged form exercises in other sports, is practice of a scripted routine to build both mental and physical competence.  The scripted nature of routines [...]

PhD Thesis Defense
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Dynamical Model Learning and Inversion for Aggressive Quadrotor Flight

Abstract: Quadrotor applications have seen a surge recently and many tasks require precise and accurate controls. Flying fast is critical in many applications and the limited onboard power source makes completing tasks quickly even more important. Staying on a desired course while traveling at high speeds and high accelerations is difficult due to complex and [...]

PhD Thesis Defense
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Person Transfers Between Multiple Service Robots

NSH 3305

Abstract: As more service robots are deployed in the world, human-robot interaction will not be limited to one-to-one interactions between users and robots. Instead, users will likely have to interact with multiple robots, simultaneously or sequentially, throughout their day to receive services and complete different tasks. In this thesis, I describe work in which my [...]

PhD Speaking Qualifier
MSR Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

A causal framework to diagnose and fix issues with doors

Abstract: Many animals, such as ravens, (and a fortiori humans) exhibit a great deal of physical intelligence that allows them to solve complex multi-step physical puzzles. This ability indicates an understanding or a faculty to represent causality and mechanisms, understand when something goes wrong, and figure out how to deal with it. As a step [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Understanding Unbalanced Datasets Through Simple Models and Dataset Exploration

GHC 4405

Abstract: Computer vision models have proven to be tremendously capable of recognizing and detecting several classes and objects. They succeed in classes widely ranging in type and scale from humans to cans to pens. However, the best performing classes have abundant examples in large-scale datasets today. In unbalanced datasets, where some categories are seen in [...]

VASC Seminar
Vishal Patel
Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins University

Domain adaptive object detection

Abstract: Recent advances in deep learning have led to the development of accurate and efficient models for object detection. However, learning highly accurate models relies on the availability of large-scale annotated datasets. Due to this, model performance drops drastically when evaluated on label-scarce datasets having visually distinct images.  Domain adaptation tries to mitigate this degradation.  In [...]