MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Allen Cheng – MSR Thesis Talk

Zoom link: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/6056258382   Title: Search-Based Planning with Extend Operator   Abstract: Sampling-based approaches are often favored in robotics for high-dimensional motion planning for their fast coverage of the search space. However, at best they offer asymptotic guarantees on completeness and solution quality, and returned paths are typically unpredictable due to their inherent stochasticity. By [...]

VASC Seminar
Vincent Sitzmann
Postdoc
MIT CSAIL

Implicit Neural Scene Representations

Virtual Zoom Seminar:  https://cmu.zoom.us/j/92178295543?pwd=L2dwZU5SbDY5NzZZNzZ4ZmFUclRqQT09   Abstract How we represent signals has major implications for the algorithms we build to analyze them. Today, most signals are represented discretely: Images as grids of pixels, shapes as point clouds, audio as grids of amplitudes, etc. If images weren't pixel grids - would we be using convolutional neural networks [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Chenfeng Tu – MSR Thesis Talk

Location: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/96696044200?pwd=MVl4aUpiZlYvYlRwRmF1SVBUeGx6Zz09   Title: On-the-fly Targetless Extrinsics Calibration For Multi-Stereo Systems Without Field-of-View Overlap Abstract: In this talk, we propose an on-the-fly extrinsics calibration method for stereo pairs lacking overlapping field of view that is robust to visual odometry errors. Multi-stereo systems are becoming increasingly popular because of their large field of view (FoV) that benefits [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Shuoqi Chen – MSR Thesis Talk

Zoom link: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/9608506704   Title: Towards Geometric Motion Planning for 3-link Kinematic Systems   Abstract: Geometric mechanics offers a powerful mathematical framework for studying locomotion for mobile systems. Despite the well-established literature, challenges remain when using geometric mechanics to design gaits for robots made of multi-link chain; in this thesis, we look at two of them. First, [...]

PhD Thesis Defense
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Robot Deep Reinforcement Learning: Tensor State-Action Spaces and Auxiliary Task Learning with Multiple State Representations

Zoom Link Abstract: A long standing goal of robotics research is to create algorithms that can automatically learn complex control strategies from scratch. Part of the challenge of applying such algorithms to robots is the choice of representation. Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms have been successfully applied to many different robotic tasks such as the Ball-in-a-Cup [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
PhD Student
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Raunaq Bhirangi – MSR Thesis Talk

Zoom link: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/93803046130?pwd=dE5LU21lakcxNjBmZ0EvVDdNOWswdz09   Title: Learning Families of Behaviors for Legged Locomotion using Model-Free Deep Reinforcement Learning   Abstract: Conventional planning and control of highly articulated legged robots is challenging because of the high dimensionality of the state space, and such conventional techniques normally produce a single point solution. In this work, we present a [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

William Qi – MSR Thesis Talk

Location: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/96923127678?pwd=TWt3Zk5neFUzSlJWUjZEN2F6UVhudz09 Title: Representation Learning for Safe Autonomous Movement Abstract: Mobile robots have become an increasingly common presence in our homes and on our roads. To move safely within these shared spaces, autonomous agents must understand how other dynamic actors behave and how such behavior influences the navigability of the surrounding scene. Towards this goal, we [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Ryan Coulson – MSR Thesis Talk

Zoom link: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/91138367616 Title: Soft Materials Architectures for Robot Manipulation Abstract: Robot manipulation has been a prolific subject of academic research for several decades - however, today's robotic manipulators have yet to demonstrate an ability to perform robust and versatile dexterous manipulation. This challenge can largely be attributed to a tradeoff between complexity and capability [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Anish Bhattacharya – MSR Thesis Talk

Zoom link: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/4413360562 Title: Toward Increased Airspace Safety: Quadrotor Guidance for Targeting Aerial Objects Abstract: As the market for commercially available unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) booms, there is an increasing number of small, teleoperated or autonomous aircraft found in protected or sensitive airspace. Existing solutions for removal of these aircraft are either military-grade and too [...]

MSR Speaking Qualifier
Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University

Aaron Miller – MSR Thesis Talk

Zoom link: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/95386019509?pwd=cmNnTm9lWWlNbTh1SmQ0RU5PVTBmQT09 Title: Cooperative Perception for Pairs of Self-Driving Cars   Abstract: Fully autonomous vehicles are expected to share the road with less advanced vehicles for a significant period of time. Furthermore, an increasing number of vehicles on the road are equipped with a variety of low-fidelity sensors which provide some perception and localization [...]