Characterization of Anchoring in Granular Soils
Abstract: I will present the results of tests conducted to characterize the pullout force of an anchor buried in cohesionless soils. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to understand how key measures of fin geometry affect an anchor's pullout force. To generalize the data collected, I propose a dimensionless model for predicting the performance of arbitrary fin [...]
Carnegie Mellon University
Data-Driven Visual Forecasting
Abstract: Understanding the temporal dimension of images is a fundamental part of computer vision. Humans are able to interpret how the entities in an image will change over time. However, it has only been relatively recently that researchers have focused on visual forecasting—getting machines to anticipate events in the visual world before the actually happen. [...]
From Automation to Autonomy and the Ubiquity of Moral Decision Making
Abstract: I argue that there is an important sense in which all decisions are moral decisions and I explore some implications of this insight (and its denial) for the design and human impacts of increasingly complex automated systems and emerging autonomous systems. This insight is obscured when we think about automated systems by the social [...]
Carnegie Mellon University
Planning for Sustained Lunar Polar Roving
Abstract: Lunar polar resources can accelerate deep space exploration by resupplying missions with oxygen, water, and propellent. Before lunar resupply can be established, the distribution and concentration of water ice and other volatiles abundant at the poles of the Moon must be verified and mapped. The need for affordable, scalable exploration of the lunar poles [...]
Personalized model of kinematic and dynamic of physical activities
Teruko Yata Memorial Lecture in Robotics Abstract: By now it has become a cliché the statement that the population in industrial world is aging and hence the problem of physical agility is a serious health problem. Moreover this issue is aggravated even with younger population due to our sedative life style. It also is an [...]
2018 National Robotics Week Celebration
The Robotics Institute will celebrate the eighth annual National Robotics Week on April 19 & 20 with lectures, project demonstrations, the annual Mobot (mobile robot) races, and a reception for RI affiliated people. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN REGISTER HERE If you have any specific questions about the National Robotics Week open house please email Debbie [...]
Carnegie Mellon University
Lidar Simulation for Robotic Application Development: Modeling and Evaluation
Abstract: Given the increase in scale and complexity of robotics, robot application development is challenging in the real world. It may be expensive, unsafe, or impractical to collect data, or test systems, in reality. Simulation provides an answer to these challenges. In simulation, data collection is relatively inexpensive, scenes can be procedurally generated, and state [...]
Carnegie Mellon University
Adapting to Context in Robot Perception
Abstract: The promised future filled with robots sensing and acting intelligently in the world is near fruition, thanks in part to continuous progress in robotic perception. However, a number of challenges remain before robots and their perception systems can be truly reliable. In particular, we must consider what happens when highly complex perception systems designed [...]