Carnegie Mellon University
Development of an Agile and Dexterous Balancing Mobile Manipulator Robot
Abstract: This thesis focuses on designing and controlling a dynamically stable shape-accelerating dual-arm mobile manipulator, the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) ballbot. The CMU ballbot is a human-sized dynamically stable mobile robot that balances on a single spherical wheel. We describe the development of a pair of seven-degree-of-freedom (DOF) humanoid arms. The new 7-DOF arm pair [...]
Carnegie Mellon University
Massively Parallelized Lazy Planning Algorithms
Abstract: Search-based planning algorithms enable autonomous agents like robots to come up with well-reasoned long horizon plans to achieve a given task objective. They do so by optimizing a task-specific cost function while respecting the constraints on either the agent (e.g. motion constraints) or the environment (e.g. obstacles). In robotics, such as in motion planning [...]
Building Intelligent and Visceral Machines: From Sensing to Application
Abstract: Humans have evolved to have highly adaptive behaviors that help us survive and thrive. As AI prompts a move from computing interfaces that are explicit and procedural to those that are implicit and intelligent, we are presented with extraordinary opportunities. In this talk, I will argue that understanding affective and behavioral signals presents many opportunities [...]
GANcraft – an unsupervised 3D neural method for world-to-world translation
Abstract: Advances in 2D image-to-image translation methods, such as SPADE/GauGAN, have enabled users to paint photorealistic images by drawing simple sketches similar to those created in Microsoft Paint. Despite these innovations, creating a realistic 3D scene remains a painstaking task, out of the reach of most people. It requires years of expertise, professional software, a library [...]
Run-Time Optimization in the Deep Learning Age
Abstract: In a recovery task one seeks to obtain an estimate of an unknown signal from a set of incomplete measurements. These problems arise in a number of computer vision applications, from image based tasks such as super-resolution and in-painting to 3D reconstruction tasks such as Non-Rigid Structure from Motion and scene flow estimation. Early [...]
Carnegie Mellon University
System Identification and Control of Multiagent Systems Through Interactions
Abstract: This thesis investigates the problem of identifying dynamics models of individual agents of a multiagent system (MAS) and exploiting these models to shape their behavior using robots extrinsic to the MAS. While task-based control of a MAS using onboard controllers of its agents is well studied, we investigate (a) how easy it is for [...]
Human-in-the-loop Model Creation
Abstract: Modern machine learning systems have made astonishing progress in automating labor-intensive tasks such as visual recognition and machine translation. While ML systems complete these tasks better and faster, humans are largely left behind. Indeed, most humans are entirely excluded from the creation process of machine learning models, except for tedious data annotation. In [...]
Carnegie Mellon University
Learning and Inference in Factor Graphs with Applications to Tactile Perception
Abstract: Factor graphs offer a flexible and powerful framework for solving large-scale, nonlinear inference problems as encountered in robot perception and control. Typically, these methods rely on handcrafted models that are efficient to optimize. However, robots often perceive the world through complex, high-dimensional sensor observations. For instance, consider a robot manipulating an object in hand [...]
Learning Optical Flow: Model, Data, and Applications
Abstract: Optical flow provides important information about the dynamic world and is of fundamental importance to many tasks. In this talk, I will present my work on different aspects of learning optical flow. I will start with the background and talk about PWC-Net, a compact and effective model built using classical principles for optical flow. Next, [...]
Hands-On Interactions
Abstract: Our sense of touch is present in almost all our interactions with the world, from providing us with the feedback necessary to perceive and manipulate objects without having to look at them, to allowing our limbs to move and walk without us having to think about how to take the next step. We use [...]