VASC Seminar
Xiaoming Liu
Assistant Professor
Michigan State University

Unconstrained 3D Face Reconstruction

Event Location: NSH 3305Bio: Xiaoming Liu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Michigan State University. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004. Before joining MSU in Fall 2012, he was a research scientist at General Electric (GE) Global Research. [...]

PhD Thesis Defense
Xinjilefu
Carnegie Mellon University

State Estimation for Humanoid Robots

Event Location: GHC 6501Abstract: This thesis focuses on dynamic model based state estimation for hydraulic humanoid robots. The goal is to produce state estimates that are robust and achieve good performance when combined with the controller. Three issues are addressed in this thesis. How to use force sensor and IMU information in state estimation? How [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Michael Shomin
Carnegie Mellon University

Navigation for Balancing Robots in Contact with People

Event Location: NSH 1305Abstract: This work describes methods for advancing the state of the art in mobile robot navigation and physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI). An enabling technology in this effort is the ballbot, a person-sized mobile robot that balances on a ball.  This underactuated robot presents unique challenges in planning, navigation, and control; however, it also has significant advantages over [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Jennifer King
Carnegie Mellon University

Robust Rearrangement Planning using Nonprehensile Interaction

Event Location: GHC 6501Abstract: As we work to move robots out of factories and into human environments, we must empower robots to interact freely in unstructured, cluttered spaces.  Humans do this easily, using diverse, whole-arm, nonprehensile actions such as pushing or pulling in everyday tasks. These interaction strategies make difficult tasks easier and impossible tasks [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Shervin Javdani
Carnegie Mellon University

Learning Policies for Shared Autonomy

Event Location: NSH 3305Abstract: In shared autonomy, user input and robot autonomy are combined to control a robot to achieve a goal. Most prior work accomplishes this by augmenting user input with some autonomous strategy for that goal. We take a different viewpoint, treating the user as a policy minimizing some cost function. Our aim [...]

Field Robotics Center Seminar
Hiroaki Inotsume
Carnegie Mellon University

Analysis of Angle of Attack for Efficient Slope Ascent by Rovers

Event Location: GHC 2109Bio: Hiroaki Inotsume is a Masters student in the Robotics Institute advised by David Wettergreen. His research focuses on vehicle-terrain interaction analysis for design, planning, and control of planetary rovers. He holds a B.E. and a M.E. degrees in Aerospace Engineering.Abstract: What direction should a rover drive to efficiently ascend slope of [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Hatem Alismail
Carnegie Mellon University

Direct Multiple View Visual Simultaneous Localization And Mapping

Event Location: NSH 1305Abstract: We propose a direct, featureless, Lucas-Kanade-based method as a reliable Visual Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (VSLAM) solution in challenging environments, where feature detection and precise subpixel localization may be unreliable. Current state-of-the-art direct methods have been shown to perform well on a range of challenging datasets. Nonetheless, they have been limited [...]

PhD Thesis Defense
Varun Ramakrishna
Carnegie Mellon University

Pose Machines: Estimating Articulated Pose from Images and Video

Event Location: NSH 1305Abstract: The articulated motion of humans is varied and complex. We use the range of motion of our articulated structure for functional tasks such as transport, manipulation, communication, and self-expression. We use our limbs to gesture and signal intent. It is therefore crucial for an autonomous system operating and interacting in human [...]

RI Seminar
Parag Batavia
President
Neya Systems

Neya Systems: How to Bootstrap a Robotics Company in 5 (not-so) Easy Years

Event Location: GHC 6115Bio: Dr. Parag Batavia is the founder of Neya Systems, LLC, in Wexford PA. He is a 1999 graduate of the CMU Robotics Institute Ph.D. program, and a 2009 graduate of Drexel’s MBA program. At Neya, he is responsible for all areas of company growth, and has taken the company from 1 [...]