PhD Thesis Defense
Joydeep Biswas
Carnegie Mellon University

Vector Map-Based, Non-Markov Localization for Long-Term Deployment of Autonomous Mobile Robots

Event Location: GHC 4405Abstract: As robots become increasingly available and capable, there has been an increased interest in having robots continue to perform autonomously over time despite changes in their environment. This thesis recognizes the wide variations in the applications and constraints of mobile robot localization in human environments, and proposes a number of localization [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Alexander Schepelmann
Carnegie Mellon University

Evaluation of Decentralized Reactive Swing-Leg Controllers on Powered Robotic Legs

Event Location: NSH 1507Abstract: We present work to transfer decentralized neuromuscular control strategies of human locomotion to powered segmented robotic legs. State-of-the-art robotic locomotion control approaches, like centralized planning and tracking in fully robotic systems and predefined motion pattern replay in prosthetic systems, do not enable the dynamism and reactiveness of able-bodied humans. Animals largely [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Nathan Brooks
Carnegie Mellon University

A Team Planning Language with Markup for Usage Adaptation

Event Location: NSH 1507Abstract: As robots become more reliable and user interfaces (UI) become more powerful, human-robot-agent teams are being applied to an increasing number of real world problems. Common areas of interest for these teams include scientific investigation, surveillance, disaster response, and search and rescue. These systems often employ a set of high level [...]

VASC Seminar
Jonathan Ragan-Kelley
Postdoctoral Researcher
Stanford University

Decoupling Algorithms from the Organization of Computation for High-Performance Image Processing

Event Location: NSH 1507Bio: Jonathan Ragan-Kelley is a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford, where he works with Pat Hanrahan. He recently finished his PhD in computer science at MIT, where he worked with Frédo Durand and Saman Amarasinghe. His work focuses on high-efficiency computer graphics, at the intersection of graphics with systems, architecture, and compilers. He [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Jennifer Cross
Carnegie Mellon University

Creative Robotic Systems for Talent-Based Learning

Event Location: GHC 4405Abstract: In recent years, the U.S. educational system has fallen short in training the technology innovators of the future. To do so, we must give students the experience of designing and creating technological artifacts, rather than relegating students to the role of technology consumers, and must provide students with engineering activities that [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Siyuan Feng
Carnegie Mellon University

Online Hierarchical Optimization for Humanoid Control

Event Location: NSH 3305Abstract: This thesis proposal presents an online approach that is based on hierarchical optimization for controlling humanoid robots. While our primary focus is on developing a fast and robust walking system that is able to follow desired footsteps, full body manipulation capability is also achieved. The proposed hierarchical system consists of three [...]

PhD Thesis Proposal
Heather Knight
Carnegie Mellon University

Expressive Motion for Low Degree of Freedom Robots

Event Location: NSH 3305Abstract: As social and collaborative robots move into everyday life, the need for algorithms enabling their acceptance becomes critical. The proposed work will create a framework for Expressive Motion generation that allows a robot to use modified task motions to communicate its state naturally and efficiently, including mental state, task state, and [...]

VASC Seminar
Shiguang Shan
Professor
Chinese Academy of Sciences

Visual Representation and Metrics for Face Classification with Image Sets

Event Location: NSH 1507Bio: Shiguang Shan is now a visiting scholar with Dr. Alex Hauptmann at CMU. He received Ph.D. degree in computer science from the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China, in 2004. He then joined ICT, CAS and has been a Professor since 2010. He is now [...]

VASC Seminar
Xinlei Chen
Graduate Research Assistant, PhD
LTI

Learning a Recurrent Visual Representation for Image Caption Generation

Event Location: NSH 1507Bio: Xinlei Chen is a PhD student in the Language Technologies Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is supervised by Abhinav Gupta. He holds an Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Zhejiang University, China. His research focuses on the intersection of computer vision and natural language processing and he is particularly [...]

PhD Thesis Defense
Felix Duvallet
Carnegie Mellon University

Natural Language Direction Following for Robots in Unstructured Unknown Environments

Event Location: NSH 3305Abstract: Robots are increasingly performing collaborative tasks with people in our homes, workplaces, and outdoors, and with this increase in interaction comes a need for efficient communication between human and robot teammates. One way to achieve this communication is through natural language, which provides a flexible and intuitive way to issue commands [...]