October 2024 - Robotics-seminar - Engineering Mailing Lists

Robotics Seminar 11/1: Brittany Duncan (University of Nebraska - Lincoln)
by Fitter, Naomi 01 Nov '24

01 Nov '24

Roboticists, This week, we're having a visit from Dr. Brittany Duncan (an expert on unmanned aerial systems, especially human interactions with small drones and field work with UAVs) for our Friday seminar. As a reminder, everyone is expected to come to the seminar. We’ve got a strict no-device policy. We also have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. For the fall, we still have Covell Hall 221 as our seminar location, with the usual timing of 10am Fridays. Please plan to head there each Friday at 10am. Looking forward to the seminar! See you there. Cheers, Naomi ________________________________________________ Improving Drones to Interact with Everyone Brittany Duncan, Associate Professor in the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Abstract: This talk will focus on the role of human-robot interaction with drones in public spaces and how we can create systems that all end users can successfully control. Prior work on human-interaction with aerial robots has focused on communication from the users or about the intended direction of flight, but has not considered how to distance from and communicate to novice users in unconstrained environments. In this presentation, it will be argued that the diverse users and open-ended nature of public interactions offers a rich exploration space for foundational interaction research with aerial robots. Findings will be presented from both lab-based and design studies, while context will be provided from the field-based research on prescribed aerial ignitions and environmental sampling that is central to the NIMBUS lab. Building upon this foundational work will require a better understanding of user skill acquisition and more adaptive robotics, which will inform the next few years of work with scientists in field environments from Costa Rica to Alaska. This presentation will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the robotics community, as well as those in the fields of human factors, artificial intelligence, and the social sciences. Bio: Dr. Brittany Duncan is the Ross McCollum Associate Professor of Computing and Director of the NIMBUS lab at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Her research is at the nexus of behavior-based robotics, human factors, and unmanned vehicles; specifically she is focused on how humans can more naturally interact with robots, individually or as part of ad hoc teams, in field-based domains such as agricultural, disaster response, and engineering applications. She is a PI on a NSF Early Faculty Career Award (CAREER), a PI on two NSF National Robotics Initiative (NRI) grants, and was awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2010. Dr. Duncan received a Ph.D. From Texas A&M University and B.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. For more information, please see: cse.unl.edu/~bduncan<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcse.unl.ed…> or nimbus.unl.edu<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnimbus.unl…>.

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Robotics Seminar 10/25: V Nguyen (Hello Robot)
by Fitter, Naomi 22 Oct '24

22 Oct '24

Roboticists, This week, we're having a visit from Dr. V Nguyen (an occupational therapist embedded within Hello Robot, maker of the Stretch robot, one of the most practical mobile manipulators to date) for our Friday seminar. There will be a live robot demo! As a reminder, everyone is expected to come to the seminar. We’ve got a strict no-device policy. We also have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. For the fall, we still have Covell Hall 221 as our seminar location, with the usual timing of 10am Fridays. Please plan to head there each Friday at 10am. Looking forward to the seminar! See you there. Cheers, Naomi ________________________________________________ Empowering Independence & Enhancing Quality of Life with the Stretch Mobile Manipulator V Nguyen, OT Clinical Research Lead at Hello Robot Abstract: V, an occupational therapist (OT) from Hello Robot, will present on the innovative applications of assistive robotics in enabling independence and quality of life for individuals with motor and cognitive impairments. This talk will feature a live demonstration of Stretch, a cutting-edge mobile manipulator, designed to support people with and without disabilities in their daily activities. This is an interactive presentation and relatable to real-world contexts, such as providing the audience an opportunity to use a customizable web-interface to operate Stretch in to perform a task. Bio: V is an Occupational Therapy (OT) Clinical Research Lead at Hello Robot, dedicated to empowering individuals and advancing assistive robotics. V promotes the use of Stretch, a robotic platform, to enhance accessibility in healthcare, community resources, and technology, particularly for underserved and rural populations. Her research focuses on leveraging robots to support people with diverse abilities across all life stages. V investigates how robots can assist individuals with motor impairments in daily activities and explores ways older adults with neurocognitive disorders can use robots for cognitive support and safety management. Through innovative research and a commitment to empowering individuals and their communities, she continues to make significant contributions to occupational therapy and assistive robotics.

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Robotics Seminar 10/21: Huang Yi (Choreographer and Inventor)
by Fitter, Naomi 21 Oct '24

21 Oct '24

Roboticists, We'll have a usual Friday seminar next week as well, but here's one last quick reminder that it'll be an extra-bountiful seminar week. On Monday (10/21) at 4pm in ROG 226, we'll have a special seminar with Huang Yi (an expert in choreography and human-technology interaction for performance). He is performing at PRAx next week with his piece "Huang Yi and Kuka," and is connecting with some parts of the COE prior to the performances. We will have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. Looking forward to the special seminar! See you there. Cheers, Naomi

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Robotics Seminar 10/18: Melisa Orta Martinez (CMU)
by Fitter, Naomi 17 Oct '24

17 Oct '24

Roboticists, This week, we're having a visit from Dr. Melisa Orta Martinez (an expert in haptics, including neat work on novel interfaces and equitable education) for our Friday seminar. She is visiting us from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where she works as part of the Robotics Institute. As a reminder, everyone is expected to come to the seminar. We’ve got a strict no-device policy. We also have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. For the fall, we still have Covell Hall 221 as our seminar location, with the usual timing of 10am Fridays. Please plan to head there each Friday at 10am. Looking forward to the seminar! See you there. Cheers, Naomi P.S. Note that next week, we'll have an extra-bountiful seminar week, with a special Monday seminar from Huang Yi (the artist performing with a robot at PRAx next week - get free Oct 23 COE tickets here<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprax.univ…> or paid tickets for the Oct 24 performance via the usual PRAx website). Huang Yi will visit us 4-5pm Monday in ROG 226. We will also have a great seminar at the usual timing Friday, with V Nguyen from Hello Robot (usual time and place). ________________________________________________ From Haptic Devices to Interactive Machines: Unlocking the power of our touch sense Melisa Orta Martinez, Assistant Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Abstract: Our sense of touch plays a critical role in diverse areas of our daily lives such as high-precision motor tasks, understanding and interpreting textures, and conveying and appreciating social signals. In this talk we explore the untapped potential of our haptic sense and present four devices that use the sense of touch for novel applications ranging from feature perception to education. The first is a magnetic soft device for tactile haptic actuation of the fingertip. The second is a haptic mouse prototype for blind and visually impaired individuals. The third is an interactive haptic interface which ties mathematical ideas through body syntonicity. Lastly, we present a robotic loom which takes advantage of the interdisciplinary nature of weaving to ground abstract mathematical concepts in a concrete and embodied art, view this art through an engineering lens, and integrate hands-on interdisciplinary learning into mathematics curricula. Bio: Melisa Orta Martinez is an assistant professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where she leads the Social Haptics Robotics and Education (SHRED) Laboratory. Her research combines the areas of robotics, haptics, human-computer interaction, and education. Her main areas of focus and interest are developing low-cost, open-source robotic technology for educational applications and understanding the effects of this technology on learning, as well as studying the sense of touch and developing novel mechanisms for human-machine interaction.

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Robotics Seminar 10/11: Zach Beattie (OHSU)
by Fitter, Naomi 11 Oct '24

11 Oct '24

Roboticists, This week, we're having a visit from Zach Beattie (an expert in real-world health sensing systems, and part of the NSF-funded AI-CARING Institute with Dr. Tumer and me) for our Friday seminar. Dr. Beattie is visiting us from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), where he works as part of the Oregon Center for Aging & Technology (ORCATECH). As a reminder, everyone is expected to come to the seminar. We’ve got a strict no-device policy. We also have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. For the fall, we still have Covell Hall 221 as our seminar location, with the usual timing of 10am Fridays. Please plan to head there each Friday at 10am. Looking forward to the seminar! See you there. Cheers, Naomi ________________________________________________ Technology in Real-World, Longitudinal Research Zach Beattie, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Abstract Dr. Beattie will discuss his background and experience in biotechnology developing a system for non-contact sleep apnea detection as a graduate student and working as project lead for the development of the sleep stages feature as a research scientist at Fitbit. He will also introduce the technology platform being developed at the Oregon Center for Aging & Technology (ORCATECH). The ORCATECH platform consists of digital sensors placed in the homes of individuals that are used to collect a variety of data (e.g., walking speed, activity levels) about the individuals with the goal of developing digital biomarkers that can be used to facilitate research studies and clinical trials. Dr. Beattie will complete the presentation by sharing examples of the research being done that utilizes the ORCATECH platform with an emphasis on longitudinal (years) datasets and research cohorts available for the larger research community. Bio Dr. Beattie is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) with a background in digital technologies and digital biomarkers. He has spent several years in academia and the health and biotech industry where he has worked to help people live happier and healthier lives through technology. Before returning to OHSU, he worked as a Research Scientist at Fitbit where he was part of the research and development team for the Fitbit Sleep Stages feature. He is currently lead data scientist at the Oregon Center for Aging & Technology and the Core Lead for the Digital Technology Core of the Oregon Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at OHSU.

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Robotics Seminar 10/4: Mark Yim (University of Pennsylvania)
by Fitter, Naomi 03 Oct '24

03 Oct '24

Roboticists, In a very exciting start of the term, we're having a visit from Mark Yim (robotics faculty at University of Pennsylvania) for our second seminar of the fall. Dr. Yim is an expert in modular robotics and the Director of the University of Pennsylvania GRASP Lab. As a reminder, everyone is expected to come to the seminar. We’ve got a strict no-device policy. We also have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. For the fall, we still have Covell Hall 221 as our seminar location, with the usual timing of 10am Fridays. Please plan to head there each Friday at 10am. Looking forward to this exciting first external presenter of the term! See you there. Cheers, Naomi

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