- Robotics-seminar - Engineering Mailing Lists

Bonus Robotics Seminar 6/12: Tesca Fitzgerald (Yale University)
by Smart, William 05 Jun '24

05 Jun '24

Roboticists, Join us for a bonus robotics seminar from Tesca Fitzgerald from Yale University, who will be talking about Getting Robots to Ask Good Questions. There will be coffee and cake, as usual. Note that this will be in a different room (Rogers 226) on a different day (6/12, Wednesday) that our usual seminars. Tesca is an Oregon native, back in the state for some family stuff, and generously offered to stop by and give talk while she’s in the area. It’s a big week for defenses, but please try to make it to one more talk. Rogers 226, Wednesday 6/12 cheers -- Bill Getting Robots to Ask Good Questions Tesca Fitzgerald, Yale University Abstract: We interact with AI everyday through voice assistants, spam filters, content recommenders, and more. While AI becomes increasingly commonplace, development in robotics has followed a different trend, finding traction in highly-specialized settings such as manufacturing and surgery. What is keeping us from developing robots that can help us in our everyday lives, such as around the home or the workplace? A key challenge is that, unlike disembodied AI, robots must accommodate the physical and sensory complexity of the real world. This is further complicated by the peculiarities of every home, task, object, or routine that a robot may need to accommodate. My research takes a collaborative lens toward this problem: by enabling a robot to ask for help, it can leverage a human’s experience and domain knowledge. In this talk, I will describe how robots can reason about their uncertainty and learn from various forms of interaction. In doing so, my work contributes toward the ultimate goal of enabling robots to ask and learn from useful questions, leading toward a future of collaborative robots. Bio: Dr. Tesca Fitzgerald is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Yale University. Her research is centered around interactive robot learning, with the aim of developing robots that are adaptive, robust, and collaborative when faced with novel situations. Before joining Yale, Dr. Fitzgerald was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, received her PhD in Computer Science at Georgia Tech, and completed her B.Sc at Portland State University. She is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2014), Microsoft Graduate Women Scholar (2014), and IBM Ph.D. Fellow (2017).

1 0

Robotics Seminar 6/7: An Itchiness of ICRA Papers and a Mass of AAMAS Papers
by Smart, William 03 Jun '24

03 Jun '24

Roboticists, Join us for the last official seminar of the 2023/24 academic year. To celebrate the end of the year, we’re going to have six, yes six, short presentations of work recently published at either AAMAS or ICRA by members of the Robotics Program. Coffee and cake, of course. Come and support your colleagues and see some of the awesome work that’s going on around you. There will be one more bonus seminar this term, next Wedesday 6/12, likely in the afternoon, when Tesca Fitzgerald from Yale will be in town. If you know of a hard conflict on Wednesday, let me know and we’ll try to work around it. cheers -- Bill An Itchiness of ICRA Papers, and a Mass of AAMA Papers The last official seminar of the 2023/24 academic year will be a celebration of some of the work that the Robotics Program published at the AAMAS 2024 and ICRA 2024 conferences. * Learning Vision-Based Bipedal Locomotion for Challenging Terrain, Helei Duan, Bikram Pandit, Mohitvishnu S. Gadde, Bart van Marum, Jeremy Dao, Chanho Kim, Alan Fern. Presented by Mohit Gadda * WAVE: An open-source underWater Arm-Vehicle Emulator, Marcus Rosette, Hannah Kolano, Chris Holm, Geoffrey A. Hollinger, Aaron Marburg, Madison Pickett, Joseph R. Davidson. Presented by Marcus Rosette * Dynamic evaluation of a suction-based gripper for fruit picking using a physical twin, Alejandro Velasquez, Cindy Grimm, Joseph R. Davidson. Presented by Alejo Velasquez * Influence-Focused Asymmetric Island Model, Andrew Festa, Gaurav Dixit, Kagan Tumer. Presented by Gaurav Dixit * Sim-to-Real Learning for Humanoid Box Loco-Manipulation, Jeremy Dao, Helei Duan, Alan Fern. Presented by Jeremy Dao * Indirect Credit Assignment in a Multiagent System, Everardo Gonzalez, Siddarth Viswanathan, Kagan Tumer. Presented by Sidd Viswanathan

1 0

Robotics Seminar 5/31: Paul Robinette (UMass Lowell)
by Smart, William 30 May '24

30 May '24

Roboticists, A reminder to join us tomorrow for the next Robotics Seminar, when Paul Robinette from UMass Lowell will be talking about Building Trustworthy, Fieldable Robotics. Coffee and cake as usual. 10am, Rogers 230 cheers -- Bill Building Trustworthy, Fieldable Robotics Paul Robinette, University of Massachusetts, Lowell Abstract: As robots enter everyday life, it is important to understand how and why people trust them. Too much trust leads to over-reliance and the expectation that a system performs flawlessly. Too little trust causes people to under-utilize robots, reducing the effectiveness of a deployed system. This talk will discuss strategies and pitfalls when deploying household, aerial, and marine robots expected to work with humans. Bio: Paul Robinette is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML). He has performed extensive experiments on human-robot trust in time-critical situations in virtual simulations, the lab, and the field. In recent years, he focused on field robotics: in-situ human-robot teaming experiments in the marine domain and field experiments for river navigation of autonomous surface vehicles. These projects have yielded datasets that have been released for the human-robot interaction community and the marine robotics community.

1 0

Robotics Seminar 5/31: Paul Robinette (UMass Lowell)
by Smart, William 27 May '24

27 May '24

Roboticists, Please join us this Friday for the next Robotics Seminar, when Paul Robinette from UMass Lowell will be talking about Building Trustworthy, Fieldable Robotics. Coffee and cake as usual. 10am, Rogers 230 cheers -- Bill Building Trustworthy, Fieldable Robotics Paul Robinette, University of Massachusetts, Lowell Abstract: As robots enter everyday life, it is important to understand how and why people trust them. Too much trust leads to over-reliance and the expectation that a system performs flawlessly. Too little trust causes people to under-utilize robots, reducing the effectiveness of a deployed system. This talk will discuss strategies and pitfalls when deploying household, aerial, and marine robots expected to work with humans. Bio: Paul Robinette is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML). He has performed extensive experiments on human-robot trust in time-critical situations in virtual simulations, the lab, and the field. In recent years, he focused on field robotics: in-situ human-robot teaming experiments in the marine domain and field experiments for river navigation of autonomous surface vehicles. These projects have yielded datasets that have been released for the human-robot interaction community and the marine robotics community.

1 0

Robotics Seminar 5/24: Dallas Swindle
by Smart, William 23 May '24

23 May '24

Roboticists, A reminder to join us for a special seminar tomorrow when Dallas Swindle will talk about the intersection of robotics an art. Enjoy coffee and cake, as usual. Rogers 230, 10am cheers -- Bill Dallas Swindle is an industrial designer and fabricator who works in metal, fabric, and wood. All of Dallas’ work is rooted in and stems from an intense love of learning and an insatiable curiosity for the way that everything works. He has been fascinated by industrial processes since he was wee, that interest hasn’t waned as he has grown. He has been a designer of things since 2001 when he began working with a company making wedding tents in North Carolina which led him to learn about architectural fabric, “green” textiles, welding, and machining. This led to work with music and art festivals in and around the Southeast. In late 2011, he moved to San Francisco and joined a production prop studio to expand their capabilities into metal and large scale fabrication as well as joining with several bay area artists to design and build kinetic, interactive sculptures for Burning Man and other gatherings around the country.

1 0

Robotics Seminar 5/24: Dallas Swindle
by Smart, William 21 May '24

21 May '24

Roboticists, Join us for a special seminar this Friday where Dallas Swindle will talk about the intersection of robotics an art. Enjoy coffee and cake, as usual. Rogers 230, 10am cheers -- Bill Dallas Swindle is an industrial designer and fabricator who works in metal, fabric, and wood. All of Dallas’ work is rooted in and stems from an intense love of learning and an insatiable curiosity for the way that everything works. He has been fascinated by industrial processes since he was wee, that interest hasn’t waned as he has grown. He has been a designer of things since 2001 when he began working with a company making wedding tents in North Carolina which led him to learn about architectural fabric, “green” textiles, welding, and machining. This led to work with music and art festivals in and around the Southeast. In late 2011, he moved to San Francisco and joined a production prop studio to expand their capabilities into metal and large scale fabrication as well as joining with several bay area artists to design and build kinetic, interactive sculptures for Burning Man and other gatherings around the country.

1 0

No Seminar this Week
by Smart, William 13 May '24

13 May '24

Roboticists, No seminar this week. Take the hour to enjoy the lovely spring weather in Oregon, and join us next week for a special seminar from Dallas Swindle. cheers -- Bill

1 0

Robotics Seminar 5/10: Nathan Kirchner (Workr Labs Inc.)
by Smart, William 09 May '24

09 May '24

Roboticists, A reminder to join us for the next seminar tomorrow, when Nathan Kirchner will talk about his startup trying to make our lives as roboticists easier. Coffee, cake, and stories of robot entrepreneurship. What could be more delightful on a Friday morning? Rogers 230, 10am cheers -- Bill Nathan Kirchner, Workr Labs Inc. My name is Nathan & I think... interacting with robots is needlessly painful Abstract: There is considerable desire to introduce large numbers of robots into our everyday, but there are some core challenges - one of the top ones being that interacting with robots is needlessly painful! We, the creators, have been misguidedly adding to this pain in an attempt to address the common phenomena that users expect 100% performance from machines.. even though they don’t necessarily perform at that level. This body of work deeply probes this question to yield practical insights & to inform efforts on both the fundamental paradigm for robotic systems & for the core capabilities prioritised for delivery Fortuitously, there is an opportunity to build on the considerable wealth of high quality artefacts & knowledge already out there. We have unprecedented access to advanced technical core capabilities such as sensing & perception, reasoning, manipulation & to deep knowledge in sociocontexutal behaviours-cues to meaning mapping. We can to proactively leverage these & interact with them to achieve ‘better’ outcomes. Bio: With over a decade of experience as a faculty member at institutions like Stanford University & the University of Technology Sydney and a diverse educational background encompassing Robotics, Mechatronics, Psychology, & Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Nathan brings a wealth of expertise to the table. His qualifications include recognition as the Most Innovative Engineer by Engineers Australia & being named in the Brilliant Ten by US Popular Science. As the Founding Director of Robotics Australia Group & a Ventures Partner at a specialised robotics-focused Venture Capital firm, he has played pivotal roles in shaping the landscape of robotics & advanced manufacturing with a HRI perspective.

1 0

Robotics Seminar 5/10: Nathan Kirchner (Workr Labs Inc.)
by Smart, William 08 May '24

08 May '24

Roboticists, Join us for the next seminar this Friday, when Nathan Kirchner will talk about his startup trying to make our lives as roboticists easier. Coffee, cake, and stories of robot entrepreneurship. What could be more delightful on a Friday morning? Rogers 230, 10am cheers -- Bill Nathan Kirchner, Workr Labs Inc. My name is Nathan & I think... interacting with robots is needlessly painful Abstract: There is considerable desire to introduce large numbers of robots into our everyday, but there are some core challenges - one of the top ones being that interacting with robots is needlessly painful! We, the creators, have been misguidedly adding to this pain in an attempt to address the common phenomena that users expect 100% performance from machines.. even though they don’t necessarily perform at that level. This body of work deeply probes this question to yield practical insights & to inform efforts on both the fundamental paradigm for robotic systems & for the core capabilities prioritised for delivery Fortuitously, there is an opportunity to build on the considerable wealth of high quality artefacts & knowledge already out there. We have unprecedented access to advanced technical core capabilities such as sensing & perception, reasoning, manipulation & to deep knowledge in sociocontexutal behaviours-cues to meaning mapping. We can to proactively leverage these & interact with them to achieve ‘better’ outcomes. Bio: With over a decade of experience as a faculty member at institutions like Stanford University & the University of Technology Sydney and a diverse educational background encompassing Robotics, Mechatronics, Psychology, & Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Nathan brings a wealth of expertise to the table. His qualifications include recognition as the Most Innovative Engineer by Engineers Australia & being named in the Brilliant Ten by US Popular Science. As the Founding Director of Robotics Australia Group & a Ventures Partner at a specialised robotics-focused Venture Capital firm, he has played pivotal roles in shaping the landscape of robotics & advanced manufacturing with a HRI perspective.

1 0

Robotics Seminar 5/3: Michael Gleicher (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
by Smart, William 02 May '24

02 May '24

Roboticists, Just a reminder to please join us this Friday for the next Robotics Seminar, when Mike Gleicher from the University of Wisconsin, Madison will be talking about his recent work with ranged kinematics and time-of-flight sensors. Usual time, usual place, usual coffee and cake. Rogers 230, 10am, Firday 5/3. cheers -- Bill Ranged Kinematics and Time of Flight Sensors for Shared Autonomy Robotic Systems Michael Gleicher, University of Wisconsin, Madison Abstract: Shared autonomy mixes manual control and automation to make robots feasible in situations where fully automated (or fully manual) solutions are not. In this talk, I will describe our efforts to provide cost-effective solutions to two technical challenges that arise in building shared-autonomy robot manipulation systems: the need for responsive kinematics and the need for short-range (non-contact) sensing. First, I will describe our work on Ranged Kinematics, where we exploit task tolerances to provide flexibility in robot motion generation. I will describe how we integrate tolerances into an inverse kinematics solver to provide an approach that is responsive in under both manual and automated control. Second, I will describe our work on using small, low-cost time-of-flight distance sensors to provide near-range information for robotics applications. I will describe how we can enhance the performance of commodity sensors by modeling their operation carefully and using their internally collected data. I will show how we can perform precise localization and small obstacle detection, using sensors that are typically only used for distance measurements. Bio: Michael Gleicher is a Professor in the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Prof. Gleicher is founder of the Department's Visual Computing Group and co-directs both the Visual Computing Laboratory and the Collaborative Robotics Laboratory at UW-Madison. His research interests span the range of visual computing, including data visualization, robotics, and virtual/extended reality. His recent work includes exploring perceptual issues in visualization, the use of visual simulation for robotics, and geometric approaches to enhance robot perception and interaction. He has been Papers Chair for EuroVis and Area Chair for IEEE Vis. Prior to joining the University, Prof. Gleicher was a researcher at The Autodesk Vision Technology Center and in Apple Computer's Advanced Technology Group. He earned his Ph. D. in Computer Science (1994) from Carnegie Mellon University, and earned a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University (1988). In 2013-2014, he was a visiting researcher at INRIA Rhone-Alpes. Prof. Gleicher is an ACM Distinguished Scientist. In 2023-2024, Prof. Gleicher holds a concurrent appointment as a Design Scholar at Amazon Robotics.

1 0