Robotics, Vision, and Controls Talks

Bio

"Carmel Majidi is the Clarence H. Adamson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he leads the Soft Machines Lab. His lab is dedicated to the discovery of novel material architectures that allow machines and electronics to be soft, elastically deformable, and biomechanically compatible. Currently, his research is focused on modeling, design, and control of soft robotic systems as well as the development of multifunctional materials that exhibit unique combinations of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties and can function as 'artificial' skin, nervous tissue, and muscle."

Bio

"Chelsea Finn is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, the William George and Ida Mary Hoover Faculty Fellow, and a co-founder of Physical Intelligence (Pi). Her research interests lie in the capability of robots and other agents to develop broadly intelligent behavior through learning and interaction. To this end, her work has pioneered end-to-end deep learning methods for vision-based robotic manipulation, meta-learning algorithms for few-shot learning, and approaches for scaling robot learning to broad datasets. Her research has been recognized by awards such as the Sloan Fellowship, the IEEE RAS Early Academic Career Award, and the ACM doctoral dissertation award, and has been covered by various media outlets including the New York Times, Wired, and Bloomberg. Prior to joining Stanford, she received her Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and her PhD in Computer Science at UC Berkeley."

Abstract

"General purpose robots are an important technical challenge that would be enabling for agriculture, ocean health, space missions, disaster recovery, personal medical care, and many other uses. The proliferation of quadrotor and, now, quadrupedal robots are beginning to show the value of general utility, but still fail to achieve the mobility and manipulation dexterity, as well as efficiency and operational lifetime of animals. Animals have far better performance, but they are presently far too complicated to build synthetically. Nature balances the trade off between architectural complexity and energetic cost of construction better than we do. I will present context to complex material systems and autonomy, the concept of Autonomous Material Systems, as well as synthetic and living approaches towards this hierarchy and interconnectivity. The results indicate that distributing sensing, actuation, energy, and communication in robots has great advantages, but is likely insufficient without living materials. In this talk, I will focus on advances in the use of aqueous redox flow batteries as hydraulic fluids for high energy density underwater robots, arrays of powerful microscale combustion engines, and a bioelectronic interface with mycelia that can eventually be used to control these systems."

Bio

"Robert Shepherd is the John F. Carr professor of engineering at Cornell University in the Sibley School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. He received his B.S. (Material Science & Engineering), Ph.D. (Material Science & Engineering), and M.B.A. from the University of Illinois. At Cornell, he runs the Organic Robotics Lab (ORL: http://orl.mae.cornell.edu), that focuses on using methods of invention, including bioinspired design approaches, in combination with material science and mechanical design to improve machine function and autonomy. We rely on new and established synthetic approaches for soft material composites that create new design opportunities in the field of robotics. He is the recipient of an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, is a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors, and his lab's work has been featured in popular media outlets such as the BBC, Discovery Channel, and PBS's NOVA documentary series. He is an advisor to the American Bionics Project (americanbionics.org) which aims to make wheelchairs obsolete. He is also the co-founder of the Organic Robotics Corporation (DBA LLume; http://llume.io) which aims to digitally record the tactile interactions of humans and machines with their environment. He is also the co-founder of MAV-Unlimited, Inc. (https://mav-unlimited.com), which seeks to make mass customization of consumer goods possible via high throughput 3D printing."