Talks on innovations in Robotics, Vision, and Control
151-0652-00 MaP Robotics, Vision, and Controls Talks
Welcome to the MaP Robotics, Vision, and Controls Talks series hosted by ETH Zürich. These open talks focus on innovations in robotics, computer vision, and control systems, and are held in a hybrid format at ETH Zürich’s main campus.
About the Series
Schedule:
- Usually Fridays at 16:00 in ETH HG E 41 (in-person) or via Zoom
- The lecture starts at 16:15
-
Exceptions in day, time, or room are shown in each talk card below
- Join via Zoom
Next Talk
All Upcoming Talks
Point Tracking in the Wild
Speaker: Fatma Guney
Affiliation: Koc University
Date: March 06, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CET; ETH HG E 41
Abstract and Bio
Abstract
In this talk, I discuss long-term point tracking from a robotics perspective, where models operate online, in real time, and under strict memory constraints. I begin with how visual foundation models improve robustness and viewpoint invariance, then introduce a causal transformer formulation where points are queries and frames are processed sequentially. I focus on temporal propagation with compact memory for long-term consistency, leading to Track-On, and its extension Track-On2 for improved efficiency and real-time performance. Finally, I cover verifier-guided self-training for adapting synthetic-trained trackers to unlabeled real-world videos.
Bio
Fatma Guney is an Assistant Professor at Koc University. She received her PhD in 2017 from the Max Planck Institute in Tubingen. Her research focuses on autonomous driving and 3D vision, with interests in geometry, motion, and uncertainty.
Neuromorphic computing: from brain-inspired perception to service robots
Speaker: Yulia Sandamirskaya
Affiliation: ZHAW / Auroniq
Date: March 13, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CET; ETH HG E 41
Abstract and Bio
Abstract
I will present the history, basic concepts, and applications of neuromorphic computing technology - the attempt to replicate biological brains and nervous systems not only in algorithms, but also in the structure of computing hardware. Why is it relevant for robotics? Because neuromorphic AI is power-efficient, fast, and supports fast continual learning and could be an alternative to large deep-learning models. Becides, biological solutions to perception, state estimation, motion planning, and control are elegant and inspiring.
Bio
Yulia Sandamirskaya is a Full Professor and head of a research center "Cognitive computing" at ZHAW in Wadenswil. Her Neuromorphic Computing Lab works on novel AI technology for service robots in elderly case. She was a group leader at INI (UZH/ETH) and led the Applications research team of the Neuromorphic computing lab at Intel. She is a co-founder of Auroniq-robotics, a cognitive robotics integrator.
TBD
Speaker: Kris Dorsey
Affiliation: Northeastern University
Date: March 20, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CET; ETH HG E 41
TBD
Speaker: Quentin Böhler
Affiliation: ETH Zurich
Date: March 27, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CET; ETH HG E 41
TBD
Speaker: Nicolas Heess
Affiliation: Google Deepmind
Date: March 31, 2026
Time & Location: 12:00 CEST; ETH HG D 3.2
TBD
Speaker: Moritz Bächer
Affiliation: Disney Research Imagineering
Date: April 17, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CEST; ETH HG E 41
TBD
Speaker: Anna Rohrbach
Affiliation: TU Darmstadt
Date: April 24, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CEST; ETH HG E 41
TBD
Speaker: Michael Wray
Affiliation: University of Bristol
Date: May 08, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CEST; ETH HG E 41
Abstract and Bio
Bio
Michael is a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Computer Vision at the School of Computer Science at the University of Bristol. He finished his PhD titled "Verbs and Me: an Investigation into Verbs as Labels for Action Recognition in Video Understanding" in 2019 under the supervision of Professor Dima Damen. After, he stayed in the same lab as a Post-Doc working on Vision and Language and the collection of the Ego4D Dataset. Michael has led the organisation EPIC workshop series from 2021 onwards, is an organiser of the Ego4D workshop series, and is an ELLIS member.
TBD
Speaker: Patricia Alves-Oliveira
Affiliation: University of Michigan
Date: May 12, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CEST; ETH HG G 3 (TBC)
Abstract and Bio
Bio
Patricia Alves-Oliveira is an Assistant Professor of Robotics at the University of Michigan, where she leads Robot Studio, a research lab focused on the design, development, and evaluation of social robotics. She was a Senior UX Designer for Amazon Lab126, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, a visiting researcher at Cornell University, and she received her Ph.D. from the University Institute of Lisbon, in Portugal. Her research received multiple Best Paper Awards at the International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, and she is the recipient of DARPA Young Faculty Award. Besides her academic appointment, Patricia serves in the Advisory Board for Meta.
TBD
Speaker: Antonino Furnari
Affiliation: University of Catania
Date: May 22, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CEST; ETH HG E 41
Abstract and Bio
Bio
Antonino Furnari is an Associate Professor at the University of Catania and a member of the Image Processing Laboratory. His research focuses on embodied egocentric vision for understanding and anticipating human actions to enable assistive wearable technologies.
TBD
Speaker: Ankur Mehta
Affiliation: UCLA Electrical and Computer Engineering
Date: May 29, 2026
Time & Location: 16:00 CEST; ETH HG E 41
Recent Past Talks
Archives
- Fall 2025 - 10 talks on embodied intelligence, soft robotics, robotic materials, and health sensing
- Spring 2025 - 14 talks on soft robotics, foundation models, and embodied AI