|
cmurobotics uploaded a new video
(2 weeks ago)
The Intro to Robotics class at The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University is an intense and wonderful one. Over the course of one semest...
more
The Intro to Robotics class at The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University is an intense and wonderful one. Over the course of one semester students study many aspects of robotics including:
Vision, Artificial Intelligence, Motion Planning, Sensors and Sensor Planning, Mobile Robot Platforms, Forward Kinematics, Inverse Kinematics, and Non-Holonomic constraints
To kick off the class, groups each create a Rube Goldberg energy transfer system. Then, they try to connect all of them together... A difficult, if not impossible task, but the students have fun exploring the process.
http://generalrobotics.org
less
|
|
| |
|
|
cmurobotics uploaded a new video
(2 months ago)
Mike Gleicher
Professor, University of Wisconsin
From Art and Perception to Visualization and Video Processing
November 18, 2011
Abstract
My research re...
more
Mike Gleicher
Professor, University of Wisconsin
From Art and Perception to Visualization and Video Processing
November 18, 2011
Abstract
My research revolves around the question ``How can we use our
understanding of human perception and artistic traditions to improve
our tools for communicating and understanding data.'' The former (Art
and Perception) often point us in similar directions, and provide
ideas for a wide range applications. In this talk, I will survey some
of our recent work where we apply insights from art and perception to
some practical problems in visualization and graphics. I will describe
our work to develop tools to help understand the shape and motion of
proteins, and to help compare large collections of genomes and other
sequence data. I will describe our work in creating tools to enhance
consumer video, particularly to perform video stabilization in ways
that avoid hard computer vision problems.
Speaker Biography
Michael Gleicher is a Professor in the Department of Computer Sciences
at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Prof. Gleicher is founder
and leader of the Department's Computer Graphics group. His research
interests include visualization, image and video processing tools, and
character animation techniques for films and games. 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 from Carnegie Mellon
University, and holds a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering from Duke
University.
less
|
|
| |
|
|
cmurobotics uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
From Sorcery to Science: how Hollywood Physics impacts the Sciences
Eitan Grinspun
Associate Professor, Columbia
November 11, 2011
Abstract
Cinema uses ...
more
From Sorcery to Science: how Hollywood Physics impacts the Sciences
Eitan Grinspun
Associate Professor, Columbia
November 11, 2011
Abstract
Cinema uses computers to animate physics. Special effects such as
explosions and lifelike depictions of imaginary characters are made possible
by mathematical and computational models that capture qualitative,
characteristic behavior of a mechanical system. This is scientific computing
with a twist. I will describe the process by which we derive and compute
models of physics, and show actual examples of resulting technologies in
film, consumer products, physics, and medicine.
Our research group develops scientific computing tools by focusing on the
underlying geometry of the mechanical system. I will describe a process in
which we build a discrete picture from the ground up, mimicking the axioms,
structures, and symmetries of the smooth setting. I will survey the problems
we address using this methodology, such as computing the motion of flexible
surfaces, cloth, hair, honey, and solids experiencing mechanical contact.
Industry and academia has adopted these methods to improve products such as
Adobe Photoshop, films such as Disney's Tangled, train surgeons, and
understand nonlinear soft-matter phenomena.
Speaker Biography
Eitan Grinspun is Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia
University in the City of New York. He was Professeur d'Université Invité at
l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 2009, a Research Scientist at the
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences from 2003-2004, and a graduate
student at the California Institute of Technology from 1997-2003. He was an
NVIDIA Fellow in 2001, an Everhart Distinguished Lecturer in 2003, an NSF
CAREER Award recipient in 2007, and is currently an Alfred P. Sloan Research
Fellow and one of Popular Science Magazine's "Brilliant 10."
less
|
|
| |
|
|
cmurobotics uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
Technology in Support of Graceful Aging
Ronald Baecker
Professor, University of Toronto
November 4, 2011
Abstract
The percentage of senior citizens worl...
more
Technology in Support of Graceful Aging
Ronald Baecker
Professor, University of Toronto
November 4, 2011
Abstract
The percentage of senior citizens worldwide continues to grow. In response to this demographic, our research aims to envision, prototype, design, build, evaluate, and sometimes commercialize powerful and flexible electronic aids to support graceful aging. Unlike technology for seniors that is designed for remote monitoring, problem detection, and intelligent assistance, our aim is to empower older adults and their families to help themselves.
TAGlab conducts "research for the journey through life." We choose projects that respond to human needs as characterized by Abraham Maslow. Maslow speaks of the following levels of needs: physiological, safety, love/ belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Our work is primarily at the top three levels.
We shall begin at top-level by reporting on projects that employ multimedia and other lifelogging technologies to help individuals with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment be better able to remember and reminisce about experiences over a lifetime or about recent events and activities.
Other projects seek to enhance seniors' autonomy and esteem. MyVoice, recently launched as a company, is a context-aware mobile app that aids individuals with aphasia and children with learning challenges to recall words and to speak. Tangra, a response to the wave of interest in brain fitness games and exercises, acilitates the scientific evaluation over the internet of such interventions. ALLT, the accessible large-print listening and talking eBook, aids reading by individuals who have vision loss or people with motor obstacles to holding books or turning ages.
One response to Maslow's need for love or belonging is our research aimed at understanding the communication patterns and needs of people who are isolated and lonely because of situations such as chronic pain or long-term hospitalization, and the development of novel technologies such as digital communicating picture frames to aid family communication.
Some of our projects respond to multiple needs. For example, ALLT views reading as a social and collaborative activity and supports reading by and with family members. The projects to be presented in detail and others we shall briefly mention are interventions that support cognition and communication, generate feelings of efficacy, and enhance one's sense of identity and relationships with family, friends, and caregivers.
I am grateful to the talented and dedicated team at TAGlab; to our collaborators including researchers and clinicians at Baycrest, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons, and OCADU; to the Alzheimer's Association, Google Research, the GRAND Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada, Microsoft Research, NSERC, and the University of Toronto Connaught Fund for grant support; and to participants in our research studies for their generous contribution of time, energy, and ideas.
Speaker Biography
Ron Baecker is Professor of Computer Science, Bell Chair in Human-Computer Interaction, co-founder of the Dynamic Graphics Project, founder of the Knowledge Media Design Institute, and founder and director of the Technologies for Aging Gracefully lab (TAGlab) at the University of Toronto. He is also Affiliate Scientist with theKunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit of Baycrest and Adjunct Scientist with the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. He has been named one of the 60 Pioneers of Computer Graphics by ACM SIGGRAPH, has been elected to the CHI (Computers and Human Interaction) Academy by ACM SIGCHI, and has been given the Canadian Human Computer Communications Society Achievement Award. Baecker is also Series Editor of the Synthesis Lectures on Assistive, Rehabilitative, and Health-preserving Technologies (Morgan & Claypool, Publisher). His B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. are from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
less
|
|
| |
|
|
cmurobotics uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
Robust motion planning for walking robots and robotic birds
Russ Tedrake
Associate Professor, MIT
October 28, 2011
Abstract
Building robots that can wal...
more
Robust motion planning for walking robots and robotic birds
Russ Tedrake
Associate Professor, MIT
October 28, 2011
Abstract
Building robots that can walk or fly with the dexterity of an animal is hard. Our best models of these robots are complicated because they are nonlinear and underactuated, and because the robots are fundamentally subjected to large sources of uncertainty relative to their control authority - for instance, large disturbances like a gust of wind and/or model uncertainty because they are locomoting on unknown terrain. While the field of robotics has seen some success from "intuitive" controllers based on simple models, I believe that a more algorithmic approach is required to scale much beyond the complexity and performance of today's robots.
In this talk, I will demonstrate that combinations of randomized motion planning and trajectory optimization can produce open-loop trajectories for models of the required complexity (nonlinear, hybrid, underactuated). But when one goes to implement these on the real systems, they inevitably fail, in part because trajectory motion planning by itself doesn't provide any language for talking about robustness. Therefore, I'll describe tools from robustness analysis (both linear and nonlinear), feedback planning, and planning in belief space that can help close this gap, and produce solutions that work on real systems. These ingredients can be added on top of most existing motion planners, and can make a substantial difference when working with high-performance dynamic robots.
Speaker Biography
Russ is the X Consortium Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the MIT Jerome Saltzer Award for undergraduate teaching, the DARPA Young Faculty Award, and was named a Microsoft Research New Faculty Fellow.
Russ received his B.S.E. in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1999, and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2004, working with Sebastian Seung. After graduation, he joined the MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department as a Postdoctoral Associate. During his education, he has also spent time at Microsoft, Microsoft Research, and the Santa Fe Institute.
less
|
|
