Academic Track – European Robotics Forum 2023

Learning to Perceive and to Act – Disentangling Tales from (Structured) Latent Space

Corina Radu — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 07:28:52 +0000

Abstract: Unsupervised learning is experiencing a renaissance. Driven by an abundance of unlabelled data and the advent of deep generative models, machines are now able to synthesise complex images, videos and sounds. In robotics, one of the most promising features of these models – the ability to learn structured latent spaces – is gradually gaining traction. The ability of a deep generative model to disentangle semantic information into individual latent-space dimensions seems naturally suited to state-space estimation. Combining this information with generative world-models, models which are able to predict the likely sequence of future states given an initial observation, is widely recognised to be a promising research direction with applications in perception, planning and control. Yet, to date, designing generative models capable of decomposing and synthesising scenes based on higher-level concepts such as objects remains elusive in all but simple cases. In this talk I will motivate and describe our recent work using deep generative models for unsupervised object-centric scene inference and generation. Furthermore, I will make the case that exploiting correlations encoded in latent space, and learnt through experience, lead to a powerful and intuitive way to disentangle and manipulate task-relevant factors of variation. I will show that this not only casts a novel light on affordance learning, but also that the same framework is capable of generating plans executable on complex real-world robot platforms.

Bio: Ingmar leads the Applied Artificial Intelligence Lab at Oxford University and is a founding director of the Oxford Robotics Institute. His research aims to enable machines to robustly act and interact in the real world – for, with, and alongside humans. With a significant track-record of contributions in machine perception and decision-making, Ingmar and his team are thinking about the next generation of robots that are flexible enough in their scene understanding, physical interaction and skill acquisition to learn and carry out new tasks. His research is guided by a vision to create machines which constantly improve through experience. In 2014 Ingmar co-founded Oxbotica, a multi-award winning provider of mobile autonomy software solutions. He currently serves as an Amazon Scholar.

The Robot Theatre Lab

Corina Radu — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 07:27:47 +0000

Abstract: Robots (at least the term Robot) originate from the theatre. What has theatre (anno 2023) to offer the field of HRI? Assistant professor and creative roboticist Edwin Dertien took a brief sabbatical last year to design, build and operate a robot actor for a professional theatre production. In this talk he will share his experiences and insights for social robot design, sketching outlines for further/future research.

Bio: Dertien works as assistant professor at the Robotics and Mechatronics group of University of Twente, the Netherlands where he mainly lectures in the Creative Technology BSc programme and Interaction Technology MSc programme. He has contributed to various projects such as PIRATE (pipe inspection robotics for gas distribution mains) TISCALI (sewer
inspection) ROBOCONNECT (robotic cable splicing for power distribution) and more recently to HRI related research such as WEAFING (EU H2020 project on EAP powered haptic wearables) and HELPER (development of a Hospital Environment Linked Pain Evaluation Robot). Besides work at University he is directing a care facility for people with Autism, using a FabLab inspired workshop as daily occupation and he builds robotics for stage and television, recently accumulating his efforts in a newly founded Robot Theatre Lab.

He has given two TEDx lectures, participated in numerous television shows for science education, as well as being one of the makers in the Dutch version of ‘The Big Life Fix’ in 2021, designing assistive technology for people with very specific disabilities.

Academic Track

Corina Radu — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 07:26:26 +0000

Perception, Planning, and Learning for Cognitive Robots

Corina Radu — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 07:24:39 +0000

Abstract: Cognitive robots need to perceive their environment to act in a goal-directed way. This includes simultaneous localization and mapping, semantic categorization of surfaces, object detection and pose estimation, as well as the perception of persons. In the talk, I will report on efficient methods that we developed for environment perception, based on local multiresolution representations, deep learning, and object-centered representations. The resulting models form the basis for locomotion and manipulation planning, for which we developed efficient methods based on local multiresolution and abstraction. My team integrated perception and planning for autonomous control of multiple cognitive robot systems and demonstrated their abilities in complex environments, including humanoid soccer, domestic service, space exploration, disaster-response, bin picking, and industrial inspection. To improve behavior, learning is crucial. I will discuss ideas on how structured models for efficient perception and planning can be learned from limited experience.

Bio: Prof. Dr. Sven Behnke holds since 2008 the chair for Autonomous Intelligent Systems at the University of Bonn, Germany, and heads there the Computer Science Institute VI – Intelligent Systems and Robotics. He received a PhD in computer science from Freie Universität Berlin in 2002. In his dissertation “Hierarchical Neural Networks for Image Interpretation” he extended forward deep learning models to recurrent models for visual perception. In 2003 he did postdoctoral research on robust speech recognition at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, CA. 2004-2008 Professor Behnke led the Research Group “Humanoid Robots” at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. His research interests include cognitive robotics, computer vision, and machine learning. His team NimbRo has won numerous robot competitions (RoboCup Humanoid Soccer, RoboCup@Home, MBZIRC, ANA Avatar XPRIZE).

Robotic contributions to minimally invasive surgery and targeted therapy

Corina Radu — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 07:23:15 +0000

Abstract: Starting from a recent analysis of the state of the art, the speaker will introduce the main challenges of surgical robotics, paying attention to the problem of generating therapeutic effects with minimally invasive solutions. She will present case-studies coming from her 25 years of experience in the field. In this research path, contributions from Robotics and the importance of teamworking in the framework of EU projects will be highlighted.

Bio: ARIANNA MENCIASSI (IEEE Fellow) received the M.Sc. degree in physics from the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, in 1995, and the Ph.D. degree in bioengineering from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA), Pisa, Italy, in 1999. She is currently a Professor of Bioengineering and Biomedical Robotics with the SSSA, where she is a Team Leader of the “Surgical Robotics & Allied Technologies” area with The BioRobotics Institute. She has been Coordinator of the Ph.D. in BioRobotics since 2018, and she was appointed in 2019 as a Vice-Rector of SSSA. Her research interests include surgical robotics, microrobotics for biomedical applications, biomechatronic artificial organs, and smart and soft solutions for biomedical devices. She pays a special attention to the combination between traditional robotics, targeted therapy, and wireless solution for therapy (e.g., ultrasound- and magnetic-based). Prof. Menciassi served in the Editorial Board of the IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, and was a Topic Editor of the International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems. She has been co-chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Surgical Robotics and Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL ROBOTICS AND BIONICS until the end of 2022. She is currently a co-Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS and of the APL of Bioengineering; she is also serving in the Editorial Board of the Soft Robotics journal.