"Perception-Action Synergy in Unknown or Uncertain Environments"

Thursday, May 18th @ 11am

FAH 3002 - Zoom https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/92099821298

Speaker: Jing Xiao, WPI

Seminar Abstract

Many robotic applications require a robot to operate in an environment with unknowns or uncertainty, at least initially, before it gathers enough information about the environment. In such a case, a robot must rely on sensing and perception to feel its way around. Moreover, perception and motion need to be coupled synergistically in real time, such that perception guides motion, while motion enables better perception. In this talk, I will introduce our research in combining perception and motion of a robot to achieve autonomous manipulation of deformable linear objects, contact-rich, complex assembly, and semantic object search in unknown or uncertain environments, under RGBD or force/torque sensing. I will also introduce human interaction to facilitate robotic assembly and constrained manipulation by providing unknown information to the robot conveniently.

Bio:

Jing Xiao received her Ph.D. degree in Computer, Information, and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is the Deans’ Excellence Professor, William B. Smith Distinguished Fellow in Robotics Engineering, Professor and Head of the Robotics Engineering Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). She joined WPI as the Director of the Robotics Engineering Program in 2018 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she received the College of Computing Outstanding Faculty Research Award in 2015. She led the Robotics Engineering Program to become the Robotics Engineering Department in July 2020. Jing Xiao is an IEEE Fellow. Her research spans robotics, haptics, and intelligent systems. She has co-authored a monograph and published extensively in major robotics journals, conferences, and books. Jing Xiao is a recipient of the 2022 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation.