Robotics Seminar: Dylan Shell (Texas A&M University), Robot Situatedness Through the Lens of Task Information Requirements
Content
Speaker
Dylan Shell (Texas A&M University)
Abstract
This talk begins by describing an investigation into the nature of robot–environment interaction and "niche fit" through the lens of state (or memory) minimization. The idea is that by limiting what a robot can store, much like so-called bottleneck methods, one hopes to uncover the information needed to perform specific tasks. We study a setting in which robots are able to exploit structural regularity within the environment. Doing so alters the minimization problem from classical reduction problems (i.e., those of Myhill–Nerode or bisimulation relations) in an important, basic way: it changes computational complexity class. The talk will explore interpretations and intuitions behind the (multiple) sources of additional hardness, with a brief sojourn to look at intriguing ways in which nondeterminism and casualty manifest themselves in this problem. I'll also explain how we are now approaching questions involving sensors from this same perspective, as well as some other recent directions we feel hold much promise. The theme of my talk is that much fascinating and fundamental work remains still to be done in forging rigorous underpinnings for the discipline of robotics—grappling with foundational ideas represents an important form of stewardship for the field.
Bio
Dylan Shell is a computer scientist at Texas A&M University who works in the areas of robotics and AI. Broadly, his research aims to analyze and synthesize complex, intelligent behavior in systems that interact with the physical world. He has an interest in algorithmic and formal foundations of planning problems, and extremely simple (or minimal) robots. He has published papers on topics from multi-robot task allocation, biologically inspired multiple robot systems, estimation of group-level swarm properties, rigid-body simulation and contact models, and robotic theatre. His work has been funded by DARPA, DoD (ONR, ARL), NSF as well as Ford and 3M; he has been the recipient of teaching, service and reviewing, and research awards. Dylan serves as the President of the Robotics Science and Systems Foundation.
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