Sensorimotor contingency theory offers a promising account of the nature of perception, a topic rarely addressed in the robotics community. We propose a developmental framework to address the problem of the autonomous acquisition of sensorimotor contingencies by a naive robot. While exploring the world, the robot inter…
A robot learns to classify images with limited perception using a layered reinforcement learning approach.
problem Image classification for robots with partial perception.
method Three-layer architecture using deep reinforcement learning, including meta-layer, action-layer, and classification-layer.
result The method achieves high accuracy on the MNIST dataset and provides explainability of the agent's decision-making process.
End-to-end method for robot localization in simulated and real environments.
problem Generating robot actions to maximize pose disambiguation in a reference map.
method Differentiable learning of perception and planning modules, using convolutional neural networks and deep reinforcement learning.
result The system outperforms traditional approaches for perception or planning.
We address the problem of bootstrapping language acquisition for an artificial system similarly to what is observed in experiments with human infants. Our method works by associating meanings to words in manipulation tasks, as a robot interacts with objects and listens to verbal descriptions of the interactions. The mo…
STM maps improve terrain perception for autonomous robots.
problem Perception of terrain for autonomous robots in general environments.
method Stochastic triangular mesh (STM) technique for 2.5-D surface mapping.
result STM maps are more accurate than standard elevation maps.
Y-GAN uses multi-camera data to estimate depth maps without expensive hardware.
problem Depth perception for autonomous systems requires accurate 3D spatial information.
method Proposes Y-GAN, a deep convolutional generative adversarial network.
result Y-GAN estimates depth maps from multi-camera stereo images without ground truth data.
A new framework for robot block-stacking tasks using causal probabilistic models.
problem Robots fail outside controlled environments due to uncertainty and lack of explicit design for all scenarios.
method Causal probabilistic framework combining causal models and probabilistic representations of noise.
result Robots can perceive, reason about, and explain their environment for block-stacking tasks.
This work creates a system for understanding human movement in spaces.
problem Simplify communication and interaction between robots and humans in spatial tasks.
method Uses unsupervised learning with neural autoencoding to learn continuous representations of spatio-temporal trajectory data.
result Proposes a method to form prototypical representations of movement based on spatial context.
Robust collision prediction for robots using generative uncertainty.
problem Robots need to predict collisions safely in unexpected situations.
method Combines generative modeling and model uncertainty to handle out-of-distribution inputs.
result Improves collision prediction performance, especially for out-of-distribution inputs.
In this paper, we propose an active perception method for recognizing object categories based on the multimodal hierarchical Dirichlet process (MHDP). The MHDP enables a robot to form object categories using multimodal information, e.g., visual, auditory, and haptic information, which can be observed by performing acti…
This paper bridges outlier-robust estimation in robotics and computer vision with robust statistics.
problem Outlier-robust estimation for geometric perception in robotics and computer vision.
method Adapting and extending robust linear regression and list-decodable regression to non-convex domains and vector-valued measurements.
result Performance guarantees for modern estimation algorithms in the presence of outliers.
Developmental Robotics offers a new approach to numerous AI features that are often taken as granted. Traditionally, perception is supposed to be an inherent capacity of the agent. Moreover, it largely relies on models built by the system's designer. A new approach is to consider perception as an experimentally acquire…
Study how actions affect perception in embodied agents using group theory.
problem Understanding how actions influence perception in autonomous agents.
method Mathematical formalism of group theory applied to sensory commutativity of action sequences.
result Introduced Sensory Commutativity Probability (SCP) to measure action effects on perception.
Artificial perception is traditionally handled by hand-designing task specific algorithms. However, a truly autonomous robot should develop perceptive abilities on its own, by interacting with its environment, and adapting to new situations. The sensorimotor contingencies theory proposes to ground the development of th…
Proposes Gaussian Processes for more accurate time-correlated measurement noise in robotics.
problem Time-correlated measurement noise in robotics applications.
method Gaussian Processes as a non-parametric model for correlated measurement noise.
result Improved performance of Kalman filtering with Gaussian Processes.
Paper tackles robust spatial perception by handling outliers efficiently.
problem Robust spatial perception is challenged by incorrect data association (outliers).
method Proposes adaptive trimming algorithm to remove outliers efficiently.
result Adaptive trimming algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods across applications.
This work tackles real-world robotic reinforcement learning challenges.
problem Limited success of reinforcement learning in real-world robotics.
method Proposes a system for autonomous real-world learning without instrumentation.
result Demonstrates a complete system that learns without human intervention.
Current end-to-end deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) approaches require jointly learning perception, decision-making and low-level control from very sparse reward signals and high-dimensional inputs, with little capability of incorporating prior knowledge. This results in prohibitively long training times for use on rea…
Research tackles safety of deep learning in safety-critical tasks.
problem Safety concerns of deep learning in perception tasks for autonomous agents.
method Technical enumeration and discussions on safety concerns and mitigation methods.
result Need for more mitigation methods to ensure safety of deep learning.
Paper presents a method for efficient robot adaptation using fine-tuning.
problem Continuous adaptation of robot learning systems in real-world scenarios.
method Fine-tuning previously learned policies using off-policy reinforcement learning.
result Fine-tuning leads to substantial performance gains and adaptation to new conditions.
Robotic learning without reward engineering from images.
problem Manual reward engineering for reinforcement learning in robotics.
method Learning from examples and active solicitation of labels.
result Efficient learning of robotic skills from images without manual rewards.
Robots learn state representation from demonstrations.
problem Robots need a compact state representation for efficient interaction.
method Imitation learning using a multi-head neural network.
result Trained representation improves performance and efficiency in reinforcement learning.
Bayesian uncertainty from deep learning improves robot safety in unknown areas.
problem Improving robot safety in unknown or dangerous environments.
method Bayesian approximations of uncertainty from deep learning in a robot planner.
result Incorporating uncertainty leads to 18% less risky paths.
This paper evaluates various representations for robotics tasks, improving performance in lifting, stacking, and pushing.
problem Improving data-efficiency in reinforcement learning for robotics with limited data.
method Systematic evaluation of common representations in three robotics tasks: lifting, stacking, and pushing.
result Some representations can perform as well as simulator states as agent inputs, challenging common intuitions.
MGpi model predicts social actions in group interactions.
problem Social interaction among multiple agents and groups.
method Deep neural network with Kinesic-Proxemic-Message gate for social signal gating.
result Achieves state-of-the-art performance in group identification.
Successful human-robot cooperation hinges on each agent's ability to process and exchange information about the shared environment and the task at hand. Human communication is primarily based on symbolic abstractions of object properties, rather than precise quantitative measures. A comprehensive robotic framework thus…
Perception is fundamental to many robot application areas especially in service robotics. Our aim is to perceive and model an unprepared kitchen scenario with many objects. We start with the perception of a single target object. The modeling relies especially on fusing and merging of weak information from the sensors o…
In this paper, we study the problem of learning vision-based dynamic manipulation skills using a scalable reinforcement learning approach. We study this problem in the context of grasping, a longstanding challenge in robotic manipulation. In contrast to static learning behaviors that choose a grasp point and then execu…
This paper shows that explicitly learning motion improves reinforcement learning in dynamic environments.
problem Learning controllers for dynamic environments without explicit motion representation.
method Explicitly learning motion representation using image difference or temporal stacks of frames.
result Explicit motion learning improves the quality of learned controllers in dynamic scenarios.
Hybrid RL combines simulated and real data for robust autonomous flight.
problem Challenges in training deep RL models for real-world robotic tasks.
method Combines real-world and simulated data to improve generalization.
result Quadrotor avoids collisions using only a monocular camera.
SELD-TCN improves sound event localization and detection efficiency.
problem Efficient sound event localization and detection on embedded hardware.
method Developed a novel temporal convolutional network (TCN) architecture.
result SELD-TCN outperforms state-of-the-art SELDnet on four datasets.
Due to recent advances - compute, data, models - the role of learning in autonomous systems has expanded significantly, rendering new applications possible for the first time. While some of the most significant benefits are obtained in the perception modules of the software stack, other aspects continue to rely on know…
Evaluating surgeon skill has predominantly been a subjective task. Development of objective methods for surgical skill assessment are of increased interest. Recently, with technological advances such as robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS), new opportunities for objective and automated assessment framewor…
MIRO learns robust latent spaces by maximizing mutual information with future information.
problem Robust perception in complex, unstructured environments with low sample complexity.
method MIRO maximizes mutual information in a latent space for model-based reinforcement learning.
result MIRO outperforms reconstruction objectives in cluttered scenes.
Mixed likelihood GPs improve model performance in human-in-the-loop experiments.
problem Lack of auxiliary information in traditional GPs for human responses.
method Propose mixed likelihood variational GPs to leverage auxiliary information.
result Modeling performance improvements across diverse applications.
New CNN approach reduces overconfidence in object classification predictions.
problem Overconfident predictions from deep models, especially SoftMax layer.
method Introduces CNN probabilistic approach using Logit layer for Bayesian inference.
result Proposed approach shows promising performance compared to SoftMax.
PCI combines perception and control using Bayesian inference with object-based representations.
problem Separate perception and control in reinforcement learning.
method Joint Perception and Control as Inference (PCI) framework with Object-based Perception Control (OPC).
result OPC achieves good perceptual grouping quality and outperforms baselines in accumulated rewards.
Study the tradeoff between signal distortion and human perception over finite channels.
problem Characterize the distortion-perception tradeoff for finite channels with arbitrary metrics.
method Solve linear programming problems to compute the distortion-perception function and optimal reconstructions.
result DP function is piecewise linear in the perception index.
The paper uses Bayesian Surprise to identify unexpected structures in indoor environments.
problem Identifying unexpected structures in indoor environments.
method Bayesian Surprise applied to Isovist Analysis of 2D floor plans.
result Surprise regions in indoor environments can be used to focus on important areas in LBS.
A framework isolates VQA reasoning from perception for better model evaluation.
problem Improper separation of visual perception and reasoning in VQA models.
method Introducing a framework and a top-down calibration technique to decouple reasoning from perception.
result Improved evaluation of VQA models by separating reasoning from perception.
LipKernel adds robustness to CNNs by enforcing Lipschitz bounds.
problem Improving robustness of CNNs in real-time applications.
method Dissipative layers parameterized by LMIs and 2-D Roesser model.
result Orders of magnitude faster run-time compared to state-of-the-art methods.
End-to-end autonomous driving perception learns latent features for better performance.
problem Current autonomous driving systems are complex and require human engineering.
method Sequential latent representation learning for end-to-end perception.
result End-to-end perception model solves detection, tracking, localization, and mapping problems.
Geometric model explains music perception combining neuroscience and acoustics.
problem Rationalize and predict psycho-acoustic phenomena in music perception.
method Combining neuroscientific theories with acoustic observations, a geometric model of the space of all chords is created.
result The geometric model allows for rigorous studies of psychoacoustic quantities like roughness and harmonicity.
Safe control for vehicles using learned perception from images.
problem Controlling autonomous vehicles with partial state information from images.
method Learned perception map and safe set design for a closed loop system.
result Generalization properties of the perception-control loop are favorable.
Deep RL policies can leak private information from trained policies.
problem Privacy leakage in deep reinforcement learning models.
method Environment dynamics search via genetic algorithm and candidate inference based on shadow policies.
result 95.83% average recovery rate of floor plans from trained Grid World navigation DRL agents.
RETR improves indoor radar perception with a novel transformer model.
problem Indoor radar perception lacks models tailored for multi-view radar settings.
method RETR extends DETR architecture with depth-prioritized feature similarity, tri-plane loss, and radar-to-camera transformation.
result RETR outperforms state-of-the-art methods by 15.38+ AP for object detection and 11.91+ IoU for instance segmentation.
The success of various applications including robotics, digital content creation, and visualization demand a structured and abstract representation of the 3D world from limited sensor data. Inspired by the nature of human perception of 3D shapes as a collection of simple parts, we explore such an abstract shape represe…
Researchers study how teachers' advising relationships influence their perceptions of satisfaction and students, not policy influence.
problem Understanding the relationship between teachers' advising relationships and their perceptions of satisfaction and students.
method Proposed a novel joint model of network and item responses (JNIRM) with correlated latent variables.
result Teachers' advising relationships contribute more to satisfaction and students than to influence over educational policies.