Safe Learning Control for Mobile Robots (IS Colloquium)
- Angela Schoellig (Assistant Professor)
- Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), University of Toronto
- More information
In the last decade, there has been a major shift in the perception, use and predicted applications of robots. In contrast to their early industrial counterparts, robots are envisioned to operate in increasingly complex and uncertain environments, alongside humans, and over long periods of time. In my talk, I will argue that machine learning is indispensable in order for this new generation of robots to achieve high performance. Based on various examples (and videos) ranging from aerial-vehicle dancing to ground-vehicle racing, I will demonstrate the effect of robot learning, and highlight how our learning algorithms intertwine model-based control with machine learning. In particular, I will focus on our latest work that provides guarantees during learning (for example, safety and robustness guarantees) by combining traditional controls methods (nonlinear, robust and model predictive control) with Gaussian process regression.
Biography: Angela Schoellig is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and Associate Director of the Center for Aerial Robotics Research and Education (CARRE). With her team, she conducts research at the interface of robotics, controls and machine learning. Her goal is to enhance the performance, safety and autonomy of robots by enabling them to learn from past experiments and from each other. You can watch her robots, both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and autonomous ground robots, perform slalom races and flight dances at https://www.youtube.com/user/angelaschoe. She is one of Robohub's "25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)", winner of MIT's Enabling Society Tech Competition, finalist of Dubai's 2015 $1M "Drones for Good" competition, and youngest member of the 2014 Science Leadership Program, which promotes outstanding scientists in Canada. She has been a keynote speaker at outreach events including TEDxUofT, Lift China, and the Girls Leadership in Engineering Experience weekend. Angela received her Ph.D. from ETH Zurich (with Prof. Raffaello D'Andrea), and holds both an M.Sc. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Prof. Magnus Egerstedt) and a Masters degree in Engineering Cybernetics from the University of Stuttgart, Germany (Prof. Frank Allgower). Her Ph.D. was awarded the ETH Medal and the 2013 Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation Award (as one of 35 worldwide).