Robots in our world

Abstract

To make transfer to applications in everyday domains robots require the ability to cope with novelty, incomplete information and uncertainty. In this talk I will describe a line of work carried out over ten years that provides methods to tackle this. In particular I will focus on two problems: object search and manipulation. Both require the ability to reason and learn in open or novel worlds. The results are demonstrated in a variety of robot systems: in particular the Dora and Boris robots. Dora is one of the first mobile robots able to plan in open worlds, using the notion of assumptions. Dora also uniquely attempts to explain and then verify explanations in the face of failure. Boris is a robot system for manipulation that learns to grasp novel objects from a very small number of example grasps. To make transfer to applications in everyday domains robots require the ability to cope with novelty, incomplete information and uncertainty. In this talk I will describe a line of work carried out over ten years that provides methods to tackle this. In particular I will focus on two problems: object search and manipulation. Both require the ability to reason and learn in open or novel worlds. The results are demonstrated in a variety of robot systems: in particular the Dora and Boris robots. Dora is one of the first mobile robots able to plan in open worlds, using the notion of assumptions. Dora also uniquely attempts to explain and then verify explanations in the face of failure. Boris is a robot system for manipulation that learns to grasp novel objects from a very small number of example grasps.