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Events for October 20, 2023

  • Repeating EventCommunications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours

    Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
    Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
    Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A

    Audiences: Graduate

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    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home

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  • CS Colloquium: Lerrel Pinto (NYU) - Three Lessons for Building General-Purpose Robots

    Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Lerrel Pinto, NYU

    Talk Title: Three Lessons for Building General-Purpose Robots

    Abstract: Over the last decade, a variety of paradigms have sought to teach robots complex and dexterous behaviors in real world environments. On one end of the spectrum we have nativist approaches that bake in fundamental human knowledge through physics models, simulators and knowledge graphs. While on the other end of the spectrum we have tabula rasa approaches that teach robots from scratch. In this talk I will argue for the need for better constructivist approaches to robotics, i.e. techniques that take guidance from humans while allowing robots to continuously adapt in changing scenarios. The constructivist guide I propose will focus on three lessons. First, creating physical interfaces to allow humans to provide robots with rich and dexterous data. Second, developing adaptive learning mechanisms to allow robots to continually fine tune in their environments. Third, architecting models that allow robots to learn from uncurated play. Applications of such a learning paradigm will be demonstrated on mobile manipulators in home environments, industrial robots on precision tasks, and multifingered hands on dexterous manipulation.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.

    Biography: Lerrel Pinto is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at NYU. His research interests focus on creating general purpose robotic systems. He received a PhD degree from CMU in 2019 prior to that he received an MS degree from CMU in 2016, and a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Guwahati. His work on robotics received paper awards at ICRA 2016 and RSS 2023, and finalist awards at IROS 2019 and CoRL 2022. He is a recipient of grants and awards from Amazon, Honda, Hyundai, Meta, LG and Google. More recently, he was named a TR35 innovator under 35 for 2023. Several of his works have been featured in popular media like TechCrunch, MIT Tech Review, Wired, and BuzzFeed among others. His recent work can be found on www.lerrelpinto.com

    Host: Stefanos Nikolaidis

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 115

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Melissa Ochoa

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  • Grad Student Study & Social

    Grad Student Study & Social

    Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Student Activity


    All Viterbi Graduate Students are invited! Grab free snacks, use our quiet study spaces, and prep for midterms with the Viterbi Learning Program. 

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222

    Audiences: Graduate

    Contact: Alex Bronz

    Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392853

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