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Events for the 3rd week of May

  • PhD Defense - Artem Molchanov

    Mon, May 11, 2020 @ 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Ph.D. Defense - Artem Molchanov 5/11 1:30 pm "Data Scarcity in Robotics: Leveraging Structural Priors and Representation Learning"

    Ph.D. Candidate: Artem Molchanov
    Date: Monday, May 11, 2020
    Time: 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
    Committee: Gaurav S. Sukhatme (Chair), Nora Ayanian, Heather Culbertson, Satyandra K. Gupta
    Title: Data Scarcity in Robotics: Leveraging Structural Priors and Representation Learning

    Abstract:
    Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence have benefited significantly from access to large pools of data accompanied in many cases by labels, ground truth values, or perfect demonstrations. In robotics, however, such data are scarce or absent completely. Overcoming this issue is a major barrier to move robots from structured laboratory settings to the unstructured real world. In this thesis, by leveraging structural priors and representation learning, we provide several solutions when data required to operate robotics systems is scarce or absent.

    In the first part of this thesis we study sensory feedback scarcity. We show how to use high-dimensional alternative sensory modalities to extract data when primary sensory sources are absent. In a robot grasping setting, we address the problem of contact localization and solve it using multi-modal tactile feedback as the alternative source of information. We leverage multiple tactile modalities provided by piezoresistive and capacitive sensor arrays to structure the problem as spatio-temporal inference. We employ the representational power of neural networks to acquire the complex mapping between tactile sensors and the contact locations. We investigate scarce feedback due to the high cost of measurements. We study this problem in a challenging field robotics setting where multiple severely underactuated aquatic vehicles need to be coordinated. We show how to leverage collaboration among the vehicles and the spatio-temporal smoothness of the ocean currents as a prior to densify feedback about ocean currents to acquire better controllability.

    In the second part of this thesis, we investigate scarcity of the data related to the desired task. We develop a method to efficiently leverage simulated dynamics priors to perform sim-to-real transfer of a control policy when no data about the target system is available. We investigate this problem in the scenario of sim-to-real transfer of low-level stabilizing quadrotor control policies. We demonstrate that we can learn robust policies in simulation and transfer them to the real system while acquiring no samples from the real quadrotor. We consider the general problem of learning a model with a very limited number of samples using meta-learned losses. We show how such losses can encode a prior structure about families of tasks to create well-behaved loss landscapes for efficient model optimization. We demonstrate the efficiency of our approach for learning policies and dynamics models in multiple robotics settings.


    Meeting Links:
    Zoom Meeting:
    https://usc.zoom.us/j/98384775690
    Meeting ID: 983 8477 5690


    Google Meet (ONLY A BACKUP - IF WE EXPERIENCE PROBLEMS WITH ZOOM):
    Meeting ID:
    meet.google.com/unz-zwzs-nxj
    Phone Numbers:
    +1 470-735-5928
    PIN: 476 191 520#

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98384775690

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Lizsl De Leon

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  • Virtual First-Year Admission Information Session

    Tue, May 12, 2020 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Our virtual information session is a live presentation from a USC Viterbi admission counselor designed for high school students and their family members to learn more about the USC Viterbi undergraduate experience. Our session will cover an overview of our undergraduate engineering programs, the application process, and more on student life.Guests will be able to ask questions and engage in further discussion toward the end of the session.

    Please register here!

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • USC Games Expo 2020

    USC Games Expo 2020

    Tue, May 12, 2020 @ 02:00 PM - 09:30 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Receptions & Special Events


    The USC Games Expo, in Partnership with jam City, will be held on May 12th. The event will be streamed LIVE on multiple platforms - including Twitch - and will be accessible via uscgamesexpo.com

    RSVP now at http://uscgamesexpo2020.eventbrite.com

    Location: Online

    WebCast Link: http://uscgamesexpo.com

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Ryan Rozan

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  • Viterbi Live: The Race for the COVID-19 Vaccine

    Thu, May 14, 2020 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Alumni

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Pin Wang, USC Professor

    Talk Title: Viterbi Live: The Race for the COVID-19 Vaccine

    Abstract: As the global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus continues, USC Viterbi professor Dr. Pin Wang is leading a team in the development of a new vaccine.

    Their research isolates the human antibodies that can successfully fight the viral infection in order to create treatments that improve recovery times for COVID-19 patients.

    Join us for a live discussion as Dr. Wang presents his findings and challenges ahead. Dr. Stacey Finley, USC Viterbi Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Biological Sciences, will host and moderate the session.

    Please register here: https://viterbi-live-wang-finley.eventbrite.com

    This session will be hosted on Zoom. Links and passwords will be sent to all registered participants the morning of May 14th.

    For any questions, please email us at engalums@usc.edu.

    Biography: Dr. Wang is the Zohrab A. Kaprielian Fellow in Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering. His lab specializes in the emerging field of immunobioengineering, which uses engineering tools to better understand the immune system and to develop novel molecular and cellular immunotherapies.

    Dr. Finley is the holder of the Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair and the Director of the Center for Computational Modeling of Cancer. She has a joint appointment in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the Department of Biological Sciences.

    Host: Stacey Finley & Viterbi Advancement

    More Info: https://viterbi-live-wang-finley.eventbrite.com

    More Information: Viterbi Live - Wang & Finley.jpg

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Kristy Ly

    Event Link: https://viterbi-live-wang-finley.eventbrite.com

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  • Virtual First-year Admission Information Session

    Thu, May 14, 2020 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Our virtual information session is a live presentation from a USC Viterbi admission counselor designed for high school students and their family members to learn more about the USC Viterbi undergraduate experience. Our session will cover an overview of our undergraduate engineering programs, the application process, and more on student life.Guests will be able to ask questions and engage in further discussion toward the end of the session.

    Please register here!

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • Repeating EventECE PhD Zoom Party

    Fri, May 15, 2020 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Student Activity


    Tune in EVERY FRIDAY AT 3:30pm to meet and catch up with fellow PhDs for different games every week with prizes! All students receive login instructions in a separate email.

    Audiences: All ECE PhD Students

    View All Dates

    Contact: Cathy Huang

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