Events for the 1st week of April
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AME Department Laufer Lecture
Wed, Apr 03, 2019 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bala Balachandran, University of Maryland
Talk Title: Nonlinear Dynamics with Noise
Abstract: Nonlinearity influenced dynamics occurs in a variety of mechanical and structural systems. For operations of many of these systems, noise is often viewed as being undesirable. However, the interplay between noise and nonlinearity in a system can result in significant response changes that can be beneficial to a systems performance. In this spirit, the work carried out to further our understanding on the constructive use of noise in a nonlinear system to realize noise-enhanced responses, noise-enabled stabilization, and noise-assisted response steering will be discussed. Efforts undertaken with partial control will be discussed. Representative physical systems that will be considered include coupled oscillator arrays at the micro-scale and macro-scale, flexible rotor systems, and pendulum systems. The findings of these studies are expected to be relevant to a variety of different nonlinear, mechanical and structural systems. Some thoughts on future directions in the realm of applied nonlinear dynamics will be presented to close the talk.
Bala Balachandran received his B. Tech (Naval Architecture) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, M.S. (Aerospace Engineering) from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA and Ph.D. (Engineering Mechanics) from Virginia Tech. Currently, he is a Minta Martin Professor of Engineering at the University of Maryland, where he has been since 1993. His research interests include nonlinear phenomena, dynamics and vibrations, and control. The publications that he has authored/co-authored include over ninety journal publications, a Wiley textbook entitled Applied Nonlinear Dynamics: Analytical, Computational, and Experimental Methods (1995, 2006), a third edition of a textbook entitled Vibrations (2019) by Cambridge University Press, and a co-edited Springer book entitled Delay Differential Equations: Recent Advances and New Directions (2009). He holds four U.S. patents and one Japan patent, three related to fiber optic sensors and two related to atomic force microscopy. He is a Contributing Editor of the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics and the Editor of the ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics. He is a Fellow of ASME and AIAA.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Reception at 12:00 NOON
Seminar Immediately Following
The Franklin Suite, Third Floor of Tutor Campus Center
Host: AME Department
Location: Franklin Suite, 3rd floor, Tutor Campus Center
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
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AME Seminar
Thu, Apr 04, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nima Fazeli, MIT
Talk Title: Towards Robotic Manipulation, Understanding the World Through Contact
Abstract: Why is robotic manipulation so hard? As humans, we are unrivaled in our ability to dexterously manipulate objects and exhibit complex skills seemingly effortlessly. Recent research in cognitive science suggests that this ability is driven by our internal representations of the physical world, built over a life-time of experience. Our predictive ability is complemented by our senses of sight and touch, intuitive state-estimation, and tactile dexterity. Given the complexity of human reasoning, skill, and hardware, it is not surprising that we have yet to replicate our abilities in robots. In order to bridge this gap, we must develop robotic systems that build their understanding and interpretation of the physical world through contact. Using experiments as tools, these Galilean Robots will distill their experiences into models of the physical world.
In this talk, I will present some of my work spanning the spectrum of analytical to fully data driven methodologies for model building and inference through contact. I believe that Galilean Robots need to master tools from this spectrum for intelligent and dexterous manipulation. First, I will discuss a methodology for the inference of contact forces and system parameters of rigid bodies systems making and breaking contact. I will then touch on data augmented contact models for controls as a medium between analytical and data driven techniques. I will show how a robot can learn the physics of playing Jenga using a hierarchical learning methodology purely from data. I will conclude the talk by providing perspectives on building Galilean Robotic systems that embody intelligent manipulation.
Nima Fazeli is a PhD student with the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT, working with Prof. Alberto Rodriguez. His research focuses on enabling intelligent and dexterous robotic manipulation by developing novel tools combining analytical methods, machine learning, and cognition/AI. During his PhD, Nima has developed inference algorithms for robotic systems undergoing frictional contact, performed empirical evaluations of contact models, demonstrated data-augmented contact models for manipulation, and developed a robotic system capable of learning the physics of playing Jenga using a hierarchical learning methodology. Nima received his masters from the University of Maryland at College Park where he spent most of his time developing analytical and data-driven models of the human (and, on occasion, swine) arterial tree together with novel inference algorithms to diagnoses cardiovascular diseases. His research has been supported by the Rohsenow Fellowship and featured in outlets such as CBS, CNN, and the BBC. He looks forward to robots playing and learning alongside his grandchildren.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
11:00 AM
The Laufer Library (RRB 208)
Refreshments will be served at 10:45 AM.
Host: AME Department
Location: Robert Glen Rapp Engineering Research Building (RRB) - 208 (Laufer Library)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao