DISA

Don’t miss the opportunity to come and listen to our invited lecture from Memorial University of Newfoundland – Dr. Vinicius Prado da Fonseca
Please sign up via this form by February 21st. https://forms.gle/wZ9YmV8Fu4AwbaQu5

Title: “Using ML/RL to develop visual and tactile sensing for the next generation of assistant devices and smart prosthesis”

Abstract:
The next generation of autonomous robotic assistants and semi-autonomous prostheses will focus on making object manipulation more predictable and reliable. Achieving these goals requires novel manipulation methods while obtaining and processing accurate object information. This presentation delves into recent investigations leveraging Machine Learning models and Reinforcement Learning methodologies to extract hand and object characteristics from visual and tactile data. Our ongoing research spans various domains, including robotic perception, human grasp analysis, and intention recognition. Specifically, we will showcase progress in haptic feedback integration, enhancing robot hand grasp stability, automatic texture recognition, precise surface reconstruction, and optimizing robotic disassembly tasks. Through these endeavors, we aim to illuminate pioneering approaches in employing machine learning models to analyze visual-tactile data, offering promising applications in automated hand control and biomedical engineering.

Bio:
Dr. Vinicius Prado da Fonseca , Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In 2014, Dr. Prado was awarded the Science without Borders Ph.D. scholarship, and later, in 2020, obtained his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Prado’s area of expertise is robotic manipulation and visual and tactile robotic feedback, where he focuses on building the next generation of tactile sensing and perception combined with artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic controllers, and applied reinforcement/machine learning. In recent years, he has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in leading conferences and journals such as IEEE ICRA, Springer Intelligent Robotics, and IEEE Transactions.
https://www.cs.mun.ca/~vpradodafons/