[ros-users] Master's degree projects at PAL Robotics

Fri Nov 9 08:19:33 UTC 2012

Dear ROS users,

I'd like to bring to your attention two
internships<http://pal-robotics.com/company/internships>currently open
at PAL Robotics, which are expected to use ROS extensively.
Details can be found in the following links:
- Robot skills: learning to use the right
skill<http://pal-robotics.com/modal/internships/internship13.html>
- Becoming skilled: acquiring novel skills with imitation learning and
motion planning<http://pal-robotics.com/modal/internships/internship14.html>

Start dates are flexible, and can be as early as January 2013. These two
internships are the follow-up of a previous project that compared motion
generation (implemented with sampling-based planners) and motion recall
(implemented with dynamic motion primitives) for reaching tasks
(video<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJy9QiIplE0>
).

Best,

Adolfo Rodríguez Tsouroukdissian.

---------- Text description of opening follows ----------

*Robot skills: learning to use the right skill.*

In the near future, robotic products and services will become an integral
part
of our daily life. One key capability of such robots is that they must have
a set of skills which
are able to solve a wide variety of everyday tasks in human environments.

Currently, a popular approach is to implement such skills as Dynamic
Movement Primitives, which have
several very desirable properties in terms of generalization, compactness,
computational load, and
on-line obstacle avoidance. In a previous project, Dynamic Movement
Primitives were successfully
implemented and executed on the REEM robot, leading to efficient,
predictable movement.

Rather than considering individual skills, the goal of this project is to
provide the REEM robot
with a whole set of skills for everyday manipulation, and to learn in which
task contexts these
skills can be successfully executed. In particular, the project will
consist of the following tasks:

1. Implementing a software infrastructure for representing, storing, and
maintaining libraries of
skills, represented as Dynamic Movement Primitives. This software will be
developed within the Robot
Operating System (ROS).

2. Acquiring a set of 5-10 skills for the REEM through imitation learning.
This will involve the use
of the Kinect sensor to track human motion, for which software is already
available.

3. Learning for which tasks a skill should/can be used. For instance, some
reaching skills may only
work for tables of certain heights. Predicting skill execution success from
task features (for
instance table height, position of the object on the table) will be done
with supervised learning,
based on trial-and-error exploration.

4. Evaluating the generalization and robustness of this skill-based
approach on the REEM robot in
the context of real-world tasks.

Good C++ programming skills, as well as familiarity with Linux user
development tools are required. Familiarity with ROS is desirable, but not
compulsory.

If you're interested, please submit your resume to: recruit at pal-robotics.com
.

*Becoming skilled: acquiring novel skills with imitation learning and
motion planning*.

In the near future, robotic products and services will become an integral
part
of our daily life. One key capability of such robots is that they must have
a set of skills which
are able to solve a wide variety of everyday tasks in human environments.

Currently, a popular approach is to implement such skills as Dynamic
Movement Primitives, which have
several very desirable properties in terms of generalization, compactness,
computational load, and
on-line obstacle avoidance. In a previous project, Dynamic Movement
Primitives were successfully
implemented and executed on the REEM robot, leading to efficient,
predictable movement.

In this project, libraries of skills (represented as Dynamic Movement
Primitives) should be
automatically extended with novel skills. This is essential if none of the
skills in the library is
able to solve the current task. Two methods for extending such libraries
will be investigated:
imitation learning and initializing skills with motion plans generated by
sampling-based motion
planners. The project will consist of the following tasks:

1. Implementing a software infrastructure for representing, storing,
maintaining, and extending
libraries of skills, represented as Dynamic Movement Primitives. This
software will be developed
within the Robot Operating System (ROS). This task will be conducted in
unison with its sister
project: *Robot skills: learning to use the right skill.*

2. Automatically initializing novel Dynamic Movement Primitives with the
output of sampling-based
motion planners.

3. Automatically initializing novel skills through imitation learning. This
will involve the use of
the Kinect sensor to track human motion, for which software is already
available.

4. Optimizing novel skills with stochastic optimization techniques.

5. Evaluating the autonomy and robustness of the approach on the REEM robot
in the context of real-
world tasks.

Good C++ programming skills, as well as familiarity with Linux user
development tools are required. Familiarity with ROS is desirable, but not
compulsory.

If you're interested, please submit your resume to: recruit at pal-robotics.com
.

-- 
Adolfo Rodríguez Tsouroukdissian
Senior robotics engineer
adolfo.rodriguez at pal-robotics.com
http://www.pal-robotics.com

PAL ROBOTICS S.L
c/ Pujades 77-79, 4º4ª
08005 Barcelona, Spain.
Tel. +34.93.414.53.47
Fax.+34.93.209.11.09

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