AI Seminar - Machine Learning in Autonomous Systems: Theory and Practice

Machine Learning in Autonomous Systems: Theory and Practice

Abstract: Current artificial intelligence (AI) systems for perception and action incorporate a number of techniques: optimal observer models, Bayesian filtering, probabilistic mapping, trajectory planning, dynamic navigation and feedback control. I will briefly describe and demonstrate some of these methods for autonomous driving and for legged and flying robots.  In order to model data variability due to pose, illumination, and background changes, low-dimensional manifold representations have long been used in machine learning. But how well can such manifolds be processed by neural networks?  I will highlight the role of neural representations and discuss differences between synthetic and biological approaches to computation and learning.

Bio: Dr. Daniel D. Lee is the Tisch University Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell Tech and Executive Vice President for Samsung Research. He previously was the UPS Foundation Chair Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. summa cum laude in Physics from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After completing his studies, he was a researcher at AT&T and Lucent Bell Laboratories in the Theoretical Physics and Biological Computation departments. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and AAAI and has received the National Scienc Foundation CAREER award and the Lindback award for distinguished teaching. He was also a fellow of the Hebrew University Institute of Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, an affiliate of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and organized the US-Japan National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering symposium and Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference. His research focuses on understanding general computational principles in biological systems, and on applying that knowledge to build intelligent robotic systems that can learn from experience.