A guest post on the IEEE Spectrum Automation blog by author William Hertling discusses how the open source culture can revolutionize the future of robotics and AI. In both academic and industrial community, the idea of a slow, incremental progress in challenging fields such as machine perception and robotics is the standard way of thinking. May be we should think again, suggests Hertling Read the rest of this entry »
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Open sourcing AI & Robotics
| May 5, 2012Comments: 2 CommentsAlso posted in Business -
Reinforcement Learning with Trace Conditioning
| March 14, 2012
In the previous post, I introduced the project undertaken last semester. In this post, I will go into further detail on my particular task in the project: reinforcement learning. If you recall, the robot we wish to control is an iRobot Create (a vacuumless Roomba), which we have augmented with a web camera. The camera is able to pan to 150° in either direction from center. Read the rest of this entry »Comments: Leave a comment -
Learning Approach/Avoidance Behaviors for Visual Stimuli
| March 12, 2012
In the fall of 2011, I, along with Jeremy Wurbs and Annan Mozeika, initiated a project to use visual tracking and reinforcement learning to cause an iRobot Create to develop approach and avoidance behaviors. This work was done for credit in Boston University's "Topics in Adaptive Mobile Robotics" course. Read the rest of this entry »Comments: Leave a comment -
Optic Flow-Based Navigation
| October 31, 2011
This summer, I was part of the Boston University Research Internship in Science and Engineering. I worked primarily with Samuel Kim, another high school intern from Minnesota, Florian Raudies, a postdoctorate research associate in the Cognitive and Neural Systems Department, Schuyler Eldridge, an electrical engineering graduate student, and Dr. Ajay Joshi, the assistant professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Much of the work was done in the Boston University's Neuromorphics Laboratory. Read the rest of this entry »Comments: 1 Comment -
Study Computational Neuroscience at Boston University
| September 21, 2011
The Computational Neuroscience PhD specialization of Boston University’s Graduate Program for Neuroscience provides students with a uniquely specialized curriculum that supplements core neuroscience coursework with advanced training in a wide array of computational methods for studying the nervous system and developing neuroscience-related technologies. Topics of study include: neural network modeling, neural dynamics, sensory, motor, and cognitive modeling, statistical modeling, sensory and motor prosthesis, brain-machine interfaces, neuroinformatics, neuromorphic engineering, and robotics. Coursework is chosen from the wide array of computational and neuroscience courses offered by the many departments and programs of the main Boston University campus and the BU School of Medicine. Students pursue their research interests in laboratories across the University and have the opportunity to combine hands on experimental research with highly sophisticated computational analysis.Comments: 1 Comment -
Learning to see in a virtual world
| September 18, 2011
This post is authored by Jasmin Leveille and Gennady Livitz, two Neuromorphics Lab researchers working on the development of the MoNETA brain. The goal of the MOdular Neural Exploring Traveling Agent (MoNETA; Versace and Chanlder, 2010) project is to develop an animat, or virtual agent, that can intelligently interact and learn to navigate a virtual world making decisions aimed at increasing rewards while avoiding danger. The animat is designed to be modular: a whole brain system, or artificial nervous system including many cortical and subcortical areas found in mammalian brains, is progressively refined with more complex and adaptive modules, and is tested in increasingly more challenging environment. This post discusses the development of a key component of the visual system. Read the rest of this entry »Comments: Leave a comment -
SSVEP-controlled robots
| September 2, 2011
Both the brain-computer interface (BCI) and bran-machine interface (BMI) fields have shown some interesting applications as of late. One interesting potential is sure to be seen in the realm of EEG-controlled robotics. A partnership between the Neural Prosthetics Lab, Neuromorphics Lab, and Speech Lab at Boston University is underway to merge adaptive robotics with BCI control. Read the rest of this entry »Comments: 8 CommentsAlso posted in Brain-interfaces -
Silicon brains
| July 19, 2011
This article, appeared on 7/19/2011 on AZoRobotics, discusses the main reasons why I believe that we are on the verge of a paradigm shift in the way robots are going to be programmed. AZoRobotics.com is part of AZoNetwork, a leading online science, engineering and medical publisher serving over 2.5 million monthly visitor sessions across its suite of sites.... so it's a good venue to get some valuable feedback.
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Behind the scenes of the Neuromorphics Lab
| June 6, 2011
I walked into the building and there was a human-sized robot waiting to greet me. It shook my hand, took my coat, and brought me to sit in the room where my interview was going to be held. It asked me whether I needed a drink, and then proceeded to clean the countertops and water the plants. When I asked whether there was a reason it was working so hard, it simply said, "I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do." Read the rest of this entry » -
Of Tinkerers and Men of Science
| April 3, 2011
Recently Neurdon reported about the China Brain Project, and a certain Dr Hugo De Garis who was heading it. It was not the first time I had collided with that name, and it instantly sent me down memory lane.I remember when I was young and deeply interested in computers and technology, my first addicting taste of the fields of AI and neuro-computation came from exposure to the work of two men. They are arguably not the leading luminaries today in neuro-computation or neuro-morphic engineering, but they were part of the first sparks of the field, before DARPA was taking it seriously and before the Blue Brain project had been dreamt of. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments: 3 Comments