Making robots learn to perceive and act with understanding

At IIS we enable autonomous robots to perceive and act flexibly and robustly in unstructured environments, leveraging machine learning methods to build perceptual, motor and reasoning skills.

We seek to answer the question: How can we enable robots to acquire the knowledge and understanding they require to interact sensibly with unstructured environments?

Our research addresses complete perception-action loops, from computer vision to grasping and manipulation, using reactive algorithms and/or cognitive models. Much of our work uses machine learning to enable robots to synthesize and improve complex and robust sensorimotor behavior with experience. Related areas of interest include human-robot interaction, image and video analysis, and visual neuroscience.

Group picture taken at our retreat in Obergurgl

Check our thesis topics for Bachelor and Master students.

* Justus Piater is an **invited speaker** at the [[http://soma-summerschool.dlr.de/|SoMa Summer School on Soft Manipulation]] in July 2017. * Justus Piater is an **invited speaker** at the workshop on [[http://mlhlcr2016.tanichu.com//|Machine Learning Methods for High-Level Cognitive Capabilities in Robotics]] at [[http://www.iros2016.org/|IROS]] in October 2016. * Justus Piater is an **invited speaker** at the NII Shonan Meeting on [[http://shonan.nii.ac.jp/shonan/blog/2015/10/31/cognitive-development-and-symbol-emergence-in-humans-and-robots/| Cognitive Development and Symbol Emergence in Humans and Robots]] in October 2016, in Japan. * Justus Piater is an **invited speaker** at the workshop on [[https://robo21century.physik3.gwdg.de/|Robotics in the 21st century: Challenges and Promises]] in September 2016. * Justus Piater is an **invited Speaker** at the international conference on [[https://www.uibk.ac.at/projects/agency-and-physics/events/aqpic.html|Agency and (Quantum) Physics]] in September 2016. * Emre Ugur is an **invited speakers** at the workshop on [[http://www.bootstrapping-manipulation.com/|Bootstrapping Manipulation Skills]] at [[http://www.roboticsconference.org/|RSS]] in June 2016. * Emre Ugur is co-organizing **Shonan Meeting** on [[http://shonan.nii.ac.jp/shonan/blog/2015/10/31/cognitive-development-and-symbol-emergence-in-humans-and-robots/| Cognitive Development and Symbol Emergence in Humans and Robots]], with Tadahiro Taniguchi and George Konidaris, in October 2016, in Japan. * Emre Ugur is an **invited speaker** at the [[http://www.cnr.osaka-u.ac.jp/?p=1707&lang=en | 2nd International Workshop on Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics]] in February 2016, in Osaka, Japan.

Older News

• Wie Robin gelernt hat, einen Turm zu bauen - Der Standard (May 1, 2016)
• ORF, Austria's public TV and radio service, reports on our work in the context of the Xperience and SQUIRREL projects (21.4.2016, in German):
  • Ö1 Wissen aktuell (radio)
  • Tirol heute (TV)
  • tirol.orf.at News (text + teaser video)
• Hier sind die Roboter - News (April 16, 2016, in German)
• Fast wie Science Fiction: Ein Roboter, der lernt wie ein Kind - Tiroler Tageszeitung (February 3, 2016, in German) features Emre Ugur's work on stacked learning.
• Eine Kamera als Sehhilfe (iPoint 06.02.2015, in German)
• Robotik an der Uni Innsbruck - TirolTV vom 1 Dezember 2014
• RAI Südtirol - Tagesschau vom 12 Juli 2014
• Roboter, die von Menschen lernen - (iPoint 03.01.2014, in German)
• Learning from the Brain - UIBK news 21/11/2012 reports on 2DSIL, a biologically-inspired model of shape representation.
• Stille Welt - Gehörlos in Tirol - the Tyrolean street newspaper reports on the SignSpeak project. (20er, pp. 6-7, April 2012, in German)
• Übersetzungslücken schließen - the UIBK supplement to an Austrian newspaper reports on our SignSpeak project (wissenswert 18 pp. 16-17, February 2012, in German)
• Schlaue Roboter im Haushalt (iPoint 13.04.2011, in German)
• Roboter lernen lernen (zukunft forschung 2/2010, in German)

University of Innsbruck
Department of Computer Science
Technikerstr. 21a
6020 Innsbruck
Austria

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