{"669342":{"#nid":"669342","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Best Place to Be With Robotics Boom on Horizon, Says New Faculty Member","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAnimesh Garg sees a boom on the horizon for advancements in robot manipulation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s an exciting time to be in the field of robotics, he said, and that\u2019s why the new assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing wants to be at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe robotics faculty at Georgia Tech is particularly strong,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reorganization and refocus of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/robotics\u0022\u003EInstitute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/degree-programs\/phd-machine-learning\u0022\u003EMachine Learning Ph.D.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;program is something that is also very special among our peer group universities.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGarg described his research as unlocking \u201ccommon sense\u201d for robotics. In essence, he thinks carefully about mistakes that robots might make in the real world and how to preempt them before deployment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe said building common sense into robots could be the difference over the next few years if robotics researchers are to reach a new pinnacle of achievements.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCommon sense reasoning in real-world robotics is the challenge of the next decade,\u201d he said.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u201cRobots have a lot of requirements for common sense. Simple things like don\u2019t pack glassware under heavy stuff. We should think about these problems holistically and not trying to build robots in isolation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGarg earned his master\u2019s degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech in 2011. He also has a master\u2019s in computer science and a doctorate in machine learning and robotics from the University of California-Berkley.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGarg spent the past four years teaching robotics, reinforcement learning, robot manipulation, and computer vision at the University of Toronto. He is also a senior research scientist at Nvidia, working on machine learning for robot manipulation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat interested you about coming to Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe primary draw was the research culture and the school\u2019s strength, particularly in robotics and machine learning. What is also attractive about Georgia Tech is that it\u2019s not just computer science and engineering that are strong. There is no shortage of collaborators outside of the computer science neighborhood if I want to pursue projects in climate sciences, material sciences, or statistics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat will your research consist of?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy research will consist of three big-picture topics. First, foundation models for representation and reasoning. How should we talk about common sense and problem solving? The second is generative AI in the context of robots so we can know more about the world through the predictive sense, which allows for better planning. The third pillar would be reinforcement \u2014 the robot learning to do something within its own abilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat inspired you to pursue this field of research?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGetting robots to do stuff on command is one of the longstanding science fiction challenges, right? We have used science fiction examples for many decades, but the progress has been slow. The confluence of machine learning and the ability to reason gives us the tools to solve this problem.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the next decade, we will see more progress in robot manipulation than in the last 40 to 50 years combined. A fundamental set of problems has been solved in the last five to seven years. In the next 10 to 12 years, we will see a boom in the percolation of this technology in everyday life.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you hope to accomplish here at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI want to train students to be leaders in this space for the next decade, whether they choose to be in academia or start new companies. The other thing I want to establish in the research ecosystem is a consortium of robotics researchers within Georgia Tech to work closely with industry. This will enable tech transfer so what we create at Georgia Tech can be brought to fruition in industry and make a broader impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are you looking forward to about teaching your students and how do you plan to work with them?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ll be focusing on a Ph.D. course in reinforcement learning. There is no deep reinforcement learning course offered regularly to in-person students, so that is a need I hope to fill.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe other thing I\u2019ve been developing is a course on robot learning. The idea is that this will be a hands-on course that enables people with little background in robotics to get up to speed of a professional robotics engineer within six months.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn this brief profile and Q\u0026amp;A, robotics expert and new School of Interactive Computing faculty member Animesh Garg, discusses his work developing \u0022common sense\u0022 for robots and how it will contribute to positioning Georgia Tech as a leading institution for research and education in robotics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A robotics expert working to create \u0022common sense\u0022 for robots has joined the faculty of the School of Interactive Computing"}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2023-09-01 13:42:43","changed_gmt":"2023-09-01 13:51:01","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671571":{"id":"671571","type":"image","title":"Animesh Garg is a new assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing who works in robotics and machine learning.","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAnimesh Garg is a new assistant professor at the School of Interactive Computing who works in robotics and machine learning. (Photo by Terence Rushin\/College of Computing.)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1693575915","gmt_created":"2023-09-01 13:45:15","changed":"1693575915","gmt_changed":"2023-09-01 13:45:15","alt":"Animesh Garg is a new assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing who works in robotics and machine learning.","file":{"fid":"254656","name":"Animesh Garg_86A8799.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/01\/Animesh%20Garg_86A8799_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/01\/Animesh%20Garg_86A8799_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":32197,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/09\/01\/Animesh%20Garg_86A8799_0.jpeg?itok=X3SrVOYY"}},"671572":{"id":"671572","type":"image","title":"New assistant professor of interactive computing Animesh Garg outside of the Klaus Advanced Computing Building.","body":"\u003Cp\u003ENew assistant professor of interactive computing Animesh Garg outside of the Klaus Advanced Computing Building. (Photo by Terence Rushin\/College of Computing.)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1693576046","gmt_created":"2023-09-01 13:47:26","changed":"1693576046","gmt_changed":"2023-09-01 13:47:26","alt":"New assistant professor of interactive computing Animesh Garg outside of the Klaus Advanced Computing Building.","file":{"fid":"254657","name":"Animesh Garg_86A8778.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/01\/Animesh%20Garg_86A8778.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/01\/Animesh%20Garg_86A8778.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":98151,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/09\/01\/Animesh%20Garg_86A8778.jpeg?itok=tArXtZLa"}}},"media_ids":["671571","671572"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENathan Deen, Communications Officer I\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Enathan.deen@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}