{"683218":{"#nid":"683218","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Maks Sorokin","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle\u003C\/strong\u003E: \u0022Sense, Shape, and Skill: From Minimal Structures to Practical Robot Capabilities\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMaks Sorokin\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobotics Ph.D. Student\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDate:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Friday, August 1st, 2025\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETime:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;9-11am ET\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELocation:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;(Virtual) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/94601071486\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/94601071486\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Sehoon Ha (Advisor) - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Danfei Xu - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Sonia Chernova\u0026nbsp;- School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. C. Karen Liu - Department of Computer Science, Stanford University\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Jie Tan - Senior Staff Research Scientist, Google DeepMind\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Simon Le Cleac\u0027H -\u0026nbsp;Research Scientist, RAI Institute\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAutonomous robots must navigate complex environments, manipulate objects, and adapt to new tasks - yet current approaches often require massive datasets and extensive training for each capability. This thesis demonstrates that practical robot capabilities emerge not from processing every possible signal, but from purposefully structured learning and systematic knowledge reuse.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI present three contributions: (1) semantic navigation methods that strip visual input to essential boundaries, enabling policies trained in abstract simulations to successfully navigate real urban sidewalks; (2) morphology-aware design revealing that robots maintaining visual access to task-relevant features learn 25\u00d7 more efficiently than those optimized for mechanical metrics alone; and (3) proposed work on athletic manipulation investigating how to achieve fast and steerable policy learning for whole-body control.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy identifying essential representations, designing for information preservation, and structuring for reusability, this thesis offers a path toward more efficient and deployable robot learning systems.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Sense, Shape, and Skill: From Minimal Structures to Practical Robot Capabilities\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"\u0022Sense, Shape, and Skill: From Minimal Structures to Practical Robot Capabilities\u0022"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2025-07-22 18:05:09","changed_gmt":"2025-07-22 18:05:49","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2025-08-01T09:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2025-08-01T11:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2025-08-01T11:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2025-08-01 13:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2025-08-01 15:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2025-08-01 15:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"virtual ","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}