{"690202":{"#nid":"690202","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Maxwell Asselmeier","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Perception-informed Semantic Autonomy for Legged Systems\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDate:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Wednesday, May 20th, 2026\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETime:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;10am - 12pm ET\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELocation:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Klaus 1212 (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgatech.zoom.us%2Fmy%2Fmassel\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctm186%40gtvault.onmicrosoft.com%7Cb9dfa79c56184d4ccb1308dead19ede2%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C639138524056919522%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=w5lzFlJJQ1hQkeT%2Bzul4ygb9CrkNQrsh7o0Hitgb4BE%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/my\/massel\u0022\u003EZoom link\u003C\/a\u003E)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMaxwell Asselmeier\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobotics Ph.D. Student\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWoodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Ye Zhao (co-advisor) \u2013 Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Patricio A. Vela (co-advisor) \u2013 School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Sehoon Ha \u2013 School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Lu Gan - Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Zak Kingston \u2013 Department of Computer Science, Purdue University\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn this proposal, we will discuss two perception-informed and semantically-aware autonomy frameworks, one for Quadrupedal Navigation (QuadNav) and one for Bipedal Loco-manipulation (BiLocoManip). Through presenting these two frameworks, we will demonstrate how the task, environment, and embodiment at hand are crucial aspects that should inform the design of an autonomy stack. Within QuadNav, we decompose the task of navigation into global and local levels, with the local level being further decomposed into torso-, foot-, and joint-level reasoning. Torso-level decision-making is done through QuadGap, a gap-based local planner. Foot- and joint-level planning is done through QuadPiPS, a bi-level graph search and trajectory optimization framework. These various framework levels are all coordinated through a learned experience heuristic. Within BiLocoManip, we decompose the task of whole-body loco-manipulation into task planning over a long horizon, contact planning over a short horizon, and joint control in the immediate future. At the task level, a Vision Language Model (VLM) synthesizes planning commands according to environmental affordances which inform sampling during Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control through a learned world model. Joint-level commands are ultimately tracked through a whole-body reinforcement learning policy.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPerception-informed Semantic Autonomy for Legged Systems\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Perception-informed Semantic Autonomy for Legged Systems"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-05-08 15:56:03","changed_gmt":"2026-05-08 15:56:45","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-05-20T10:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-05-20T12:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-05-20T12:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-05-20 14:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-05-20 16:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-05-20 16:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Klaus 1212 (Zoom link)","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":""}}}