CHAI Research Talk: Mohammed Javad Khojasteh PhD, RIT
CHAI Spring 2025 Seminar Series Research Talk
Refreshments will be served
DATE: Monday, March 3, 2025, 12:00-1:00 PM
SPEAKER: Mohammed Javad Khojasteh PhD, Gleason Endowed Assistant Professor of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering, RIT
TITLE: New Frontiers in Autonomous Robotics, Control, and Sensing
IN PERSON: Golisano Hall (070), Room CYB-1710/1720
HOST: Ferat Sahin, PhD, CHAI Area Lead, Automation; Department Head, Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering, Kate Gleason College of Engineering
ABSTRACT: Autonomous robotic systems promise to transform many aspects of our lives, including agriculture, healthcare, and construction. Ensuring that these systems can safely adapt during online operation is crucial for their successful deployment in uncertain and complex real-world environments. In this talk, I will begin by discussing how the fusion of machine learning, control, and sensing can enable intelligent systems to achieve outcomes beyond what these fields can accomplish independently. Next, I will present learning-enabled methodologies that allow robots to navigate and maintain safety while interacting with heterogeneous agents and obstacles. The proposed probabilistic methods establish a foundation for safety in next-generation robotic systems and can be integrated with model-free reinforcement learning techniques to formally guarantee safety by projecting desired actions to the nearest safe action. Moreover, I will introduce DAREK (Distance-Aware Error for Kolmogorov Networks), which is more interpretable than traditional neural networks, more efficient than conventional Gaussian Processes, and more effective in providing distance-aware uncertainty bounds. I will also discuss its applications in autonomy. Finally, I will summarize the implications of these developments for cyber-physical systems security, data-driven control of quantum devices, and autonomous sensing for ocean acoustics.
BIO: Dr. Mohammad Javad Khojasteh is a Gleason Endowed Assistant Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Before joining RIT, he held postdoctoral positions at Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Department of Mechanical Engineering and Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he worked with Team CoSTAR as visitor at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Khojasteh received Ph.D. and M.Sc degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of California San Diego (UCSD) in 2019 and 2017, respectively. He completed his B.Sc. degree in both Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from Sharif University of Technology in 2015. Dr. Khojasteh's publications, co-authored with colleagues and students, have received awards, including Tammy L. Blair Student Paper Award from the International Society of Information Fusion.
NOTE: To schedule interpreter and/or services for this event, please use https://myaccess.rit.edu.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
| Cost | FREE |
Interpreter Requested?
No