Unleashing Autonomy in Robotics

With the rising need to tackle evolving operational challenges and dynamically changing environments, there is a growing demand for robots that can exhibit increased autonomy. Traditionally, robots relied on rigid, pre-programmed controllers, but this paradigm is now giving way to embedded intelligence, encompassing perception, reasoning, control, learning, and adaptive behaviors. This talk offers an overview of the autonomy paradigm in robotics, delving into the potential and limitations of cutting-edge techniques in the fields of machine learning and robotics. Through examples, we explore how these advancements empower robots to face complex scenarios and adapt to unforeseen circumstances, revolutionizing their capabilities.

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Loris Roveda received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, in 2011 and 2015, respectively. He is currently a Permanent Senior Researcher with the Istituto Dalle Molle di studi sull’Intelligenza Artificiale (IDSIA), Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI), Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland. His research activities include AI and ML techniques applied to robotics (e.g., to robot control, human–robot collaboration, task learning), exoskeleton design and control, control theory, robotics teleoperation. He has been involved in several national and international projects as coordinator or PI, and he is co-authoring several international papers (https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=3un_pPgAAAAJ&hl=it).