The Robot Perception & Learning Lab
Student Guidebook


For prospective students, please go through this web page before talking to me.
General
  • Lab blog: browse our blog to see what papers/topics we have studied/discussed.
  • We offer two advanced robotics courses:
    • Fall semester: Robot Perception and Learning
    • Spring semester: Advanced Mobile Robotics
  • Read the following articles about doing research.
    • Marie desJardins, How to Succeed In Graduate School [link] [ps]
    • David Patterson, How to Have a Bad Career in Research/Academia [link]
Research Themes
Perception
  • Simultaneous Localization, Mapping and Moving Object Tracking (SLAMMOT)
    • Ladar-based SLAMMOT
    • Monocular SLAMMOT
    • Multi-Robot SLAMMOT
  • From SLAMMOT to Higher Level Perception
    • Interaction and Activity Recognition
Learning
  • Adaboost
  • Graphical Models
  • Conditional Random Fields
Action
  • Planning under Uncertainty
  • Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDP)
  • Human Robot Interaction (HRI)
Sensors and Robotic Systems
  • Camera-Projector System
  • Microphone Array
  • Mobile Platforms
FAQ for prospective students
  • Q: Do I need to know a lot about hardware to do robotics research?
    • No. The hardware capability for robotics is mostly existing, the issue now is getting the software right. You will learn and get what you need in terms of hardware after joining the lab and attending the robotics courses.
  • Q: Do I need mathematics knowledge to do robotics research?
    • Yes.  We can not conduct solid robotics research without mathematics. It is likely that you do not have such knowledge in the beginning. You must be able to learn these materials by yourselves.
  • Q: Do I need to have hands-on experience with software development?
    • Yes. We build real robots and demonstrate our theory and systems with our robots in the real world. Programming ability is critical.
  • Q: I am a master student. Am I guaranteed to graduate in two years?
    • Of course not. 
    • Below are the important dates for preparing/holding the oral exam. Let D be your planned defense date.
      • 4 weeks before D: You have to complete and send the thesis draft to the advisor. The draft will be reviewed/examined carefully. 
      • 3 weeks before D: If the thesis draft is satisfactory, the oral exam can be held. The thesis committee members will be organized and the schedule of the oral exam will be confirmed. 
      • 1 weeks before D: You have to send the thesis to the committee members.
      • D: You do your best to defense your work. The thesis committee will decide if your thesis work and defense talk  are satisfactory or not.
    • For having high quality thesis and defense, these deadlines are firm.
  • Q: Can I prepare my thesis in Chinese?
    • No. You must prepare your thesis and papers in English.
  • Q: Is the email communication within the lab in English?
    • Yes.
  • Q: Will I get financial support if joining the group?
    • In general, yes. This also depends on your performance and contributions.
  • Q: I would like to audit your lab meeting. Is it okay?
    • Sure. We will add you to the email list in case that the schedule or place of the lab meeting changes.
  • Q: I would like to borrow your robots/sensors for my own study/research. Is it okay?
    • In general, yes. Feel free to contact me for more information.

by Chieh-Chih (Bob) Wang
Created: Aug. 3, 2007
Last Modified: March 9, 2008