Abstract

Formal methods – mathematical techniques for describing systems, capturing requirements, and providing guarantees – have been used to synthesize robot control from high-level specification, and to verify robot behavior. Given the recent advances in robot learning and data-driven models, what role can, and should, formal methods play in advancing robotics? In this talk Kress-Gazit gives an overview of the promise and challenges of formal methods for robotics and describe the synergies she sees with data-driven approaches.

Speaker bio

Hadas Kress-Gazit is the Geoffrey S.M. Hedrick Sr. Professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Associate Dean of Engineering for Diversity and Academic Affairs at Cornell University. She received her Ph.D. in Electrical and Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 and has been at Cornell since 2009. Her research focuses on formal methods for robotics and automation and more specifically on synthesis for robotics – automatically creating verifiable robot controllers for complex high-level tasks. Her group explores different types of robotic systems including modular robots, soft robots and swarms and synthesizes ideas from different communities such as robotics, formal methods, control, and hybrid systems. She is an IEEE fellow and has received multiple awards for her research, teaching and advocacy for groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. She lives in Ithaca with her partner and two kids.

In-person attendance and YouTube stream

Seminar will take place in person in the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Room 580) and will also be live streamed to the Robotics Institute YouTube channel.