Tahiya Salam is a PhD student studying robotics in the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests lie at the intersection of multi-robot teams, dynamical systems, and machine learning.

On this episode, we talk with Tahiya about some of the different ways one can have a social impact on the world through research and reflect on what it was like for us to transition from college to grad school. We also dive into research and briefly talk about her work on creating systems for robots to collaborate with each other and close with some advice for grad students starting this fall.

Music:

Changing World by Ben Beiny www.premiumbeat.com

Kiri Wagstaff works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, as a researcher in the Machine Learning and Instrument Autonomy Group, investigating ways that machine learning can be used to increase the autonomy of space missions. From 2013 to 2017, she also served as a tactical planner and uplink lead for the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. She’s also an Associate Research Professor at Oregon State University, where she is teaching classes in Computer Science and doing research on competency-aware machine learning.

Kiri is a prolific researcher and an expert learner. Her career is an example in how awesome life can be when you love going to work and love the challenges you get to tackle every day. Talking to her made me feel much more optimistic about getting to shape my own research career, if I decide to go down that route, and I hope our conversation will leave you with a similar feeling.

Links:

Read your Kindle highlights: https://read.amazon.com/notebook

Kiri’s website: https://www.wkiri.com/

Music:

Changing World by Ben Beiny www.premiumbeat.com

Aaron Parness is a Principal Research Scientist at Amazon Robotics & AI, where he focuses on robotic manipulation, developing new capabilities for the fulfillment process both inside and outside the warehouse. He helps set the direction of the Robotics & AI organization, consults with other teams across Amazon, and owns technical deliverables like new end of arm tools, workcell designs, and process flow concepts.

Prior to joining Amazon, he spent 9 years at NASA JPL, where he founded and built the Robotic Prototyping Lab into a group more than 20 strong with funding from multiple agencies. They embrace iterative design principles and rapid prototyping processes to quickly invent and develop robotic systems for mobility and manipulation. His final project was leading the Moon Diver Discovery Mission from concept through Step-1.

YouTube videos of climbing robots:

NASA Climbing Robot Scales Cliffs and Looks for Life

Crash Proof Rotary Microspine Robot

1:30 min Gecko Tool Summary

NASA JPL Robotic Microspines

Rock Climbing Robot

Music: Changing World by Ben Beiny (www.premiumbeat.com)