Sylvain Calinon's webpage
Welcome to my homepage! My name is Sylvain Calinon. I am a team leader at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genova Italy. I hold a PhD in robot programming by demonstration from the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. My research interests cover robot programming by demonstration, learning by imitation and human-robot interaction.
You can check out the research and publications sections for more information about what I am doing, or go to the videos section to see humanoid robots learning new skills by imitation.
I also maintain the Programming-by-demonstration.org website, which provides an open access to researchers working in learning by imitation to post announcements, links, and publications.
Recent updates
25/07/2010
It seems that people would not mind having a pancake flipping robot at home! At least for Saturday and Sunday mornings, as the video reached 100K view in one week-end and was featured on several blogs such as Wired, Robots.net, PopularScience, Boingboing, Gizmodo, Makezine, PlasticPals, RobotLiving, BotJunkie, TheDailyWh.at, TechnaBob, Neatorama, LaughingSquid, Geek.com, Ubergizmo, ZiggyTech, Photoxels, Eater.com, AllTop, MillionWordYear, or Cnet.com.
Among the reactions (most of them related to robots taking over the world), we can read:
I, for one, welcome our new pancake-flipping overlords.
When robots take over the universe and turn humans into drooling minions, they will smell like pancakes.
Why, you ask? Researchers (read: friends of evil robots) at the Italian Institute of Technology taught a giant robot arm to flip pancakes through reinforcement learning.
Sure, it took the robot 50 tries just to get the first part down, but he's probably just playing dumb.
Everyone knows you need an angular velocity of 36 degrees per second to flip a pancake!!!
In the future, chefs and cooks will be replaced by robots. Who wouldn't want a MarioBataliBot9000 explaining how the sea and mountains
influence Ligurian cuisine, all the while making dinner for four?
It's hard not to laugh, watching this dumb bot flub flip after flip. But we won't be laughing when we're running for our lives, slowed
down by a stomach full of fluffy pancakes.
Robots cooking, feeding themselves, and feeding other robots. A disturbing trend?
22/07/2010
IROS'2010 paper added in the publications section (with pancake flipping robot video).
22/07/2010
IROS'2010 paper added in the publications section (with ironing robot video).
22/07/2010
RAM article added in the publications section.
20/01/2010
ICRA'2010 paper added in the publications section.
14/10/2009
I am very pleased to announce that the book "Robot programming by demonstration: A probabilistic approach" has been published and is available for order.
14/10/2009
New video of iCub learning to dance.
04/08/2009
Chief Cook and Salvador DaBot have been presented at
Campus-Party Valencia.
Here are pictures and videos of the robot at CP Valencia.
04/08/2009
Chief Cook and Salvador DaBot have been presented at
Campus-Party Valencia.
Here are pictures and videos of the robot at CP Valencia.
16/07/2009
Chief Cook and Salvador DaBot have been presented at
Campus-Party Bogota.
Here are pictures and videos of the robot at CP Bogota.
15/07/2009
New paper for ICAR'09.
New paper for Ro-Man'09.
New video of HOAP-3 learning to handle a spoon to feed Robota by taking mashed potatoes from a plate.
New video of WAM robotic arm learning to play ping-pong.
21/11/2008
There's a new video showing Salvador DaBot the portraitist robot here.
You can also look at its first masterpieces here.
13/11/2008
Salvador DaBot (The Mustachioed Portraitist Robot v2.0) is being presented at the Google Zeitgeist Partner Forum.
12/11/2008
Three awards notifications arriving nearly the same week: Robotdalen Scientific Award
(see the press release here
and the interview here),
ABB Award, and best paper award at Ro-Man'07.
Cloud created through recurrence analysis of the words in my thesis (from Wordle.net)
24/05/2008
Our team won the First Prize in the Human-Robot
Interaction Challenge at the International Conference on Robotics and
Automation (ICRA'2008), where the Chief Cook Robot finished ex aequo with its friend Keepon!
23/05/2008
The Chief Cook Robot has been blogged on
Otherfarm,
Communist Robot,
Engadget,
New Scientist blog,
Make blog,
Hack a day,
Dvice,
BotJunkie,
Machines like us,
Hacked Gadgets,
Technovelgy, and
InternetActu (in French).
05/05/2008
Three new videos have been uploaded:
- The Chief Cook Robot (learning to prepare a cheese'n'ham omelet)
- Teaching two industrial robotic arms through a flexible scaffolding process
- Learning of a collaborative manipulation skill with the HRP2 robot
02/052008
The GMM-GMR sourcecode is now available in C/C++ (platform independent) on Sourceforge.
The Matlab GMM-GMR sourcode is also available on Matlab Central File Exchange.
27/02/2008
New paper accepted for a workshop on Social Interaction with Intelligent Indoor Robots at ICRA'2008.
07/02/2008
The "humanoid robot learning like a child" appeared in a New Scientist video.
29/12/2007
The "humanoid robot drawing portrait" has been featured on several technology/robots blogs such as Gizmodo, Technabob, Botjunkie, Engadget, Neatorama or Crunchgear.
The "humanoid robot learning like a child" also appeared on Botjunkie, Dvice and Hackedgadgets.
21/12/2007
A "humanoid robot finds learning childs play" article appeared in the Newscientist of this week.
12/12/2007
Research section updated.
23/09/2007
New sourcecode available in the sourcecodes section.
07/08/2007
The list of my publications is available here (Please wait until the whole list is loaded).
07/08/2007
The website is online!
Welcome to my homepage! My name is Sylvain Calinon. I am a team leader at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genova Italy. I hold a PhD in robot programming by demonstration from the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. My research interests cover robot programming by demonstration, learning by imitation and human-robot interaction.
You can check out the research and publications sections for more information about what I am doing, or go to the videos section to see humanoid robots learning new skills by imitation.
I also maintain the Programming-by-demonstration.org website, which provides an open access to researchers working in learning by imitation to post announcements, links, and publications.
Recent updates
25/07/2010 |
Among the reactions (most of them related to robots taking over the world), we can read: I, for one, welcome our new pancake-flipping overlords. When robots take over the universe and turn humans into drooling minions, they will smell like pancakes. Why, you ask? Researchers (read: friends of evil robots) at the Italian Institute of Technology taught a giant robot arm to flip pancakes through reinforcement learning. Sure, it took the robot 50 tries just to get the first part down, but he's probably just playing dumb. Everyone knows you need an angular velocity of 36 degrees per second to flip a pancake!!! In the future, chefs and cooks will be replaced by robots. Who wouldn't want a MarioBataliBot9000 explaining how the sea and mountains influence Ligurian cuisine, all the while making dinner for four? It's hard not to laugh, watching this dumb bot flub flip after flip. But we won't be laughing when we're running for our lives, slowed down by a stomach full of fluffy pancakes. Robots cooking, feeding themselves, and feeding other robots. A disturbing trend? |
22/07/2010 |
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22/07/2010 |
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22/07/2010 |
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20/01/2010 |
ICRA'2010 paper added in the publications section. |
14/10/2009 |
I am very pleased to announce that the book "Robot programming by demonstration: A probabilistic approach" has been published and is available for order. |
14/10/2009 |
New video of iCub learning to dance. |
04/08/2009 |
Chief Cook and Salvador DaBot have been presented at Campus-Party Valencia. Here are pictures and videos of the robot at CP Valencia. |
04/08/2009 |
Chief Cook and Salvador DaBot have been presented at Campus-Party Valencia. Here are pictures and videos of the robot at CP Valencia. |
16/07/2009 |
Chief Cook and Salvador DaBot have been presented at Campus-Party Bogota. Here are pictures and videos of the robot at CP Bogota. |
15/07/2009 |
New paper for ICAR'09. New paper for Ro-Man'09. New video of HOAP-3 learning to handle a spoon to feed Robota by taking mashed potatoes from a plate. New video of WAM robotic arm learning to play ping-pong. |
21/11/2008 |
There's a new video showing Salvador DaBot the portraitist robot here. |
13/11/2008 |
Salvador DaBot (The Mustachioed Portraitist Robot v2.0) is being presented at the Google Zeitgeist Partner Forum. |
12/11/2008 |
Three awards notifications arriving nearly the same week: Robotdalen Scientific Award
(see the press release here
and the interview here),
ABB Award, and best paper award at Ro-Man'07. Cloud created through recurrence analysis of the words in my thesis (from Wordle.net) |
24/05/2008 |
Our team won the First Prize in the Human-Robot Interaction Challenge at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA'2008), where the Chief Cook Robot finished ex aequo with its friend Keepon! |
23/05/2008 |
The Chief Cook Robot has been blogged on Otherfarm, Communist Robot, Engadget, New Scientist blog, Make blog, Hack a day, Dvice, BotJunkie, Machines like us, Hacked Gadgets, Technovelgy, and InternetActu (in French). |
05/05/2008 |
Three new videos have been uploaded:
|
02/052008 |
The GMM-GMR sourcecode is now available in C/C++ (platform independent) on Sourceforge. |
27/02/2008 |
New paper accepted for a workshop on Social Interaction with Intelligent Indoor Robots at ICRA'2008. |
07/02/2008 |
The "humanoid robot learning like a child" appeared in a New Scientist video. |
29/12/2007 |
The "humanoid robot drawing portrait" has been featured on several technology/robots blogs such as Gizmodo, Technabob, Botjunkie, Engadget, Neatorama or Crunchgear. The "humanoid robot learning like a child" also appeared on Botjunkie, Dvice and Hackedgadgets. |
21/12/2007 |
A "humanoid robot finds learning childs play" article appeared in the Newscientist of this week. |
12/12/2007 |
Research section updated. |
23/09/2007 |
New sourcecode available in the sourcecodes section. |
07/08/2007 |
The list of my publications is available here (Please wait until the whole list is loaded). |
07/08/2007 |
The website is online! |