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Hello and welcome!

My name is Scott and I aspire to build intelligent robots. I am particularly interested in developing robots that are resourceful in that they learn to exploit their innate dynamics to increase performance. I am endlessly motivated by the effectiveness and beauty of animal control, and the often elusive computational principles that underly it.

Presently, I am a PhD candidate in the Computer Science Department at UMass Amherst working under the supervision of Rod Grupen and Andy Barto. I have the privilege of working in two superb research labs: the Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics (LPR) and the Autonomous Learning Laboratory (ALL). I am generously supported by a NASA GSRP Fellowship from Johnson Space Center.

I mostly work with the uBot-5 and uBot-6, both dynamically stable mobile manipulators developed in the LPR. Some recent experiments include learning dynamic arm motions to stabilize the robot after significant impacts, lifting heavy objects while balancing, and, in the very near future, bracing and recovering from falls. I am interested in the idea that different operating contexts can demand different attitudes toward risk (i.e., performance variance), so I have been working on new policy search algorithms for variable-risk control. Please email me if you would like to learn more and I will gladly share paper drafts, videos, etc.

Over the last two summers I have also worked on a few projects at Johnson Space Center. These projects include developing controllers for getting up from the ground in moon gravity, drill manipulation using Robonaut 2 (R2), and development of prototype zero gravity body orientation strategies for R2 in simulation.

If you would like to learn more, please drop me an email or check out my publications, videos, or CV.