LASA
The Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA) at the EPFL was founded by Professor Aude Billard in 2006. The lab focuses on machine learning applied to robot control, human-robot interaction and cognitive robotics at large. Research at LASA develops means by which humans can teach robots to perform skills with the level of dexterity displayed by humans in similar tasks. Our robots move seamlessly with smooth motions. They adapt adequately and on-the-fly to the presence of obstacles and to sudden perturbations, hence mimicking humans. immediate response when facing unexpected and dangerous situations.
Aude Billard is full professor at the School of Engineering at the EPFL. She holds a M.Sc. in Physics from EPFL (1995) and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence (1998) from the University of Edinburgh. She was a faculty member at the University of Southern California from 1999 to 2002, prior to joining EPFL in 2003. She received several personal awards, including the Intel Corporation Teaching award, the Outstanding Young Person in Science and Innovation award from the Swiss Chamber of Commerce, the Best Reviewer Award from IEEE Robotics and Autonomation Society and the King-Sun Fu Memorial Award from IEEE Transactions on Robotics journal. Her research on human-robot interactions is featured regularly in premier venues (BBC, IEEE Spectrum, Wired). It was nominated and received numerous best paper awards at robotics and machine learning conferences (ICRA, IROS, NIPS, Humanoids, ROMAN).
Press coverage playlist
A selection is available here.