Sorry! The application period is over for the Pyro 2005 Summer Workshop.
However, all is not lost! You can still register for the Pyro 2005 AAAI Tutorial:
Holly Yanco and Doug Blank
Saturday, July 9, 2:00 –6:00 pm
Pyro (Python robotics) is an open-source software system that abstracts away the details of particular robots and allows users to explore complex control methods at a high level. Until now, it has been necessary to learn very different and specific control languages for different mobile robots, particularly those manufactured by different companies. Now, a single language can be used to program many different robots, allowing code to be shared across platforms.
Currently, the robots supported include the Pioneer family, the Khepera family, and the Sony AIBO. Supported simulators include Player/Stage, Gazebo, the Aria simulator, the Khepera simulator and the RoboCup simulator.
This hands-on tutorial will introduce the abstractions provided by Pyro, then will show participants how to get started with running Pyro and writing robot brains. We will present an overview of the modules of different control paradigms and AI methods. Each participant will be given a bootable CD (on an Intel architecture) containing the Pyro software to take home.
The tutorial is intended for people planning to teach a course in robotics or artificial intelligence and for other robotics and AI researchers who want to learn a new tool for exploring robotics and AI topics.
Holly Yanco and Douglas Blank are coprincipal investigators on “Beyond LEGOs: Hardware, Software and Curriculum for the Next Generation Robotics Laboratory,” NSF DUE-0231363, which funded the development of Pyro.
Holly Yanco graduated from MIT with a Ph.D. in computer science in 2000. She is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Her research interests include human-robot interaction, adjustable autonomy, and assistive technology. She has received teaching awards from UMass Lowell and MIT.
Douglas Blank graduated from Indiana University with a joint Ph.D. in cognitive science and computer science in 1997. He is an assistant professor of computer science at Bryn Mawr College. His research interests include emergent systems, connectionist models of analogy-making, pedagogical tools for teaching robotics, gender issues in computer science, and developmental models in robotics.