*Synopsis*: Machine learning has evolved over more than half a decade moving from rule based models solving simple problems to being critical components in most modern industries such as finance, search and robotics. This talk will go over how machine learning is now being used to solve real world problems and focus on the machine learning applications in robotics and autonomy. We will discuss how machine learning and AI can be used in applications with varying levels of safety critical requirements and how we develop and use cutting edge ML approaches in industry.
Resource person: Dr. Sachithra Hemachandra has been a contributor to the field of self driving and robotics for over 9 years and currently works as a Tech Lead and Manager at Cruise in the Perception Team contributing to the re-invention of transportation. Previously he led the object tracking team at the Toyota Research Institute. Prior to this he was a lead contributor to the object tracking team at Waymo (Google self driving car project) and also worked as a roboticist at Google working on indoor robotics. Sachithra earned his PhD degree in Electrical engineering and Computer Science (specializing in robotics) at MIT in 2015 while also completing the SM degree; his undergraduate degree is from the University of Moratuwa in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering in 2006.