Curriculum Vitae
Herke van Hoof
Machine Learning Algorithms ensure suitable and adaptive information processing. Reinforcement
learning and active learning couple an agent's actions to its learning experiences, necessitating effective
exploration strategies. Bayesian approaches and information-theoretic strategies are suitable for problems with
scarce training data.
Autonomous Robots explore their environment and learn by interacting rather than from human labels
or demonstration. Such exploration can be guided by external rewards or intrinsic motivation.
Autonomous robots can navigate to, grasp, and manipulate tools and objects in their environment.
Algorithms for robot learning and control should exploit knowledge of physical properties of robot systems.
Machine Perception is critical to understanding the environment through e.g. tactile sensing or vision.
Sensory processing can be facilitated by interactive perception: exploiting tight coupling of actions
selected to yield informative percepts. High-dimensional sensory data can be handled by learning task
relevant features.
| Current Position
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| Since 2016
| Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University, Montreal, Canada
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| The fellowship focuses on allowing robots to learn new tasks more efficiently using prior knowledge about robotics and experience with similar tasks. This research is performed in collaboration with Professors J. Pineau, D. Meger and G. Dudek
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| Educational Background
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| 2011-2016
| Ph.D. in Computer Science (with distinction)
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| Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
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| Thesis: "Machine Learning through Exploration for Perception-Driven Robotics" (2016).
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| Supervisor: Prof. Dr. J. Peters.
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| 2008-2011
| Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (with honors)
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| "Autonomous Perceptive Systems" track.
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| University of Groningen, the Netherlands
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| Thesis: "Interaction between Face Detection and Learning Tracking Systems for Autonomous Robots" (2011).
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| Supervisors: Dr. T. van der Zant, Dr. M. Wiering, Dr. P.F. Dominey and Prof. Dr. L. Schomaker.
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| 2005-2008
| Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence (with honors)
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| University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
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| Thesis: "Using Different Methods to Direct a Robot's Attention" (2008) .
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| Supervisors: G. Kootstra and S. de Jong.
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| Internships and Visitorships
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| 2015
| Visiting graduate student, Biomimetic Robotics and Machine Learning Lab, Technische Universität München
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| During my visit at TUM in the framework of the TACMAN FP7 European Union-funded project, I worked together with Prof. Dr. P. van der Smagt, N. Chen, and M. Karl on policy search for manipulation with tactile feedback.
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| 2010
| Research internship,Robot Cognition Laboratory, INSERM U846, Lyon, France.
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| During this internship I applied machine learning and computer vision techniques to humanoid robots. With the "Radical Dudes" team, we participated in the international RoboCup@Home competitions with a NAO robot.
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| Extracurricular activities
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| 2010-2011
| Member of RoboCup-team "BORG", which participated in international RoboCup@Home competitions. These competitions focus on benchmarking abilities of domestic service robots in realistic environments.
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| 2008-2010
| Team leader RoboCup-team "the little green BATS". This team participated in the 3D-soccer simulation league using simulated NAO robots.
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| Teaching |
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| Guest lectures, McGill University |
| Machine Learning, lecture on inference in time series models | 2017 |
| Teaching assistant, Technische Universität Darmstadt |
| Technical Foundations of Computer Science | 2014-2015 |
| Computational Engineering | 2013-2014 |
| Machine Learning Lecture | 2013 |
| Robot Learning Lecture | 2012-2013 |
| Robot Learning Project | 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013, 2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 |
| Guest lectures, Technische Universität Darmstadt |
| Technical Foundations of Computer Science | 2014-2015 |
| Teaching assistant, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen |
| Multi-agent Systems Lecture | 2011 |
| Robotics Lab Course | 2010-2011 |
| Language and Speech Technology Lab Course | 2009 |
| Introduction to Logic Lecture | 2008 |
| Organized Events |
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| Workflow co-chair, International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2017 |
| R:SS 2016 Workshop on Robot-Environment Interaction for Perception and Manipulation. Website |
| Humanoids 2014 Workshop on Active Learning in Robotics. Website |
| Reviewing |
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| Journals | |
| 2016 | IEEE Transactions on Robotics |
| 2016 | Autonomous Robots |
| 2016 | Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) |
| 2013 | Autonomous Robots: Special Issue `Beyond Grasping' |
| 2014 | Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR) |
| Conferences and Workshops | |
| 2017 | Program Committee, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) 2017 |
| 2017 | Associate Editor, International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2017 |
| 2017 | Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2017 |
| 2016 | International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids) 2016 |
| 2016 | International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER) 2016 |
| 2016 | International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2016 |
| 2016 | Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2016 |
| 2016 | Program Committee, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) 2016 |
| 2015 | AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) 2016 |
| 2015 | Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) 2015 |
| 2015 | International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2015 |
| 2015 | Robotics: Science and Systems (R:SS) 2015 |
| 2014 | International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2015 |
| 2014 | Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) 2014 |
| 2014 | International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2014 |
| 2013 | NIPS 2013 Workshop on Advances in Machine Learing for Sensorimotor Control |
| 2013 | International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2014 |
| 2013 | Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) 2013 |
| 2013 | Program Committee, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) 2013 |
| 2011 | International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2012 |
| Invited talks |
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| 2016 | Center for Systems and Control, TU Delft |
| 2016 | RLL & MRL labs, McGill University |
| 2016 | CSAIL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2016 | Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, the Netherlands |
| 2015 | Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems |
| 2015 | Robot learning lab, UC Berkeley |
| 2015 | RESL & CLMC labs, University of Southern California |
| 2014 | Machine Learning and Robotics Lab, Universitaet Stuttgart |
| 2014 | Department of Computing, Imperial College London |
| 2013 | Robotics and Biology Group, TU Berlin |
| Supervision |
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| Finished Theses |
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| M.Sc. | Jan Reubold (with Heni Ben Amor) | - Reubold, J. (2014). 3D Object Reconstruction from Partial Views, Master Thesis.
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| B.Sc. | Sebastian Schoengen | (:authorsearch Schoengen :) |
| B.Sc. | Dominik Notz | (:authorsearch Notz :) |
| B.Sc. | Mike Smyk | - Smyk, M. (2014). Learning Generalizable Models for Compliant Robots, Bachelor Thesis.
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| B.Sc. | Niko Huhnstock (with Filipe Veiga) | (:authorsearch Huhnstock :) |
| B.Sc. | Valerian Marg | (:authorsearch Marg :) |
(:authorsearch van Hoof :)
