International Workshop of Intelligent Autonomous Learning Systems

International Workshop of Intelligent Autonomous Learning Systems 2024

Note, Please ensure to read the conference schedule and specific activity requirements before packing for the event.

Quick Facts 2024

Organizers:Julen Urain de Jesus, Theo Gruner, Rickmer Krohn, Ahmed Hendawy, Paul Jansonnie
Location:Darmstädter Haus and Marburger Haus, Kleinwalsertal, Austria
Dates:21.07.- 28.07.2024

Schedule

Note, the schedule is subject to change, to optimize the weather during outdoor activites.

Daily Schedule

21/7Sunday:Arrival
22/7Monday:Opening session, Focus Groups, Poster session
23/7Tuesday:Spotlight #1-#2, Contributed Talks
24/7Wednesday:Excursion (Climbing school)
25/7Thursday:Spotlight #3-#4, Contributed Talks
26/7Friday:Fast discussions & Quiz, Group-specific session
27/7Saturday:Excursion (Klettersteig, hiking)
28/7Sunday:Travel back

Detailed Schedule

Note, there will be 30 minute coffee breaks each morning and afternoon, between sessions.

TimeMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
09:30 - 10Opening SessionOpening SessionExcursionOpening SessionFree sleepExcursion
10 - 11Opening SessionSpotlight #1ExcursionSpotlight #3RecapExcursion
11 - 12Getting to know each other in focus groupsSpotlight #1ExcursionSpotlight #3Fast discussions & QuizExcursion
12 - 14LunchLunchExcursionLunchLunchExcursion
14 - 15Focus groups (Challenges in 2024 and Future)Spotlight #2ExcursionSpotlight #4Group Specific SessionExcursion
15 - 16Focus groups (Challenges in 2024 and Future)Coffee Break + Panel Discussion + QuizExcursionCoffee Break + Panel Discussion + QuizGroup Specific SessionExcursion
16 - 17Poster SessionContributed Talks #1ExcursionContributed talks #2Group Specific SessionExcursion
17 - 18Poster SessionContributed Talks #1ExcursionContributed talks #2Group Specific Session 
Evening ActivitiesTable tennis & Table footballVolleyball eveningPoker nightGaming night (Chess tournament)XX

Invited Speakers

Edward Johns is the Director of the Robot Learning Lab and a Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London, specializing in robotics, computer vision, and machine learning with a focus on visually-guided robot manipulation. He holds a BA and MEng in Electrical and Information Engineering from Cambridge University, and a PhD in visual place recognition from Imperial College. Following a post-doc at UCL, he returned to Imperial College as a founding member of the Dyson Robotics Lab, where he led robot manipulation research. Awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship in 2017, he founded the Robot Learning Lab and Imperial's first course on Robot Learning. Dr. Johns has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers with over 2500 citations and received the President's Award for Outstanding Early Career Researcher in 2022. He also serves on advisory boards for robotics startups and was Head of Robot Learning at Dyson from 2021 to 2022.

Mayank Mittal is a PhD student at ETH Zurich and a Research Scientist at NVIDIA. He has worked with various robotic groups and platforms, including Vector Institute, NNAISENSE, and IIT Kanpur. His research focuses on robot learning, mobile manipulation, and task abstraction. Mittal's notable work includes founding the AUV-IITK team, and his papers have been accepted at conferences such as ICRA and IROS. His projects span areas like reinforcement learning, visual navigation, and autonomous UAV systems.

Spotlight Talks

The spotlight talks are tutorial sessions led by field experts, providing a clear and informative introduction to a specific research field. These talks aim to acquaint the audience with essential concepts, recent developments, and significant findings in that area of study.

TimeTalkPresenterTitle
Tuesday
09:30 - 12:00
#1Edward Johns (Imperial)Efficient learning of vision- and language-based robot manipulation policies
Tuesday
14:00 - 15:00
#2Niklas FunkLearning for efficient, accurate, and tactile robotic manipulation
Thursday
10:00 - 12:00
#3Mayank MittalIsaac Sim and Sim to real
Thursday
14:00 - 15:00
#4Carlo D'EramoOn the Benefit of Curricula in Reinforcement Learning

Contributed Talks

During this session, researchers from different labs present their research, providing insights, methodologies, and findings on specific topics or projects while also receiving feedback from the audience.

Note, there will be two talks in parallel.

DayTimePresenterTitle
Tuesday16:00-16:30Ge LiUsing Movement Primitives in Robot Learning
  Nwankwo LinusAdvancing Human-Autonomous Agents Interaction Through Pre-Trained Foundation Models
 16:30-17:00Snehal JauhriLearning Visual Mobile Manipulation: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
  Aidan ScannelliQRL - Implicitly Quantized Representations for Sample-efficient Reinforcement Learning
Thursday16:00-16:30Vedant DaveLearning Robust Representations under noisy environment with multimodal data
  Firas Al HafezAn Introduction to Learning Fullbody-Humanoid Control from Motion Capture
 16:30-17:00Kalle KujanpääHierarchical Planning with Vector Quantized Models
  Fotios LygerakisSelf-Supervised Representation Learning, Visuotactile Fusion and Robot Learning
 17:00-17:30Xiaogang JiaMaIL: Improving Imitation Learning with Mamba
  Frankie Yuezhe ZhangMulti-Modal MPPI and Active Inference for Reactive Task and Motion Planning

Equipment

It is highly recommended to bring with you:

  • Your Laptop: Please bring your laptop as it will be needed during certain sessions
  • Hiking Boots: Since we'll be going for a hike or klettersteig, a sturdy pair of hiking boots is essential. Consider choosing ones that have:
-A proper sole to prevent slipping on wet rocks.
-Ankle support to protect you from twisting.
-Waterproof features to allow you to traverse through mud or small rivers.
-If you do not wear hiking boots, we will not take you to the Klettersteig!
  • Small Backpack (20 - 30l): A convenient backpack will come in handy for carrying your essentials.
  • Refillable Water Bottle: Staying hydrated is vital, so don't forget to bring a refillable water bottle.
  • Small Lunch Box: We'll provide a breakfast buffet, and you can pack your lunch in a small box to keep your energy up during the event.
  • Shades and Hat: The sun can be intense, so pack sunglasses and a hat to shield yourself.
  • Sunscreen: To protect your skin from the mountain sun, remember to pack sunscreen.
  • Rain Jacket: While we hope for clear skies, it's best to be prepared. Bring a lightweight rain jacket just in case.
  • Comfortable Clothes: Expect to get a bit wet and dirty during our mountain adventures, so comfortable and durable clothes are recommended.
  • Swimming Suit: There's a possibility of visiting thermal springs or a sauna, so pack a swimming suit if you'd like to take a refreshing dip.

See IWIALS2023 and IWIALS2022 for previous IWIALS.