Entries by Shakeh Kalantarmoradian

Professor Chenfanfu Jiang’s Collaboration with Toyota Research Institute Recognized as Finalist for IROS 2024 RoboCup Best Paper Award

The 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2024), one of the premier global conferences on robotics research, took place from October 14 to October 18, 2024, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

A paper titled “A Convex Formulation of Frictional Contact for the Material Point Method and Rigid Bodies” was honored as one of the five Finalists for the IROS 2024 RoboCup Best Paper Award. Authored by Zeshun Zong, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the UCLA Department of Mathematics; Associate Professor Chenfanfu Jiang; and Dr. Xuchen Han, a research scientist at Toyota Research Institute and UCLA Math Department Ph.D. alumnus (Class of 2020), the paper introduces a groundbreaking approach to frictional contact modeling in robotic simulation. The method significantly advances the stability and robustness of simulations involving complex contact scenarios, which is crucial for improving robotic manipulation tasks.

“This paper presents a novel convex formulation that seamlessly integrates the Material Point Method (MPM) with rigid body dynamics under frictional contact. This allows for robust simulations, essential for testing and refining robotic control policies in challenging environments,” said Professor Jiang.

“Our work is centered on ensuring the mathematical stability and computational efficiency required for accurately simulating these complex interactions. By leveraging a constrained optimization framework, we were able to maintain a high degree of accuracy while making the solver scalable for practical use cases,” added Zeshun Zong, the first author and a fifth-year Ph.D. student at Jiang’s lab at UCLA.

The complete paper can be accessed on arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.13783, and a supplemental video is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jrQtF5D0DA.

This collaboration is a result of a joint multi-year sponsored project from Toyota Research Institute (TRI) to Professor Jiang’s research group. The joint project, titled Robust Accurate and Interactive Solutions for Contact-Rich Multi-Physics Robotic Simulations, is led by Professor Jiang as the Principal Investigator (PI) at UCLA, with TRI co-PIs including research scientists Xuchen Han, Joe Masterjohn, and Alejandro Castro. The project focuses on advancing numerical methods and computational continuum mechanics, particularly for robotics and AI applications.

“This collaboration is crucial for advancing robotic simulation capabilities at TRI. It allows us to bring theoretical advancements into real-world robotics, pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve in simulation technology,” said Dr. Xuchen Han.

Professor Jiang directs the UCLA Artificial Intelligence and Visual Computing (AIVC) Laboratory. The lab’s research focuses on the synergy between visual computing and embodied artificial intelligence. The lab is dedicated to advancing technologies in the creation, representation, understanding, and optimization of digital 3D content and intelligent robots. The TRI collaboration involves multiple research thrusts aimed at improving simulation accuracy, efficiency, and real-world applicability. The collaboration aims to bridge the gap between advanced simulation methodologies and practical robotic applications by integrating these innovations into open-source toolkits, thereby fostering community involvement and setting new standards in robotics simulation technology.

In Memoriam: Ronald Miech

UCLA Mathematics Emeritus Professor Ronald Miech recently passed away. Ronald served the Department for 44 years and was instrumental in the history of actuarial mathematics at UCLA.  In 1978, Ronald and Ira L. Boyle, FSA, founded the actuarial program to help meet a growing need for actuaries. The actuarial program at UCLA has grown exponentially […]

In Memoriam: Robert Steinberg

I have had a good life (Ik heb een goed leven gehad) The quotation (in English and Dutch) above was exactly how Tonny Springer, a famous mathematician from Utrecht in Holland, and one of Robert Steinberg’s closest friends both personally and mathematically, wanted his life described after his death. It is also a perfect description of Robert Steinberg’s life. Bob was […]

In Memoriam – Robert J. Blattner

Robert J. Blattner (1931—2015) The UCLA Department of Mathematics lost a distinguished member of its faculty with the passing away on June 13, 2015, of Professor Emeritus Robert J. Blattner. He joined UCLA in 1957 and remained there till his retirement in 1992. His work was mainly in the theory of representations of Lie groups […]

In Memoriam: Philip C. Curtis Jr.

The UCLA Department of Mathematics lost a cherished and distinguished member of its faculty with the passing away on December 19, 2016, of Professor Emeritus Philip C. Curtis Jr. Among his many accomplishments at UCLA, Phil was instrumental in the development of the UCLA California Mathematics Project and played the key role in founding the Department’s Joint […]

In Memoriam: Peter Smereka

UCLA mathematics mourns the sudden untimely death of a colleague and friend, Peter Smereka.  Peter was 56 years old and a professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan since 1994.  He received his PhD from UCSB and spent three years at UCLA (1991-1994) as a postdoc, with Stan Osher and Russ Caflisch as his advisors. […]

In memoriam: Lowell J. Paige, Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus, 1919 – 2010

Professor Emeritus Lowell J. Paige died on his birthday in Carmichael, Calif., on Dec. 10. He was 91. Paige served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II from 1942 to 1946. He received his PhD in mathematics in 1947 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the supervision of Richard Hubert […]

In Memoriam: Lloyd Shapley

UCLA mourns the passing of Nobel laureate Lloyd Shapley, 92 Shapley, widely considered a father of game theory, was a professor emeritus of economics and mathematics Lloyd Shapley, a UCLA emeritus professor of economics and mathematics and co-winner of the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, died on March 12. He was 92 years old. […]

In memoriam: Leo Sario, Professor Emeritus, 1916 – 2009

Professor Emeritus Leo Sario died of a heart attack at his Santa Monica home on August 15, 2009. He was 93. In Finland during World War II, Sario was recognized as an excellent teacher and officer who made key contributions to the defense of the country, all while diligently pursuing his mathematical studies. After the […]