Contact Information

Name

Karla Conn

Email

karla.g.conn@vanderbilt.edu

Position

Graduate Research Assistant

Address

RASL, Olin Hall, # 518

Vanderbilt University

Phone

(615) 343-6472

Fax

(615) 343-6687

Professional Web Page

http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~karla.g.conn/index.html

Research

Reinforcement Learning and Mobile Robots

Affect Detection for Children with Autism

This research focused on machine learning, specifically testing reinforcement learning techniques on real-world robots.  Reinforcement learning is a promising algorithm that has been tested in many simulated environments but on a limited basis in real-world scenarios.  This work measured how well reinforcement-learning techniques performed when applied to real-world tasks.

Continuing Pramila Rani’s work with implicit human-robot communication using affect detection, this project explores how well affect detection can work with children with autism and whether or not that detection can be useful in intervention methods.

Publications

        Journal

• Liu, C., Conn, K., Sarkar, N., and Stone, W. "Online Affect Detection and Robot Behavior Adaptation for Intervention of Children with Autism," IEEE Transactions on Robotics (Submitted September 2007).

• Liu, C., Conn, K., Sarkar, N., and Stone, W. "Physiology-Based Affect Recognition for Computer Assisted Intervention of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder," International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS) (Accepted). 

       Conferences

• Liu, C., Conn, K., Sarkar, N., & Stone, W., “Online Affect Detection and Adaptation in Robot Assisted Rehabilitation for Children with Autism,” in Proc. 16^th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2007), Jeju Island, Korea, August 2007.

• Conn, K. & Peters, R.A. II, “Reinforcement Learning with a Supervisor for a Mobile Robot in a Real-world Environment,” in Proc. IEEE International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation (CIRA 2007), Jacksonville, Florida, June 2007.

• Liu, C., Conn, K., Sarkar, N., & Stone, W., “Affect Recognition in Robot Assisted Rehabilitation of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2007), Roma, Italy, pp. 1755-1760, April 2007.

• Rao, K. Conn, S. H. Jung, J. Katupitiya, T. Kientz, V. Kumar, J. Ostrowski, S. Patel, C. J. Taylor. "Human Robot Interaction: Application to Smart Wheelchair”, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Washington, D.C., 2002.

• K. Conn, “Finger Mouse and Text-to-Speech Application as Additions to the Smart Wheelchair”, Proceedings of IEEE Southeastcon '02, Columbia, SC, April 2002.

         Workshops

• R. S. Rao, K. Conn, S. H. Jung, J. Katupitiya, T. Kientz, V. Kumar, J. Ostrowski, S. Patel, C. J. Taylor. “Virtual Interface Development and Sensor Based Door Navigation for Nonholonomic Vehicles”, International Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assitive Technologies (CWUAAT), Cambridge, UK, March 2002.

Other Professional Activities

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

            -       Robotics and Automation Society; Women in Engineering

-       University of Kentucky, student chapter, Chair, 2002-03 

ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education

SWE (Society of Women Engineers)

Masters Thesis

Supervised-reinforcement Learning for a Mobile Robot in a Real-World Environment

Research Group

Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory

Academic Advisor

Dr. Nilanjan Sarkar