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James Kuffner
Assistant Professor

Associated center: CFR

Email address: kuffner@cs.cmu.edu

Mailing address:
Carnegie Mellon University
Robotics Institute
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

For more information, see my personal homepage.

Jump to: Biography | Research interests | Keywords | Labs & groups | Projects | Publications

Biography

Ph.D., Computer Science, Stanford University, 1999
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Tokyo, Japan, 1999-2001
The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 2002-present

Research interests

I am interested in developing algorithms and software for simulating and synthesizing motion for complex kinematic and dynamic systems. This research involves interdisciplinary work in robotics, computer graphics, and computational geometry.

Motion Planning:

Fundamental to motion synthesis research is the development of efficient search techniques. Solving a motion synthesis problem involves constructing a suitable model and searching an appropriate space of possibilities. I am interested in developing efficient motion planning algorithms for searching high-dimensional configuration spaces, with applications ranging from path planning for autonomous robots, humanoids and animated characters, CAD assembly analysis (part removability and maintenance), and computer-aided drug design.

Humanoid Robotics:

For the past several years, I have been building general software components for autonomous humanoids based on planning, sensing, and control. This has concurrently involved researching techniques for automatically generating gross body motions for complex simulated models of human figures given high-level navigation or manipulation task commands, as well as generating motion trajectories for real humanoid robot hardware. Specifically, I have focused on path planning for obstacle avoidance, balance control, self-collision detection, footstep placement, and integrated sensor feedback systems.

Computer Animation:

I am researching methods to automatically generate motion for animated characters. The goal is to create software that will enable an autonomous virtual human to move naturally in response to task-level commands such as "walk over to the table and pick up the book''. The underlying software automatically generates the motion necessary to perform the given task. I am also interested in developing general techniques for efficient modeling, rendering, and animation of complex geometric models such as articulated characters.

Research interest keywords

animation, artificial intelligence, graphics, human motion simulation, humanoid robotics, legged locomotion, motion planning, obstacle avoidance, and planning

Current Labs & Groups [Past labs]

Computer Graphics Lab - Modeling, animation, and rendering of 3-D scenes
Planning and Autonomy Lab - Autonomous motion planning and control of humanoid robots, quadrupeds, mobile manipulators, and UAVs.

Current Projects

Behavior Planning for Character Animation - We are exploring a behavior planning approach to automatically generate realistic motions for animated characters.
Footstep Planning for Biped Robots - Navigation strategies for bipeds through complex environments, planning for the full capabilities of the biped.
GPU-accelerated Computer Vision - We are exploiting programmable graphics hardware to improve existing vision algorithms and enable novel approaches to robot perception.
Learning Locomotion - Robust planning and control of the quadruped robot "Little Dog" to traverse rough terrain (DARPA sponsored).
Navigation Among Movable Obstacles - Autonomous motion planning and control for robots working in reconfigurable environments.
Perception for Humanoid Robots - Real-time perception algorithms for autonomous humanoid navigation, manipulation and interaction.
Precomputed Search Trees: Planning for Interactive Goal-Driven Animation - We present a novel approach for interactively synthesizing motions for characters navigating in complex environments.
Quality of Life Technology Center - QoLT is a unique partnership between Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh that brings together a cross-disciplinary team of technologists, clinicians, industry partners, end users, and other stakeholders to create revolutionary technologies that will improve and sustain the quality of life for all people.

Recent publications [View all 32 publications]

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