About

Short Bio Reza Ahmadzadeh is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Previously, Reza was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. Before joining Georgia Tech, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Humanoid Sensing and Perception lab in the iCub Facility at Italian Institute of Technology. Reza received his Ph.D. in "Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Technologies" from the University of Genoa in collaboration with the Department of Advanced Robotics at Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). His research focuses on developing machine learning algorithms and their application to robot autonomy and physical Human-Robot Interaction. His research interests include Learning from Demonstration, Learning Reactive Behavior, Reinforcement Learning, physical Human-Robot Interaction, and Optimization Algorithms.

Bio

I am an Assistant Professor with the Department of Computer Science1 at the University of Massachusetts Lowell2 with a research focus on machine learning algorithms and their application to robot autonomy and physical Human-Robot Interaction. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Interactive Computing3 within the College of Computing4 at Georgia Tech5 working with Prof. Sonia Chernova. I also was a member of the Robot Autonomy and Interactive Learning6 (RAIL) lab which is affiliated with the Institute for Robots and Intelligent Machines7 (IRIM). Prior to joining Georgia Tech, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Humanoid Sensing and Perception8 lab directed by Dr. Lorenzo Natale in the iCub Facility9 at Italian Institute of Technology10. I received my Ph.D. in "Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Technologies" from the University of Genoa11 in collaboration with the Department of Advanced Robotics12 directed by my co-adviser Prof. Darwin Caldwell at Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) where I was a member of Learning and Interaction Group13 directed by my adviser Dr. Petar Kormushev. My research focuses on investigating and developing novel Machine Learning approaches in Robotics. My research interests include Learning from Demonstration, Learning Reactive Behavior, Reinforcement Learning, physical Human-Robot Interaction, and Optimization Algorithms. My main contributions to the field include:

My Ph.D. thesis focuses on developing novel approaches to elevate the level of autonomy in robotic platforms. The proposed approaches enable robots to overcome uncertainties by learning new reactive behaviors and visuospatial skills. I have published several conference/journal papers, most of which are listed and are available for download from my publication page. The research page provides a brief description of each paper. The proposed robot learning approaches have been validated using multiple robotic platforms. Related videos can be watched on the video page.

1- University of Massachusetts Lowell

2- Department of Computer Science, UMass Lowell

3- School of Interactive Computing

4- College of Computing 5- Georgia Institute of Technology (GaTech) 6- Robot Autonomy and Interactive Learning Lab (RAIL) 7- Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM)

8- Humanoid Sensing and Perception lab

9- Department of iCub Facility 10- Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) 11- Doctoral Research Course in: "Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Technologies". Ph.D. School of: "Humanoid and Life Technologies", XXVII cycle at University of Genoa (Universita degli Studi di Genova)

12- Department of Advanced Robotics

13- Learning and Interaction Group