ICML2003 Workshop: Machine Learning Technologies for Autonomous Space Applications Workshop date: Thursday, August 21, 2003

Workshop summary Workshop schedule More details (CFP) Submissions Important dates Mailing list for continued discussion. To join, send a message to majordomo@lunabots.com with the body subscribe icml2003-mlspace.

Many of the significant advances of the machine learning community have come from tackling challenging, real world problems of practical and economic importance. Of particular interest are space exploration missions where robots must operate autonomously in unknown environments. The robots need to maintain their safety while still exploring the region and accomplishing the overall objectives of the mission. Machine learning methods are ideal to assist the robots in these goals by intelligently filtering observations, learning to identify novel experiences, and knowing when the robot needs to call for human help versus when it can solve the issue itself. This workshop focused on the following critical questions: How can we design algorithms that can train for a long time under controlled situations, but must work almost perfectly in a remote, autonomous setting? How can ML techniques be tested so as to convince someone outside the field that they are reliable, robust, and effective for real space systems? What are the best analogue problems and situations, here on Earth, for the development and study of applicable ML techniques? Are there specific, possibly novel, metrics and methodologies for evaluation that would be most appropriate for these problems? What ML algorithms drawn from other domains (e.g., tasks with a high cost of failure) are applicable to the problems faced by fielded space missions? Can we provide formal performance guarantees for ML algorithms in the constrained and sometimes hostile environments in which remote space systems will exist? How can we strengthen connections between ML researchers and the people making operational decisions for space missions?

Workshop Organizing Committee

• Kiri Wagstaff (JHU/APL) - Co-chair
• Amy McGovern (University of Massachusetts Amherst) - Co-chair
• Terran Lane (University of New Mexico) - Co-chair
• Jim Bell (Cornell University)
• Steve Chien (NASA/JPL)
• Dennis DeCoste (NASA/JPL)
• Manfred Huber (University of Texas at Arlington)
• Ted Roush (NASA/Ames)
• Donna Shirley (University of Oklahoma)
• Tim Stough (NASA/JPL)

Last changed Mon, Nov 24, 2003 13:06:27 .