Ashkan Jasour

​

Research Scientist

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)

 

I am a Research Scientist at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I received my PhD in Control Systems/Electrical Engineering and PhD minor in Mathematics from the Pennsylvania State University. I also was a Postdoctoral Associate for two years with the Model-based Embedded and Robotic Systems (MERS) group at MIT's CSAIL. My goal is to develop new rigorous mathematical tools and algorithms to address challenging problems in Control Systems, Robotics, and Optimization. In particular, my research interests include probabilistic control, chance constrained optimization, stochastic systems, robotic systems, and machine learning.
 
Here at MIT, I lead a group of graduate students to develop risk bounded motion planning algorithms for autonomous systems such as self-driving vehicles, underwater vehicles, autonomous airplanes, and robotic arms. For related publications check here and for related tutorials check rarnop.mit.edu

 

Links: GitHub, YouTube, Linkedin

 

News

 

May-2021   I will serve as an Guest Editor for AIJ Special Issue on Risk-Aware Autonomous Systems: Theory and Practice.

May-2021   RSS 2021: paper on Risk Bounded Continuous-Time Trajectory Planning, https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.05489 

Feb-2021   Journal Submission: paper on Fast Nonlinear Risk Assessment for Autonomous Vehicles Using Learned Conditional Probabilistic Models of Agent Futures

Jan-2021   Journal Submission: paper on “Moment-Based Exact Uncertainty Propagation Through Nonlinear Stochastic Autonomous Systems".

Oct-2020   INFORMS 2020: *Talk1: Risk Aware Nonlinear Planning And Control  *Talk2: Large-scale Semidefinite Programming For Certifiably Correct Machine Perception

Jul-2020   IROS 2020 and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) papers on Non-Gaussian Chance-Constrained Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Vehicles in the Presence of Uncertain Agents.

Jul-2020   IROS 2020:  paper on Chance-Constrained Trajectory Planning for Manipulation

May-2020   RSS 2020:  paper on intention-aware real-time nonlinear risk estimation

Apr-2020  Talk:  My recent talk on chance constriend optimization @MIT-LIDS  https://www.mit.edu/~parrilo/vsopt/,    *Slides    *Talk Video

Dec-2019   CDC 2019:  I will present my recent work on control of probabilistic nonlinear autonomous systems at IEEE Conference on Decision and Control @ France. "Sequential Convex Chance Optimization for Flow-Tube based Control of Probabilistic Nonlinear Systems".

Jul-2019   Teaching:  I will teach "MIT 16.S498: Risk Aware and Robust Nonlinear Planning" this Fall at MIT.  For more information: http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/16/fa19/16.S498/       rarnop.mit.edu

Jul-2019   Talk: I will give a talk on "Risk Bounded Nonlinear Planning" at the 3rd Summer School on Cognitive Robotics @USC.https://sites.usc.edu/cognitive-robotics/schedule        My talk at the 2nd Summer School @MIT:  https://youtu.be/1alNrOMoQLA

Jun-2019   RSS 2019: I will be presenting my recent work on risk bounded planning at Robotics: Science and Systems-2019 on "Risk Contours Map for Risk Bounded Motion Planning under Perception Uncertainties".