BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:REQUEST PRODID:Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:AUS Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:16010101T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=4 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:16010101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=10 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT ORGANIZER;CN=Australian Centre For Robotics Administration;SENT-BY="mailto:s abrina.asri@sydney.edu.au":mailto:acfr.admin@sydney.edu.au ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=everybody: mailto:everybody@acfr.usyd.edu.au ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=students@a cfr.usyd.edu.au:mailto:students@acfr.usyd.edu.au ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=seminars@a cfr.usyd.edu.au:mailto:seminars@acfr.usyd.edu.au ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN='academics -meeting@acfr.usyd.edu.au':mailto:academics-meeting@acfr.usyd.edu.au ATTENDEE;ROLE=OPT-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=Thien Hoan g Nguyen:mailto:thienhoang.nguyen@sydney.edu.au ATTENDEE;ROLE=OPT-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=NEEDS-ACTION;RSVP=TRUE;CN=Pieter van Goor:mailto:pieter.vangoor@sydney.edu.au ATTACH:CID:image001.png@01DD1908.14FBEC30 DESCRIPTION;LANGUAGE=en-US:Faculty of Engineering\n\n\nACFR Seminar Series\ n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260720/44/a0/ac/85/83de99ae1318d a0add393c81.png]\n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260720/90/62/a1 /a0/e806283be685b4d065bc82ba.jpg]\n\n1) Symmetry and Beyond: Towards Effic ient\, Generalizable Learning for Low-Level Control of Aerial and Space Ro bots.\n2) Advancing Healthcare Through Soft Robotics and Intelligent Syst ems\n\nPresented by Asst. Professor Jake Welde (Cornell) & Asst. Professor Thai Mai Thanh (VinUniversity)\nDate: Thursday\, 23 July 2026\, at 10:00 am AEST\nVenue: ACFR seminar area\, J04 level 2 (Rose St Building)\nZoom ID: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/87306457455\n\n\n* *RSVP by COB Tuesday 21 July for catering purposes. Accept this calendar i nvitation if you plan to attend the seminar in person and join us for a li ght lunch at approximately 12.30pm.\n\nAbstract:\n\n\nSymmetry and Beyond: Towards Efficient\, Generalizable Learning for Low-Level Control of Aeria l and Space Robots\n\nTo perform useful\, interactive work\, aerial and sp ace robots must evolve beyond simple\, single-body designs (e.g.\, quadrot ors) towards high-dimensional\, articulated morphologies. However\, explic it analytical controllers for such systems are not easily crafted\, and nu merical optimal control algorithms quickly overwhelm the lightweight proce ssors available onboard. Reinforcement learning frontloads these burdens t o offline training\, typically employing vast computational resources to r un brittle training pipelines fine-tuned to particular tasks. To mitigate these downsides\, we exploit the natural symmetries of robotic systems to efficiently learn high-performance\, generalizable policies for low-level robot control. In particular\, we develop a theory of symmetry reduction f or tracking control problems\, proving that a tracking controller trained in a reduced setting will perform equally well on the original system whil e also generalizing automatically to unseen trajectories. However\, the cl assical notion of symmetry is too rigid to apply to many practical systems \, which may enjoy only a very small symmetry group. We thus propose a rel axed notion of symmetry (termed “weak invariance”) that balances struc ture with generality\, enabling us to factor out a much larger symmetry gr oup while still attaining the same performance guarantees\, greatly expand ing the applicability and impact of these methods.\n\nAdvancing Healthcare Through Soft Robotics and Intelligent Systems\n\nThis talk presents recen t advances in soft robotics and intelligent systems aimed at transforming healthcare and improving the quality of life. It highlights the developmen t of flexible\, bio-inspired robotic technologies for minimally invasive s urgery\, including soft robotic endoscopic platforms integrated with in si tu 3D bioprinting and real-time navigation. The talk also explores wearabl e soft sensors and robotic devices for rehabilitation\, enabling low-cost\ , accessible\, and data-driven patient recovery. By combining soft materia ls\, embedded systems\, and artificial intelligence\, these innovations of fer safer\, more adaptive\, and patient-centered solutions. The presentati on concludes with a vision for deploying such technologies in resource-con strained settings to address global healthcare challenges and enhance qual ity of life at scale.\n\nBio:\n\n\nJake Welde\n\nJake Welde is an Assistan t Professor with the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University\, where he leads the Geometry\, Design\, and Contro l Laboratory (or the “GeoDesiC Lab”). Prior to joining Cornell\, he sp ent a decade at the University of Pennsylvania\, where he completed his un dergraduate and doctoral degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mec hanics and his Masters in Robotics\, working in the GRASP Laboratory with Vijay Kumar. He is broadly interested in how mathematical structure — sy mmetry\, hierarchy\, and mechanics — can be harnessed to create more cap able algorithms for robot control\, and how the interplay between control and morphology mediates overall robot capabilities.\n\nThai Mai Thanh\n\nD r. Thai Mai Thanh is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at V inUniversity and Principal Investigator (PI) of the VinUni Biorobotics Lab . He earned his B.E. from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (2016) \, M.S. from KAIST (2019)\, and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from UNSW Sydney (2023)\, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in medic al robotics.\n\nHis research focuses on advancing healthcare through soft robotics\, intelligent systems\, and medical devices\, with applications i n minimally invasive surgery\, in situ bioprinting\, rehabilitation\, and wearable haptics. He has authored over 40 publications and holds multiple international patents\, with a strong emphasis on translating cutting-edge technologies into real-world clinical impact.\n\n[Register for Event >]\n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260720/2e/8d/c7/1c/1c 70baef8b350e3840963efe.png]\n\n[Web Site]\n[LinkedIn]\n[X]\n[YouTube]\n\nCopyright © 2026\n\nThe Un iversity of Sydney\n\nPlease add acfr.admin@sydney.edu.au to your address book or senders safe list to make sure yo u continue to see our emails in the future.\n\n\n\nCricos Code 00026A TEQ SA PRV12057\nDisclaimer | Privacy statement |\n\n\ n\n UID:040000008200E00074C5B7101A82E00800000000755997BCEA17DD01000000000000000 010000000CA5B7B3AE1D5B14688EA804C787CAAAA SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-US:ACFR Seminar Series: Asst. Professor Jake Welde (Cor nell) & Asst. Professor Thai Mai Thanh (VinUniversity) DTSTART;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260723T130000 DTEND;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260723T140000 CLASS:PUBLIC PRIORITY:5 DTSTAMP:20260721T015735Z TRANSP:OPAQUE STATUS:CONFIRMED SEQUENCE:2 LOCATION;LANGUAGE=en-US:ACFR J04 Level 2 Seminar Area:\; https://maps.app.g oo.gl/PUJdbB9oUTtg5fLr8\; ZOOM:\; https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/87306457455 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-APPT-SEQUENCE:2 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-OWNERAPPTID:2124916330 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:TENTATIVE X-MICROSOFT-CDO-INTENDEDSTATUS:BUSY X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:FALSE X-MICROSOFT-CDO-IMPORTANCE:1 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-INSTTYPE:0 X-MICROSOFT-DONOTFORWARDMEETING:FALSE X-MICROSOFT-DISALLOW-COUNTER:FALSE X-MICROSOFT-REQUESTEDATTENDANCEMODE:DEFAULT X-MICROSOFT-ISRESPONSEREQUESTED:TRUE X-MICROSOFT-LOCATIONDISPLAYNAME:ACFR J04 Level 2 Seminar Area:\; https://ma ps.app.goo.gl/PUJdbB9oUTtg5fLr8\; ZOOM:\; https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/873 06457455 X-MICROSOFT-LOCATIONSOURCE:None X-MICROSOFT-LOCATIONS:[{"DisplayName":"ACFR J04 Level 2 Seminar Area:"\,"Lo cationAnnotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":""\,"LocationCity ":""\,"LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPostalCode":""\," LocationFullAddress":""}\,{"DisplayName":"https://maps.app.goo.gl/PUJdbB9o UTtg5fLr8"\,"LocationAnnotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":"" \,"LocationCity":""\,"LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPo stalCode":""\,"LocationFullAddress":""}\,{"DisplayName":"ZOOM:"\,"Location Annotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":""\,"LocationCity":""\, "LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPostalCode":""\,"Locati onFullAddress":""}\,{"DisplayName":"https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/873064574 55"\,"LocationAnnotation":""\,"LocationUri":""\,"LocationStreet":""\,"Loca tionCity":""\,"LocationState":""\,"LocationCountry":""\,"LocationPostalCod e":""\,"LocationFullAddress":""}] BEGIN:VALARM DESCRIPTION:REMINDER TRIGGER;RELATED=START:-PT15M ACTION:DISPLAY END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR