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='academics -meeting@acfr.usyd.edu.au':mailto:academics-meeting@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 ATTACH:CID:image001.png@01DCD984.33DF60A0 DESCRIPTION;LANGUAGE=en-US:Faculty of Engineering\n\n\nACFR Seminar Series\ n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260501/44/a0/ac/85/83de99ae1318d a0add393c81.png]\n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260501/c6/93/17 /4e/93651822f71449ace71c3ab2.jpg]\nOptimizing for the Unknown: Toward Robo ts That Can Go Anywhere\, Handle Anything\, and Learn from Little\n\nPrese nted by Dr. Ian Abraham\nDate: Thursday\, 7 May 2026\, at 1:00 pm AEDT\nVe nue: ACFR seminar area\, J04 level 2 (Rose St Building)\nZoom ID: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/87306457455\n\n**RSVP by Tues day 5 May for catering purposes. Accept this calendar invitation if you pl an to attend the seminar in person and join us for a light lunch at approx imately 12.30pm.\n\nAbstract:\n\nRobots have the potential to become extra ordinary tools that extend humanity’s reach\, automating tasks that rang e from exploring the solar system and the vast oceans to manipulating deli cate objects in our homes. Across these settings\, robots face a common ch allenge: they must make good decisions when the world is only partially kn own\, data are scarce\, and mistakes are costly. In this talk\, I will pre sent recent work from my group on principled numerical optimization method s that enable robots to reason\, act\, and learn in these partially observ able\, remote\, and uncertain worlds. I will show how these methods expand robotic capabilities to support long-horizon ocean exploration by balanci ng information gathering\, safety\, and resource constraints\; improve pre cision manipulation by accounting for uncertainty in perception\, contact\ , and dynamics\; and accelerate multi-modal (visual) policy learning by ex tracting more capability from limited experience. Across these domains\, t he central theme is that optimization provides a powerful language for bui lding robots that are not merely reactive\, but purposeful robots that can plan over long timescales\, adapt to changing conditions\, and learn effi ciently from the data available to them. Together\, these methods point to ward a future in which robots can go farther\, handle more varied tasks\, and learn faster in the real world—bringing robust autonomy to environme nts where human presence is limited\, uncertainty is unavoidable\, and int elligent decision-making matters most.\n\nBio:\n\n\nIan Abraham is current ly a Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Sydney with an affiliation at the Australian Centre f or Robotics. His research sits at the intersection of robotics\, optimizat ion\, control\, machine learning\, and artificial intelligence. His work d evelops computational methods that enable robotic systems to intelligently interact with\, explore\, and learn in extreme and remote environments. H e has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards\, including an NSF CAREER award as a professor in the US. Prior to joining the University of Sydney\, Ian was an Assistant Professor at Yale University in the Mechanic al Engineering and Computer Science Departments. He received his PhD degre e from Northwestern University and was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Robot ics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.\n\n[Register for Event >]\n[https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20260501/2e/8d/c7/1c/1c70 baef8b350e3840963efe.png]\n\n[Web Site]\n[LinkedIn]\n[X]\n[YouTube]\n\nCopyright © 2026\n\nThe Univ ersity of Sydney\n\nPlease add acfr.admin@sydney.edu.au to your address book or senders safe list to make sure you continue to see our emails in the future.\n\n\n\nCricos Code 00026A TEQSA PRV12057\nDisclaimer | Privacy statement |\n\nMan age your preferences | Opt Out using TrueRemove ™\nGot this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future e mails.\nView this email online.\n\n\nRose Street Building J04 Level 2 | Darlington\, 2008 AU\n\n\n UID:040000008200E00074C5B7101A82E0080000000009DD036830D9DC01000000000000000 0100000009E94D2FB994F9B418FE3BBA49B97CDEF SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-US:ACFR Seminar Series: Dr Ian Abraham - Optimizing for the Unknown: Toward Robots That Can Go Anywhere\, Handle Anything\, and L earn from Little DTSTART;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260507T130000 DTEND;TZID=AUS Eastern Standard Time:20260507T140000 CLASS:PUBLIC PRIORITY:5 DTSTAMP:20260501T060455Z TRANSP:OPAQUE STATUS:CONFIRMED SEQUENCE:0 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:0 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-OWNERAPPTID:2124744845 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