SOCS Vision, Graphics, and Robotics Seminar Schedule

Physical modeling for simulated humanoids continues to grow both as a research topic and in its usage for commercial applications, especially computer animation. This talk will cover a set of techniques for controlling and combining physics based simulation with human motion capture data. The ultimate goal of these techniques is to create coordinated, responsive controllers that remain natural looking under a variety of unexpected conditions. Two themes that will be discussed include the benefit of whole-body momentum in controlling behavior as well as the employment of real-time performance with physics for interactive control.

Dr. Victor Zordan is an associate professor at University of California Riverside currently at Berkeley on sabbatical working in the Visual Computing Laboratory. His research interests center around game and special effects animation for characters with an emphasis on realism and control-ability. Victor has developed a host of techniques that merge motion capture and dynamic simulation to create flexible and responsive behavior for humanoids. His research interests span the field of computer animation with a strong bias in physics-based modeling and interfaces.