Amy Laviers Thesis

My senior thesis at Princeton was in analyzing data of human movement to quantitatively compare different styles of motion. I'm actively uninterested: Human movement is way, way too complex to capture any meaningful measurement of with a 3-axis accelerometer (or even 20! Roboticists need to understand how to create complex patterns in robotic movement. Her choreography has been presented internationally, including at Merce Cunningham’s studios, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, the Ferst Center for the Arts, and the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology.

My senior thesis at Princeton was in analyzing data of human movement to quantitatively compare different styles of motion. I'm actively uninterested: Human movement is way, way too complex to capture any meaningful measurement of with a 3-axis accelerometer (or even 20! Roboticists need to understand how to create complex patterns in robotic movement.

Thus, the talk will also highlight how dancing with robots is critical to developing automation that functions correctly in human-built spaces.

Amy La Viers is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and director of the Robotics, Automation, and Dance (RAD) Lab.

She took ballet, tap and modern dance classes, and after her family relocated to a town outside Knoxville, Tennessee, she joined the Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble and performed all over the southeastern United States and the world.

To the next generation of a long line of engineers, dance “was an interesting problem to solve,” she said.

These are two sides of the same coin, which I combine in my research. My start up, AE Machines, is actively working in this area.

Your research could have practical applications in manufacturing, such as having robots assist assembly line workers to improve efficiency. Our software tool aims to help factory workers engage with automation by maintaining and reprogramming cells with limited additional training.

She completed a two-year Certification in Movement Analysis (CMA) in 2016 at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS). in electrical and computer engineering at Georgia Tech with a dissertation that included a live performance exploring stylized motion.

Prior to UIUC she held a position as an assistant professor in systems and information engineering at the University of Virginia. Her research began in her undergraduate thesis at Princeton University where she earned a certificate in dance and a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

At Princeton University, you earned a certificate in dance and a bachelor's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering. I love Glossier's products and, even more, watching her take over, and simultaneously empower, the world with brow pomade and face cream.

Was this the moment you had to switch your priorities? This was the moment I realized these "two" priorities were one and the same!