Scott R. Kuindersma

Contact:

About me:

I am a second year graduate student in the Computer Science MS/PhD program at UMass Amherst. My advisor is Prof. Andy Barto and I am a member of the Autonomous Learning Lab (ALL). My research interests include biologically-inspired machine learning, robotics, and representation learning.

In May 2006 I completed my B.S. at Bryant University. While at Bryant, I had the privilege of working with Prof. Brian Blais on a few projects in computational neuroscience and Bayesian probability theory. More details about this work can be found in the pubs section below.

Currently:

I am working with Ed Hannigan and Prof. Rod Grupen defining a control basis for postural stability on the uBot-5. We plan to use reinforcement learning to sequence these controllers to achieve desired behaviors such as knuckle walking.

I am also working with Prof. Brian Blais and Chris Vigorito on a hierarchically-organized spatiotemporal clustering system. This work is inspired by Jeff Hawkins' theory of the neocortex and the preliminary results of HTM research at Numenta. Our goal is to build a more scalable system that incorporates feedback as it is described in the biological theory.

Papers and Talks

• B. Blais, M. Frenkel, S. Kuindersma, R. Muhammad, H. Shouval, L. Cooper, Mark F. Bear. (2008). Recovery from monocular deprivation using binocular deprivation: Experimental observations and theoretical analysis. Journal of Neurophysiology.
• Blais, B. and Kuindersma, S. (2008). A Hierarchical Spatiotemporal Model of Neocortex with Probabilistic Feedback. 12th International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems (ICCNS 2008).
• Kuindersma, S. and Blais, B. (2007) Teaching Bayesian Model Comparison With the Three-Sided Coin. The American Statistician, 61, pp. 239-244
• Blais, B. and Kuindersma, S. (2005) Synaptic Modification in Spiking-Rate Models: A Comparison between Learning in Spiking Neurons and Rate-Based Neuron Models. Society For Neuroscience Conference Abstracts. [abstract] [slides]
• Blais, B., Frenkel, M., Kuindersma, S., and Bear, M. (2005). The Role of Structure and Noise in the Mouse Visual System. 9th International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems (ICCNS 2005). [abstract] [slides]