Project Number 1:
Learning to Identify the Controllability of Containers and their Contents using an Extension of Self-Detection

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2. Should this project be considered for the Best Project award? (yes/no)
Yes

3. Should this project be considered for the top 3 project awards? (yes/no)
Yes

4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the overall organization/clarity
of the project report? (1-10)
10...The organization of the project was good.  It starts with a brief and terse introduction.  It goes into previous work nicely.  There are smooth transitions.  It doens't feel choppy.

5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the overall project idea? (1-10)
10...This project idea is great and innovative.

6. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the overall research
contribution of the project idea, methodology and/or results?  (1-10)
10...I think this project is extremely relevent to developmental robotics


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* Overall, is the project report clear, concise, and well-organized?
The project is very clear and concise.  The research question is stated from the very beginning and the reader knows what the paper will be about via the abstract.  The research questions is also plainly stated in the title.  The introduction is very brief and to the point.  The transistions in between subsections are smooth and neat.  The entire paper is well organized.  It starts out with an introduction leading into previous and related works.  Methods and experiment are expressed in details that can be understood by any reader, not just a computer scientist or an engineer.

* How does the project idea and methodology fit within the framework of Developmental Robotics?
The project fits nicely within the framework of developmental robotics because it uses a bottom-up method for the robot to learn how to identify objects.  Instead of specifying in the robots framework a direct way to identify containers or adding a set of constraints for object identificiation, it uses multi-modal methods to determine if an object is a container.  It also uses interdisciplinary work to support the experiment.  The method used here is based on the research done that explains how children learn to identify containers and noncontainers through object exploration and interaction.

* Describe what you like BEST about the project?
What I like best about the project is its innovation.  The topic is sort of random -- who would think of teaching a robot to identify containers as a project topic -- yet it offers a significant contribution to the field or robotics.  I also like that it provides adequate previous work that is directly related to the author's current research.


* Describe what you like LEAST about the project?
I don't see anything wrong with the final report.

* Do the methods, results and contributions of the final project
correspond to what was presented in the initial project proposal?
The results do correspond with the initial proposal.


* Are there any major details left out with regards to the methods,
algorithms, or experimental design described in the report?
The methods, algorithms, and experiment is describe clearly and is supported by previous works.

* Do the experimental results reported in the paper demonstrate success?
The results demonstrate success and verifies the authors hypothesis of how the robot may learn to identify containers.

* Do you have any suggestions for improvement and future work?
This may not be feasible right now with the current set up of the robot due to risk of damage to the hardware, but for future work try manipulating mulitple objects within the container versus one.  And progress closer to more and smaller objects in one single container until perhaps you can begin to work with substances like sand or water.

* How close is the final project report to being publishable as a
conference or journal paper (consider the research papers that were
part of the course reading)? What would it take to get there?
I think this paper is eligible for submission into HRI conference.