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

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

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) 9

5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the overall project idea? (1-10) 8

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) 9


Then write approximately 2 pages of helpful feedback to the project's
author(s). The following questions should help you organize your
feedback:

* Overall, is the project report clear, concise, and well-organized? 
The paper is extremely well done and organized. The photos, graphs, and charts were very helpful in bringing the project to life. The project was well constructed and thought out, and builds upon prior work in the field.

* How does the project idea and methodology fit within the framework
of Developmental Robotics? 
This paper is within the domain of fundamental research in developmental robotics. It directly relates to self-detection and control of objects in containers. These skills and capabilities are foundational building blocks needed for robots to be able to work flexibly in the physical world. In that sense the work has very wide applicability.

* Describe what you like BEST about the project? 
I like that this project is focused on fundamental research that will help to build core knowledge in the field of developmental robotics. It addresses the controllability of objects which is a must if robots are to function in a natural environment. I also thought the inclusion of a human in the experiment was an interesting dimension, in light of the self-detection aspect of the project. Also the paper was very well organized and readable.

* Describe what you like LEAST about the project? 
From a layman's point of view I am troubled that the same object is considered both a container and a non-container, depending upon how it is situated in the environment. For any practical real-world application, a robot will need to be able to identify an object as a container or non-container regardless of its orientation. Most of the paper focused on containers; the significance of the non-containers was not fully explained. The controllability of objects within containers seems more relevant.

* Do the methods, results and contributions of the final project
correspond to what was presented in the initial project proposal? 
Yes they do, but my understanding was that the paper had already been delivered by the time we saw the proposal. The final paper is very well executed.

* Are there any major details left out with regards to the methods,
algorithms, or experimental design described in the report? 
If I am not mistaken there is no accounting for the overall results in terms of the data collected. At least the way I read it, figure 9 showed the results for 4 single trials. It would have been interesting to see summary or rollup of the overall experimental results. 

This may be a silly question, but in the paper I noticed the robot is a lefty and the human is operating from the right side and using his right arm. Was this done consistently for all of the trials? Would that affect the robots discrimination in terms of self detection (making it easier for the robot)?

* Do the experimental results reported in the paper demonstrate success?
They do. The robot was able to form associations (controllability graphs) between itself and the objects regarding when they were controllable. 

* Do you have any suggestions for improvement and future work?
I would like to have the robot be able to predict whether something will be controllable based on past experience. I liked the concept of the robot learning from its interactions with objects and containers and using that information to moderate its future behavior. 


* 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?
This paper is in the form of a publishable conference/journal paper already since it was written expressly for that purpose. It contains the expected sections of a journal article and is formatted appropriately. The charts, graphs, photos and equations are used well. Very nice project and a great job.