Alex Stoytchev's Publications

Ph.D. Dissertation

• Stoytchev, A., "Robot Tool Behavior: A Developmental Approach to Autonomous Tool Use", Ph.D. Dissertation, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, August 2007.

Journal/Conference/Workshop Papers (peer reviewed)

• Griffith, S., Sukhoy, V., Wegter, T., and Stoytchev, A., "Object Categorization in the Sink: Learning Behavior–Grounded Object Categories with Water", In Proceedings of the 2012 ICRA Workshop on Semantic Perception, Mapping and Exploration (SPME), Saint Paul, Minnesota, May 14, 2012. [video]


• Sukhoy, V., Georgiev, V., Wegter, T., Sweidan, R., and Stoytchev, A., "Learning to Slide a Magnetic Card Through a Card Reader", In Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Saint Paul, Minnesota, May 14-18, 2012. [video]


• Griffith, S., Sinapov, J., Sukhoy, V., and Stoytchev, A., "A Behavior–Grounded Approach to Forming Object Categories: Separating Containers from Non-Containers", IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 54-69, March 2012. [Online edition of the journal]


• Griffith, S., Sukhoy, V., and Stoytchev, A., "Using Sequences of Movement Dependency Graphs to Form Object Categories", In Proceedings of 11th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), Bled, Slovenia, October 26th - 28th, pp. 715-720, 2011. [video]


• Stoytchev, A., "Baby Gym For Robots: A New Platform For Testing Developmental Learning Algorithms", In Proceedings of the 2011 AAAI Workshop on Lifelong Learning from Sensorimotor Experience, held at the 25-th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), San Francisco, CA, August 7, 2011.


• Sukhoy, V., Griffith, S., and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Imitating Object Manipulation Tasks Using Sequences of Movement Dependency Graphs", In Proceedings of the 2011 RSS Workshop on The State of Imitation Learning: Understanding its Applications and Promoting its Adoption, held at the Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) Conference, Los Angeles, CA, June 27, 2011. [videos]


• Sinapov, J., Sukhoy, V., Sahai, R., and Stoytchev, A., "Vibrotactile Recognition and Categorization of Surfaces by a Humanoid Robot," IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 488-497, June 2011. [Online edition of the journal]


• Sinapov, J., Bergquist, T., Schenck, C., Ohiri, U., Griffith, S., and Stoytchev, A., "Interactive Object Recognition Using Proprioceptive and Auditory Feedback," International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 30, No. 10, pp. 1250-1262, 2011. [Online Edition of the Journal]


• Koonce, P., Dutell, V., Farrington, J., Sukhoy, V., and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Learning to Solve Insertion Tasks: A Developmental Approach Using Exploratory Behaviors and Proprioception," In Proceedings of the 25-th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), San Francisco, CA, August 7-11, pp. 1798-1799, 2011. [video]


• Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "Object Category Recognition by a Humanoid Robot Using Behavior-Grounded Relational Learning," In Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Shanghai, China, May 9-13, pp. 184-190, 2011.


• Stoytchev, A., "Self-Detection in Robots: A Method Based on Detecting Temporal Contingencies", Robotica, volume 29, pp. 1-21, 2011. © Cambridge University Press 2011. [Online edition of the journal]


• Sukhoy, V. and Stoytchev, A., "Learning to Detect the Functional Components of Doorbell Buttons Using Active Exploration and Multimodal Correlation," In Proceedings of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), Nashville, Tennessee, December 6-8, pp. 572-579, 2010. [videos]


• Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "The Odd One Out Task: Toward an Intelligence Test for Robots," In Proceedings of the 9th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 18-21, pp. 126-131, 2010. (Best Student Paper Award, ICDL 2010)


• Sukhoy, V., Sinapov, J., Wu, L., and Stoytchev, A., "Learning to Press Doorbell Buttons," In Proceedings of the 9th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 18-21, pp. 132-139, 2010.


• Sinapov, J., and Stoytchev, A., "The Boosting Effect of Exploratory Behaviors," In Proceedings of the 24-th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Atlanta, GA, July 11-15, pp. 1613-1618, 2010. (Nominated for Best Paper Award)


• Wu, L., Sukhoy, V., and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Learning to Press Doorbell Buttons," In Proceedings of the 24-th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Atlanta, GA, July 11-15, pp. 1965-1966, 2010.


• Griffith, S., and Stoytchev, A., "Interactive Categorization of Containers and Non-Containers by Unifying Categorizations Derived From Multiple Exploratory Behaviors," In Proceedings of the 24-th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Atlanta, GA, July 11-15, pp. 1931-1932, 2010.


• Swanson, M., Johnson, E., and Stoytchev, A., "Automated Weld Integrity Analysis Using 3D Point Data", In Proceedings of the ASME 2010 World Conference on Innovative Virtual Reality (WINVR), Ames, IA, May 12 - 14, 2010.


• Griffith, S., Sinapov, J., Sukhoy, V., and Stoytchev, A., "How to Separate Containers From Non-Containers? A Behavior-Grounded Approach to Acoustic Object Categorization", In Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Anchorage, Alaska, pp. 1852-1859, May 3 - 8, 2010. [video]


• Sukhoy, V., Sahai, R., Sinapov, J., and Stoytchev, A., "Vibrotactile Recognition of Surface Textures by a Humanoid Robot," In Proceedings of the Humanoids 2009 Workshop on "Tactile Sensing in Humanoids - Tactile Sensors and Beyond," held at the 9-th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Paris, France, pp. 57-60, Dec. 7, 2009.


• Stoytchev, A., "Some Basic Principles of Developmental Robotics," IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 122-130, 2009.


• Miller, M. and Stoytchev, A., "An Unsupervised Model of Infant Acoustic Speech Segmentation," In Proceedings of the 9-th International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics, Venice, Italy, November 12-14, 2009.


• Bergquist, T., Schenck, C., Ohiri, U., Sinapov, J., Griffith, S., and Stoytchev, A., "Interactive Object Recognition Using Proprioceptive Feedback," In Proceedings of the IROS 2009 Workshop: Semantic Perception for Mobile Manipulation, St. Louis, MO, October 15 , 2009. [video]


• Sahai, R., Griffith, S., and Stoytchev, A., "Interactive Identification of Writing Instruments and Writable Surfaces by a Robot," In Proceedings of the RSS 2009 Workshop: Mobile Manipulation in Human Environments, Seattle, WA, June 28, 2009. [video]


• Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "From Acoustic Object Recognition to Object Categorization by a Humanoid Robot," In Proceedings of the RSS 2009 Workshop: Mobile Manipulation in Human Environments, Seattle, WA, June 28, 2009.


• Griffith, S., Sinapov, J., Miller, M., and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Interactive Learning of Object Categories by a Robot: A Case Study with Container and Non-Container Objects," In Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Shanghai, China, June 4-7, 2009. [video]


• Sahai, R., Griffith, S., and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Learning to Write by Identifying Writable Surfaces," Poster abstract 8th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Shanghai, China, June 4-7, 2009.


• Sinapov, J., Wiemer, M., and Stoytchev, A., "Interactive Learning of the Acoustic Properties of Household Objects," In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Kobe, Japan, May 12-17, 2009.


• Glover, C., Russell, B., White, A., Miller, M., and Stoytchev, A., "An Effective and Intuitive Control Interface for Remote Robot Teleoperation with Complete Haptic Feedback," In Proceedings of the 2009 Emerging Technologies Conference (ETC), Ames, IA, April 2-3, 2009.


• Miller, M., Wong, P., and Stoytchev, A., "Unsupervised Segmentation of Audio Speech Using the Voting Experts Algorithm," In Proceedings of the Second Conference on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), Arlington, Virginia, March 6-9, 2009.


• Miller, M. and Stoytchev, A., "Unsupervised Audio Speech Segmentation Using the Voting Experts Algorithm," In NIPS 2008 workshop on Speech and Language: Learning-based Methods and Systems. Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, 2008.


• Stoytchev, A., "Learning the Affordances of Tools using a Behavior-Grounded Approach," In "Affordance-Based Robot Control," Springer Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) 4760, E. Rome et al. (Eds.), pp. 140-158, 2008. (also available here).


• Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "Detecting the Functional Similarities Between Tools Using a Hierarchical Representation of Outcomes," In Proceedings of the 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Monterey, CA, Aug. 9-12, 2008.


• Miller, M. and Stoytchev, A., "Hierarchical Voting Experts: An Unsupervised Algorithm for Hierarchical Sequence Segmentation," In Proceedings of the 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Monterey, CA, Aug. 9-12, 2008. (Best Paper Award, ICDL 2008)


• Griffith, S., Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Learning to Detect and Use Containers," Poster abstract 7th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Monterey, CA, Aug. 9-12, 2008.


• Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Autonomous Learning of an Ontology of Tool Affordances by a Robot," In Proceedings of the 23rd National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Chicago, IL, July 13-17, 2008.


• Miller, M. and Stoytchev, A., "Hierarchical Voting Experts: An Unsupervised Algorithm for Segmenting Hierarchically Structured Sequences," In Proceedings of the 23rd National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Chicago, IL, July 13-17, 2008.


• Sinapov, J., Wiemer, M., and Stoytchev, A., "Interactive Learning of the Acoustic Properties of Objects," In Proceedings of the RSS 2008 Workshop - Robot Manipulation: Intelligence in Human Environments, Zurich, Switzerland, June 28, 2008.


• Stoytchev, A., "Toward Video-Guided Robot Behaviors," In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), pp. 165-172, Rutgers University, NJ, Nov 5-7, 2007.


• Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "Learning and Generalization of Behavior-Grounded Tool Affordances," In Proceedings of the 6th IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Imperial College, London, 11-13 July, 2007.


• Sinapov, J. and Stoytchev, A., "Learning Behavior-Grounded Tool Affordances with Generalization Across Different Tools," In Proceedings of the RSS 2007 Manipulation Workshop: Sensing and Adapting to the Real World, Atlanta, GA, June 30, 2007.


• Stoytchev, A., "Five Basic Principles of Developmental Robotics," NIPS 2006 Workshop on Grounding Perception, Knowledge and Cognition in Sensori-Motor Experience, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, Dec. 8, 2006.


• Stoytchev, A., "Autonomous Learning of Tool Affordances by a Robot," In Proceedings of the Twentieth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 9-13, 2005.


• Stoytchev, A., "Behavior-Grounded Representation of Tool Affordances," In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 3071-3076, Barcelona, Spain, April 18-22, 2005. (Outstanding Technical Paper Award, Georgia Tech Student Paper Contest sponsored by SAIC).


• Stoytchev, A., "Toward Learning the Binding Affordances of Objects: A Behavior-Grounded Approach," In proceedings of AAAI Symposium on Developmental Robotics, Stanford University, pp. 17-22, Mar 21-23, 2005.


• Stoytchev, A., "Toward a Behavior-Grounded Representation of Tool Affordances," In Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), pp. 153-154, Genoa, Italy, Aug. 25-27, 2004.


• Stoytchev, A. and Arkin, R., "Incorporating Motivation in a Hybrid Robot Architecture," Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 269-274, May 2004.


• Stoytchev, A., "Development and Extension of the Robot Body Schema," In Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), pp. 179-180, Boston, MA, Aug. 4-5, 2003.


• Martinson, E., Stoytchev, A., Arkin, R. "Robot Behavioral Selection Using Q-learning," In Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), EPFL, Switzerland, Sep. 30 - Oct. 4, 2002.


• Diaz, J., Stoytchev, A., and Arkin, R., "Exploring Unknown Structured Environments," In Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS-2001). Pages 145-149. Key West, Florida. 21-23 May 2001.


• Stoytchev, A. and Arkin, R., "Combining Deliberation, Reactivity and Motivation in the Context of a Behavior-Based Robot Architecture," In Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation (IEEE CIRA 2001), Baniff, Canada, July 29 - August 1, 2001.


• Wu J., Rankov V., and Stoytchev A., "Parallel Computations on LAN-connected Workstations," Proceedings of IASTED'96 Eighth International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing and Systems, Chicago, USA, Oct. 1996.

Technical Reports

• Stoytchev, A., "Developmental Robotics: Black Art or a Discipline Guided by Principles?" Dialog Column,
  AMD Newsletter - The newsletter of the Autonomous Menatal Development Technical Committee, Vol 6, No 2, pp. 5-6, October 2009.


• Griffith, S., Sinapov, J., Miller, M., and Stoytchev, A., "Toward Interactive Learning of Container and Non-Container Objects," Research Video,
  Nominated for Best Narration, IJCAI 2009 AI Video Competition (a.k.a., AI Oscars).    July 14, 2009.


• Stoytchev, A., "Computational Model for an Extendable Robot Body Schema," Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Computing Technical Report GIT-CC-03-44, Oct. 21, 2003.


• Martinson, E., Stoytchev, A., Arkin, R. "Robot Behavioral Selection Using Q-learning," Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Computing Technical Report GIT-CC-01-19, 2001


• Endo, Y., MacKenzie, D., Stoytchev, A., Haliburton, W., Ali, K., Balch, T., Cameron, J., and Chen, Z. "User Manual for MissionLab version 4.0," August 2000.


• Tanawongsuwan, R., Stoytchev, A., and Essa, I., "Robust Tracking of People by a Mobile Robotic Agent," Technical Report GIT-GVU-99-19, 1999.


• Stoytchev, A., Tanawongsuwan, R. "Pepe: PErsonal PEt," Video Proceedings of the AAAI-98 Mobile Robot Exhibition, Madison, WI, July, 1998.

M.S. Theses Supervised

• Griffith, S., "Separating containers from non-containers: A framework for learning behavior–grounded object categories,", M.S. Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering & Human-Computer Interaction Program, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, July 2011.
  [Runner up at the local ISU competition for the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Distinguished Thesis Award.]


• Miller, M., "Unsupervised segmentation of audio speech using the Voting Experts algorithm,", M.S. Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, July 2009.

Last Modified: January 16, 2012 by Alexander Stoytchev