Expert in Robotic Intelligence and Perception Systems
Matthew Walter is an Associate Professor at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTI-Chicago), where he directs the Robot Intelligence through Perception Laboratory (RIPL). He also holds a part-time faculty appointment in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. from the prestigious Joint Program between MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where his thesis focused on scaling robotic mapping and localization in unknown environments. Before his current position, he served as a Research Scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). His research concentrates on developing intelligent, perceptually aware robots capable of operating effectively in unstructured environments, particularly alongside humans. At TTI-Chicago, he contributes to the "Self-Driving Cars with Duckietown" course, an innovative program that introduces students to vehicle autonomy through practical implementation. His work emphasizes machine learning-based solutions that enable robots to understand and interact with their surroundings, combining traditional sensors with novel sensing modalities