CV

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy in Computing Science, University of Alberta, 2028 (expected)
  • Supervisors: Dr. Matthew E. Taylor and Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski
• Master of Science in Computing Science, University of Alberta, 2023
  • Supervisors: Dr. Martin Jägersand
  • Thesis Title: Advancing the Acceptance and Use of Wheelchair-Mounted Robotic Manipulators
• Bachelor of Science with Honors in Computing Science, University of Alberta, 2020

Work Experience

• 01/2023 - Present: Research Assistant
  • Intelligent Robot Learning (IRL) and Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control (BLINC) labs, University of Alberta
  • Research focus: Machine learning for neuroprosthetic control; continual learning; anatomical studies of the upper limb; and human in the loop control.
• 11/2021 - 12/2022: Associate Machine Learning Scientist
  • Attabotics Project, Advanced Technology Team, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)
  • Project focus: Designed and implemented a machine learning-based optimization system for an autonomous robotic warehouse, resulting in a 200% improvement in operational throughput.
• 01/2018 - 12/2022: Research Assistant
  • Computer Vision and Robotics Research Group, University of Alberta
  • Research focus: Vision and force guided control of robotic manipulators; inverse reinforcement learning; geometric representations for visual imitation learning; and assistive robotics.

Publications

Video Object Segmentation using Teacher-Student Adaptation in a Human Robot Interaction (HRI) Setting.

Siam, M., Jiang, C., Lu, S.W., Petrich, L., Gamal, M., Elhoseiny, M., and Jägersand, M. (2019). "Video Object Segmentation using Teacher-Student Adaptation in a Human Robot Interaction (HRI) Setting." In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 50-56.

Online Object and Task Learning via Human Robot Interaction.

Dehghan, M., Zhang, Z., Siam, M., Jin, J., Petrich, L., and Jägersand, M. (2019). "Online Object and Task Learning via Human Robot Interaction." In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 2132-2138.

Robot eye-hand coordination learning by watching human demonstrations: a task function approximation approach.

Jin, J., Petrich, L., Dehghan, M., Zhang, Z., and Jägersand, M. (2019). "Robot eye-hand coordination learning by watching human demonstrations: a task function approximation approach." In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 6624-6630.

Visual Geometric Skill Inference by Watching Human Demonstration.

Jin, J., Petrich, L., Zhang, Z., Dehghan, M., and Jägersand, M. (2020). "Visual Geometric Skill Inference by Watching Human Demonstration." In 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 8985-8991.

A Geometric Perspective on Visual Imitation Learning.

Jin, J., Petrich, L., Dehghan, M., and Jägersand, M. (2020). "A Geometric Perspective on Visual Imitation Learning." In 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 5194-5200.

A Quantitative Analysis of Activities of Daily Living: Insights into Improving Functional Independence with Assistive Robotics.

Petrich, L., Jin, J., Dehghan, M., and Jägersand, M. (2022). "A Quantitative Analysis of Activities of Daily Living: Insights into Improving Functional Independence with Assistive Robotics." In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 6999-7006.

Learning State Conditioned Linear Mappings for Low-Dimensional Control of Robotic Manipulators.

Przystupa, M., Johnstonbaugh, K., Zhang, Z., Petrich, L., Dehghan, M., Haghverd, F., and Jägersand, M. (2023). "Learning State Conditioned Linear Mappings for Low-Dimensional Control of Robotic Manipulators." In 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

Multi-Robot Warehouse Optimization: Leveraging Machine Learning for Improved Performance.

Cairo, M., Doerksen, G., Günther, J., Eldaphonse, B., Kummer, N., Petrich, L., Mousavi, P., Maretzki, J., Syed, T., Sahir, Mohaar, G., Jubair, S., Murphy, S., and Taylor, M. E. (2023). "Multi-Robot Warehouse Optimization: Leveraging Machine Learning for Improved Performance." In Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), pp. 3047-3049.

A Preliminary Investigation into Bio-inspired Data Collection for Transhumeral Targeted Muscle Reinnervation Prosthetic Control.

Petrich, L. C., Williams, H. E., Taylor, M. E., Hebert, J. S., Lemelin, P., Shehata, A. W., and Pilarski, P. M. (2024). "A Preliminary Investigation into Bio-inspired Data Collection for Transhumeral Targeted Muscle Reinnervation Prosthetic Control." Myoelectric Controls and Upper Limb Prosthetics (MEC) Symposium.

Feasibility Study of Dendritic Gated Networks for Upper Limb Prosthetic Control.

Petrich, L. C., Williams, H. E., Günther, J., Taylor, M. E., and Pilarski, P. M. (2024). "Feasibility Study of Dendritic Gated Networks for Upper Limb Prosthetic Control." In 2024 6th International Conference on Neurorehabilitation (ICNR).

Neural Network Sparsity in Brain-Body-Machine Interfaces.

Petrich, L. C.*, Neumann, S.*, Pilarski, P., and Fyshe, A. (2025). "Neural Network Sparsity in Brain-Body-Machine Interfaces." In the 19th IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR). *equal contribution.

Decision Making for Contextual Neuroprosthetic Control with Dendritic Gated Networks.

Petrich, L. C., Williams, H. E., Taylor, M. E., and Pilarski, P. M. (2025). "Decision Making for Contextual Neuroprosthetic Control with Dendritic Gated Networks." In 6th Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making (RLDM).

Talks

Advancing Artificial Intelligence with Attabotics

May 25, 2022

Conference proceedings talk at AI Week, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), Edmonton, Alberta

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Disrupt Logistics and Warehousing Operations

October 19, 2022

Expert panel talk at Supply Change Conference and Expo, Calgary, Alberta

Robotics in Education

May 25, 2023

Conference proceedings talk at Upper Bound AI Conference, Edmonton, Alberta

Becoming Bionic

May 25, 2024

Invited talk at Mila Robot Learning Seminar, Montreal, Quebec

Teaching

CMPUT 312 - Introduction to Robotics and Mechatronics

CMPUT 312 - Introduction to Robotics and Mechatronics

CMPUT 272 - Formal Systems and Logic in Computing Science

CMPUT 412/503 - Experimental Mobile Robotics

CMPUT 412/503 - Experimental Mobile Robotics

Student Supervision

• 05/2024 - 09/2024: Jasper Eng, BSc in Computing Science student
  • Project: Optimizing limb position selection for efficient myoelectric control training in the BLINC lab.
• 05/2023 - 09/2023: Justin Francis, BSc in Computing Science student
  • Project: Development of robotic software and hardware to support graduate student research in the IRL lab.