Friday / CS Seminar

May 17th / 12:00 PM

Hybrid / Mudd 3514

Speaker

Stephen Xia, Northwestern University

Talk Title

Actuating Humans and Drones Towards Smarter and Efficient Built Environments

Abstract

We spend 90% of our time in our homes and buildings, which consume 75% of the electricity and greenhouse gas emissions. Optimizing the control of building resources is critical for realizing greener built environments that are convenient, comfortable, and energy efficient. Traditionally, solutions have centered around tuning three classes of knobs: heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, and appliances. In this talk, I will discuss several lines of work for realizing two unconventional resources that our buildings can interact with and, more importantly, "actuate" to achieve greater improvements in comfort, health, automation, and energy efficiency: humans and drones. Specifically, I will discuss how we can significantly improve energy savings, comfort, and health of occupants by adding a single knob: "recommending" occupants to move locations. Next, I will discuss ongoing work towards enabling drones as another unconventional resource that our environments can actuate alongside more traditional building appliances. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion on future directions and open challenges for optimizing future buildings and smart cities with humans, drones, and other robotics.

Biography

Stephen Xia is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northwestern University. His research lies at the intersection between systems, embedded machine learning, and signal processing, spanning areas in mobile and embedded computing, Internet-of-Things, cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, and smart health. His work focuses on realizing truly intelligent and autonomous environments by embedding and utilizing compute, perception, actuation, storage, and networking resources commonly found all around us. Stephen's research has been highlighted by many popular media outlets, including Mashable, Fast Company, and Gizmodo, and has received various distinctions including multiple Best Demo Awards, Best Presentation Awards, and a Best Paper Award. Prior to Northwestern, Stephen received his Ph.D. in 2022 from Columbia University and his B.S. in 2016 from Rice University, all in Electrical Engineering.

Research Area/Interests

mobile and embedded systems, IoT, cyber-physical systems, smart health

Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/96554537462?pwd=ZUNlSnpweEp5VHQ2emxYRC85c0ZGZz09