Research Interests

I am a PhD student in the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin studying artificial intelligence. My advisor is Peter Stone and I am a member of the Learning Agents Research Group at UT. I am also a part of the UT Austin Villa robot soccer team. I am researching reinforcement learning and robotics, specifically looking to make reinforcement learning more open-ended and applying it to make curious robots.

Before coming to UT, I worked in the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Spaulding Rehabiliation Hospital in Boston. There I worked on methods to evaluate the mobility of stroke, arthritis, and Parkinson's patients using wearable sensors. We used machine learning techniques to analyze wearable sensor data and quantify the quality of the patients' movements. I've also worked on a number of projects on my own, including building my own robot from scratch, writing a program to predict the scores of NFL football games based on machine learning techniques, and writing a 3D Connect Four game.

Links:

Personal Home Page
Curriculum Vitae
University of Texas Dept of Computer Sciences

Contact Info:

Office: ENS32NE (Robotics Lab)
E-mail: todd AT cs DOT utexas DOT edu

Publications

Journal Articles

• S. Patel, T. Hester, R. Hughes, N. Huggins, A. Flaherty, D. Standaert, J. Growdon, and P. Bonato. Processing Wearable Sensor Data to Optimize Deep-Brain Stimulation. In IEEE Pervasive Computing, Jan 2008.

Refereed Conferences

• T. Hester and P. Stone. Negative Information and Line Observations for Monte Carlo Localization. In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2008.

• N. Jong, T. Hester, and P. Stone. The Utility of Temporal Abstraction in Reinforcement Learning. In The Sixth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), May 2008.

• P. Boissy, T. Hester, D. M. Sherrill, H. Corriveau, and P. Bonato. Monitoring Mobility Assistive Device Use in Post-Stroke Patients. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), August 2007.

• S. Patel, T. Hester, R. Hughes, N. Huggins, D. Standaert, A. Flaherty, and P.Bonato. Using Wearable Sensors to Enhance DBS Parameter Adjustment for Parkinson's Disease Patients Through Measures of Motor Response. In Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE EMBS International Summer School and Symposium on Medical Devices and Biosensors, September 2006.

• T. Hester, D. M. Sherrill, M. Hamel, K. Perreault, P. Boissy, and P. Bonato. Identification of Tasks Performed by Stroke Patients Using a Mobility Assistive Device. In Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), Aug-Sept 2006.

• P. Boissy, T. Hester, D. M. Sherrill, H. Corriveau, and P. Bonato. Monitoring Mobility Assistive Device Use in Patients After Stroke. In Proceedings of the 16th Congress of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK), June-July 2006.

• T. Hester, R. Hughes, D. M. Sherrill, S. Patel, N. Huggins, A. Flaherty, D. Standaert, and P. Bonato. Adjusting DBS Settings to Optimize Parkinson’s Control Therapy. In Proceedings of the 16th Congress of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK), June-July 2006.

• T. Hester, D. M. Sherrill, M. Hamel, K. Perreault, P. Boissy, and P. Bonato. Using Wearable Sensors to Analyze the Quality of Use of Mobility Assistive Devices. In Proceedings of the Third Annual International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks (BSN), April 2006.

• T. Hester, R. Hughes, D. M. Sherrill, B. Knorr, M. Akay, J. Stein, and P. Bonato. Using Wearable Sensors to Measure Motor Abilities following Stroke. In Proceedings of the Third Annual International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks (BSN), April 2006.

• S. Patel, D. Sherrill, R. Hughes, T. Hester, N. Huggins, T. Lie-Nemeth, D. Standaert, and P. Bonato. Analysis of the Severity of Dyskinesia in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease via Wearable Sensors. In Proceedings of the Third Annual International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks (BSN), April 2006.

Technical Reports

• T. Hester, M. Quinlan, and P. Stone. UT Austin Villa 2008: Standing on Two Legs. Technical Report UT-AI-TR-08-8, The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Computer Sciences, AI Laboratory, 2008.