TRI Be Yourself Spotlight: Meet Jose Barreiros

At TRI, one of our values is “Be Yourself” which encourages team members to bring their full selves to work every day. Our diverse views, history, personality, character, and experiences are invaluable to the work we do at TRI and Toyota.

For this month’s TRI Be Yourself Spotlight, meet Jose Barreiros:?

Jose Barreiros

What do you do at TRI?

I work on the Robotics UX team at TRI developing methods to demonstrate capable, contact-rich upper-body robotic manipulation. This type of manipulation is natural, necessary, and common in humans. We employ our entire bodies to get stuff done; for instance, when we use our elbow to open a door while carrying multiple bags of groceries. The synthesis of such behaviors is still a challenge in robotics. Traditionally, robots are afraid of bumping into things in the environment, however, as humans, we do it all the time to brace ourselves against nearby structures, to exploit the compliance of our bodies, and to explore the material properties of objects.?

My team investigates methods that leverage contact and tactile sensing to manipulate large and unwieldy objects, including physical human-robot interaction. Specifically, I work on algorithms to plan contact-rich behaviors using model-and learning-based approaches. Seasonally, I collaborate in the development of tactile sensors that help us close the loop in contact-rich interactions.

How is TRI’s robotics work helping people age gracefully??

TRI is working on a future where Toyota robot assistants are welcomed, trusted, and improve people’s quality of life in every home. To that aim, TRI, and my team, is working on new capabilities for robots to take advantage of softness, tactile sensing, and willingness for whole-body contact.?

We are especially interested in supporting the day-to-day needs of older adults over 60 years of age who, according to the World Health Organization, are projected to double in number by 2050. We hope our robots help this population with daily tasks such as carrying boxes, lifting a heavy pot, bathing, getting up from a chair, cleaning, etc. Our robots aim to allow older adults to live independently for longer—we are looking for the balance between supporting these physically demanding tasks, while still keeping the individuals engaged, safe, and healthy. In this regard, a lot of research is devoted to understanding the needs of the user, learning from the best practices of caregiving professionals, and matching those with our state-of-the-art methods for whole-body manipulation.?

What motivates you to do the work you’re doing?

“A being recognizes itself, and knows its own existence, not by observation…nor by inference from any idea of itself, but through direct physical contact with that existence…a mind in action.” This quote by Merleau-Ponty about self-consciousness intrigued me the most in my journey of studying intelligence. During my early years in high school in Ecuador, I wondered what allows humans to be as graceful, resourceful, and intelligent as we are. Now, fifteen years later, my curiosity has evolved. I’m interested in designing machines that are aware of their embodiment by reasoning about contact with themselves and the environment. I believe this is a necessary step towards building robots that can perform meaningful and complex physical tasks. Ultimately, I hope my research at TRI contributes towards creating robots that help our older adults get dressed or perhaps take a nasal sample of patients in the next pandemic.?

What do you like to do for fun?

Outside of research, I love eating ice cream, listening to music, playing the piano, perfecting my bean-to-bar chocolate recipe, and making food from different cuisines. Cooking is awesome because it is a result of a creative process, accumulated knowledge, and mastery of techniques—this is in many ways similar to research. Additionally, I try to stay active at least once a week by hitting the gym, dancing tango, ice skating, and playing tennis.

What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2022 at TRI or what are you looking forward to in 2023??

I joined TRI in 2022, and in retrospect, I am most proud of the vast learning I accumulated during my first year. Since then, I've expanded my knowledge in areas of robotics that I did not get to emphasize during my Ph.D. TRI provides a remarkable environment for researchers to learn and cross-pollinate across fields thanks to the vast cadre of in-house and renowned experts as well as our university partners with whom we execute joint research agendas.??

In 2023, I look forward to unveiling what we have been cooking up as part of the Punyo project, including bimanual manipulation of large objects, contact-aware controllers, and contact-rich human-robot interaction.?