HKUST PhD Chronicle, Week 54, DROID, Notation and Stress

DROID

The alignment with DROID is finally complete. The data has not been collected yet, so I am still nervous and haven’t validate whether my effort will pay off even though I believe in pretraining.

At this moment, all I can only do is cross my finger 🙏 and hope the rest goes smoothly.

Talk with Agent

One thing I found extremely helpful is using math to communicate with AI agents. For example, instead of asking the agent to write code suing prompts like, “the object spawns right on top of the table at x=??, y=??, z=??, and the gripper is on top of the object”, I use formal notation.

Using natural language is easy for “vibe coding” for sure. But after a few iterations, the code becomes unrecognizable and hard to understand. What really saved me is Russ Tedrake’s notation. I still remember his habit of using rigorous notation when specifying things. Inspired by him, I created a file called NOTATION.md to specify transformations using conventions like

which means the gripper frame $G$ measured in object frame $O$.

I wish I had set up this notation right at the beginning of my project. By the way, at this moment, I can’t help but marvel at why people call math the most unambiguous language.

Meditation

With the ICRA deadline getting closer and my project not yet finished, I am definitely anxious. My sleep has been really bad recently, so I turned out to meditation for help. Oops, I know I should practice everyday… but whenever I sleep well, I skip it. 🫢 Not good, not good.

Last night, I experienced a moment of Samadhi? I suppose? Right before that moment, I was anxious and worried. But as I breathed, for I can’t remember how long, I was suddenly at peace. I guess I will stick to meditation all the way until the ICRA deadline.

Windsurfing

Besides meditation, windsurfing is a great way to release stress. Since I am drowning in lab work and doing nothing but sleeping and eating, getting a change of scenery through sports is always refreshing. Also, I am blessed with the sunshine. 🌞

This time I tried another water sport center in the south of Hong Kong: the Stanley Main Beach Water Sports Center. It is quiet and much less crowded.