Digital Talk : "Learning to control networks of agents"

📣For its next online Talk, the Swisscom Digital Lab is happy to welcome Sergio Valcarcel Macua.

TALK TOPIC:
📍"Learning to control networks of agents"

CONTENTS:
🚀How collective intelligence emerges from the interaction of intelligent individuals? This is the question that has driven much of Sergio's research. For example, artificial neural networks are achieving state-of-the-art in many machine learning tasks, but they are composed of very basic elements that are not intelligent at all. So what would happen if we have multiple neural networks learning together? What happens if they cooperate? Can we even model the problem when the networks have conflicting interests?
In this talk, Sergio will show some of his research on this topic from a multiagent perspective. He will discuss a fully distributed federated learning architecture and its application to nonconvex optimization and reinforcement learning, especially when the agents aim to learn to control different robotic tasks. Sergio will also show how to use reinforcement learning in the opposite scenario, when the agents have competing interests, which is the case for wireless communications when the agents have to share the same channel. Finally, if time permits, he will discuss how to control networks of queues and resources, which is a useful abstraction for many applications ranging from communication networks to supply chain networks.

SPEAKERS' BIO:
Sergio is passionate about using machine learning to solve challenges that help improve people’s lives. He received the B.S. degree in telecommunications engineering, the M.S. degree in electronic systems and the PhD degree from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). He has been Research Associate at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, and a Research Visitor at UCLA and at INRIA. He has also worked several years in industry and has some experience as an entrepreneur. He is currently with Graphcore, investigating and implementing machine learning applications for hardware accelerators. He is also interested in neuroscience and loves meditation and the peaceful feeling it brings.

Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergio-valcarcel-macua/

AGENDA:
📅12 to 1 PM : 45 min presentation + 15 min Q&A

IMPORTANT:
The Talk will be held through Microsoft Teams (please download the application beforehand)