Jack M. Wang
My research interests center around understanding human motion synthesis and control. This poses questions such as: Why does human walking look the way it does? How can we control robots to move with the agility and robustness of humans? Can we construct effective motion models from empirical data? My 2012 paper Optimizing Locomotion Controllers Using Biologically-Based Actuators and Objectives won the
ACM SIGGRAPH 2023 Test-of-Time award.
My work makes substantial use of machine learning, physical simulation, and biomechanics. Applications include computer animation, robotics, 3D motion tracking, and human movement science. I completed my Ph.D. in 2010 (Thesis: Locomotion Synthesis Methods for Humanoid Characters) at the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto.
Research
Gaussian Process Dynamical Models for Human Motion
J. M. Wang, D. J. Fleet, A. Hertzmann.
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. Feb. 2008. Vol. 30, No. 2. pp. 283-298. (Journal version of NIPS 2005 paper)
Multifactor Gaussian Process Models for Style-Content Separation
J. M. Wang, D. J. Fleet, A. Hertzmann.
In Proc. International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2007. Corvallis, Oregon. pp. 975-982.
Segmentation-Based 3D Artistic Rendering
A. Kolliopoulos, J. M. Wang, A. Hertzmann.
In Proc. Eurographics Symposium on Rendering (EGSR) 2006. Nicosia, Cyprus. pp. 361-370.
Optimizing Walking Controllers
J. M. Wang, D. J. Fleet, A. Hertzmann.
ACM Transactions on Graphics. Dec. 2009. Vol. 28, No. 5, Article 168, 8 pages. (Proc. SIGGRAPH Asia 2009)
Optimizing Walking Controllers for Uncertain Inputs and Environments
J. M. Wang, D. J. Fleet, A. Hertzmann.
ACM Transactions on Graphics. July 2010. Vol. 29, No. 4, Article 73, 8 pages. (Proc. SIGGRAPH 2010)
Continuous Character Control with Low-Dimensional Embeddings
S. Levine, J. M. Wang, A. Haraux, Z. Popović, V. Koltun.
ACM Transactions on Graphics. 2012. Vol. 31, No. 4, Article 28, 10 pages. (Proc. SIGGRAPH 2012)
Optimizing Locomotion Controllers Using Biologically-Based Actuators and Objectives
J. M. Wang, S. R. Hamner, S. L. Delp, V. Koltun.
ACM Transactions on Graphics. 2012. Vol. 31, No. 4, Article 25, 11 pages. (Proc. SIGGRAPH 2012)
Animating Human Lower Limbs Using Contact-Invariant Optimization
I. Mordatch, J. M. Wang, E. Todorov, V. Koltun.
ACM Transactions on Graphics. 2013. Vol. 32, No. 6, Article 203, 8 pages. (Proc. SIGGRAPH Asia 2013)
Predictive Simulation Generates Human Adaptations during Loaded and Inclined Walking
T. W. Dorn, J. M. Wang, J. L. Hicks, S. L. Delp.
PLoS ONE. 2015. Vol. 10, No. 4, e0121407.
