Benned Hedegaard
PhD Candidate @ Brown CS researching abstraction learning for robot planning
Hello! I’m Benned, a third-year PhD candidate in Computer Science at Brown University, where I am advised by Professors Stefanie Tellex and George Konidaris. My research investigates how robots can learn abstractions for planning to solve complex, long-horizon problems. Before my PhD, I received my B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Rochester.
I want to make robots more capable so that they can handle complex, everyday tasks (e.g., “Clear the table and run the dishwasher”). Forming abstractions to simplify such problems is a fundamental capability underpinning intelligent behavior. Toward these aims, my research studies how robots can learn abstractions for planning to support efficient and generalizable decision making. This work draws upon methods including task and motion planning, hierarchical reinforcement learning, and foundation models for perception. I am excited by this intersection due to its potential to combine the foresight of planning with the flexibility of modern learning methods.