What started as a small RL bootcamp for students to introduce them to Reinforcement Learning (RL) quickly transformed into an international event, bringing together participants from around the world: students, researchers, and industry professionals.
We’re proud to present the result of fruitful collaborative efforts of Catherine Laflamme from Fraunhofer Austria , Thomas Gallien from JOANNEUM RESEARCH ROBOTICS, Andreas Windisch from AI Austria , Marius-Constantin Dinu, PhD from ExtensityAI and my SARL (Smart Analytics and Reinforcement Learning) team (Simon Hirlaender , Olga Mironova, Sabrina Pochaba , @Juan Manuel Bayardo Montoya, ...) from IDA Lab Salzburg of the Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg.
We offered a completely free event, where both RL experts and beginners could engage, learn, and collaborate.
It took place from 25 to 27 September 2024 at Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg hosted by the SARL team from the IDA Lab Salzburg, the bootcamp offered a blend of theory, hands-on sessions, and keynotes by renowned experts. With over 70 participants from various industries (one third) and academic backgrounds (two thirds).
The event featured:
- Excellent keynotes: Razvan Pascanu (Google DeepMind) , Kai Dresia (German Aerospace Center (DLR)) , Michael Somma ( JOANNEUM RESEARCH), and Anton Fuxjaeger (EnliteAI) on real-world RL challenges and research.
- Educational theory sessions and hands-on tutorials covering RL fundamentals, led by Catherine Laflamme , Marius-Constantin Dinu, PhD , Thomas Gallien and Simon Hirlaender building participants' understanding from basic concepts to advanced RL techniques and were designed to bridge the gap between theory and implementation, covering basic principles to advanced techniques in RL and control theory.
- Most importantly: a lot of fun and truly invaluable discussions and networking opportunities throughout the event.
The organisers, Simon Hirlaender , Catherine Laflamme , Marius-Constantin Dinu, PhD , Thomas Gallien , Olga Mironova and Andreas Windisch, extend their sincere thanks to all attendees, speakers, and contributors for making this bootcamp a great success!
Looking ahead, we’re excited to continue growing this RL community, and we’re already planning the next bootcamp. Stay tuned for more announcements!
Resources:
- Official RL bootcamp homepage
- The bootcamp was streamed and recorded on YouTube (except the tutorials): day 1 and day 2
- Lecture slides and tutorial materials can be found at: https://github.com/SARL-PLUS/RL_bootcamp_tutorial
- Join us for our informal exchange, RL Coffee, held on the first Friday of each month at 11:00! Sign up here to be a part of our monthly discussions.
Thank you for your enthusiasm, insightful contributions, and positive feedback. We can’t wait to see you at the next event!
Ideas? Want to collaborate? Reach out to us.
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