Program
Our 5-day program is designed as an intensive learning retreat. Each day begins with lectures and tutorials on key topics in artificial intelligence. In the afternoons, we’ll have hands-on exercises and problem-solving sessions. For the evenings, we’ve prepared social gatherings, hackathons and challenges to solve before the next day.
3rd Nov
06:00-07:00 Arrivals
Participants arriving from Europe and the US.
09:00 🚌 Bus departure
Group bus departs Southern Cross Station (Charlotte Street) for the venue. Approx. 2-hour journey.
10:00-11:00 Check-in & registration
Settle in with tea and coffee as you register and collect your welcome pack.
13:00-14:00 Lunch
Lunch served on-site.
14:00-15:00 Welcome session
Introductions, week overview, and an icebreaker activity to get to know each other.
15:00-18:00 Configuration and setup
Prepare for the week ahead by installing and configuring software environments.
18:00 🎈 Dinner and social events
Opportunities to interact and connect with peers.
4th Nov
07:00-09:00 Breakfast
Breakfast served on-site.
09:00-10:30 Modelling with MiniZinc
An introduction to modelling problems using MiniZinc, a powerful language for modelling and solving combinatorial optimisation problems. Guido will give an overview of the MiniZinc system and present the basics of how to use it to model and solve complex problems.
Presenter Guido Tack
10:30 🫖 Morning tea
Morning tea served on-site.
11:00-13:00 Guided session
In this session, you will work in small teams to turn problem descriptions into models and solutions. We will have experts in the room who will help you get started, and you will get feedback on your models along the way from our automatic evaluation system.
Presenter Guido Tack
13:00-14:00 Lunch
Lunch served on-site.
14:00-15:30 Deep dive: MiniZinc for scheduling, packing, and routing
Expanding on the morning session, we will look at more advanced modelling techniques, focusing on real-world problems and solution methods.
Presenter Guido Tack
15:30 Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea served on-site.
16:00-18:00 Hands-on MiniZinc lab
Similar to the first modelling practice session, you will use your new knowledge and skills to work in a small team on modelling and solving a realistic optimisation problem with MiniZinc.
Presenter Guido Tack
19:00 🍝 Dinner and social events
Dinner served on-site.
Evening Modelling competition
We will give you a set of challenging problems to model and solve. Work in a team and track your progress on the live leaderboard!
5th Nov
All day Learning under uncertainty
Explore reinforcement learning and task-motion planning under uncertainty.
Presenter Hanna Kurniawati
19:00 🍝 Dinner and social events
Dinner served on-site.
Evening Competition/hackathon
Test your understanding and work on a challenge problem related to learning under uncertainty.
6th Nov
All day Robot Runners – coordinating teams of agents
Tackle the core combinatorial challenges found in cooperative multi-robot coordination problems: robot dynamics, lifelong planning, task assignment and real-time execution. We explore these topics using the tools of heuristic-driven state-space search.
Presenter Daniel Harabor, Mor Vered
19:00 🍝 Dinner and social events
Dinner served on-site.
Evening Competition/hackathon
Work on a challenge problem related to multi-robot planning.
7th Nov
10:00-14:00 🎗️ Closing session & awards
Celebrate the week’s achievements. Final presentations and awards for the competition. Hear from the winning teams about their approaches.
14:00 Departure
Return bus to Southern Cross Station.