Yanda Bao

Seattle · robot learning

I study CS and math at the University of Washington, where I do robot learning research at the WEIRD Lab. Lately I’m thinking about in-context adaptation for sim-to-real and reinforcement learning for dexterous manipulation. I’m broadly interested in continual learning, helpful inductive biases for generalization, and pre-training for adaptation.

Previously I interned at Roblox, working on mobile UX. Before that I used to compete in competitive math and programming, and served my time in court for Mock Trial. In my spare time I read strong opinions about the world, keep a soft spot for philosophy, run, and play soccer.

† winger by trade.

“Man realizes himself as truly human only by seeking, beyond himself, an aim of liberation.” — Sartre, abridged

Research

click anywhere — you’ll spawn a little life. it evolves on its own.