Dr. Ashton T. Sperry

I am an Applied Scientist at Bestie Bot and a Research Scholar at the Ronin Institute. I received my Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2011. My areas of specialization are artificial intelligence, decision and game theory, and the philosophy of science. At Bestie Bot, I develop machine and deep learning tools that privately study a home's behavioral patterns. Our platform executes anomaly and fall detection and uses computer vision to screen for limited mobility based on standardized guidelines. We aim to provide long-term, in-home assistance to the elderly and individuals with cognitive disabilities. My scholarly research at the Ronin Institute applies machine and deep learning—primarily reinforcement learning—to dynamic belief- revision in game theory. I also publish on the explanatory power and scope of equilibrium models in the social sciences and how agent-based (computational) models capture the complexity of social behavior.