Avik

I completed a B.S./M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Applied Math from Johns Hopkins University (LIMBS lab) in 2010 and completed a Ph.D. program in ESE at Penn in Kodlab in 2017. I am currently a postdoc in the same lab through 2018.

I am co-founder and CTO of Ghost Robotics.

Quick links: CV_AvikDe,  Personal website, Follow on Twitter, Videos, Publications

Research Areas and Projects

• Steady-state behaviors (“gaits”) using parallel composition — hybrid averaging, Minitaur virtual bipedal gaits, Jerboa hopping
• Transitional behaviors (“leaps”) — Jerboa leaping, Jerboa rolling
• Design — direct-drive robots, motor selection, Minitaur, Jerboa, Delta hopper
• Sensorimotor loops (servoing) — wall following, active visual servoing
• Bayesian estimation — approximate Bayesian estimation

Past Projects

• Juggling — paddle juggling
• Lateral perturbation recovery by a RHex robot (ESE650 final project, Sp 2012)
• Applications of homology to processing laser data (with Qian Wu, Su 2011)
• Finding optimal configuration space paths by variation of curves (MEAM620 final project, Sp 2011)

Teaching

• Robotics: Mobility — created/delivered roughly 25% of the curriculum
• Robotics: Capstone — created/delivered roughly 50% of the curriculum
• TA for ESE 201, ESE 512 (both Dynamical systems courses)

Awards & Honors

• James McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellowship winner
• ICRA 2018 Best Reviewer Award
• UPenn ESE Best Doctoral Dissertation Award for the 2017-2018 Academic Year
• For older awards see CV

Selected research videos

Videos featuring my gaits co-produced by Ghost Robotics

Publications

Also listed with google scholar. Listed anti-chronologically in IEEE format for copy-and-paste convenience:

Preprints / under review

A copy of documents under review may be obtained from the author via private correspondence.

Journal

Conference

• A. Shamsah, A. De, and D. E. Koditschek, “Analytically-Guided Design of a Tailed Bipedal Hopping Robot,” in IROS 2018 (under review), 2018.
• V. Vasilopoulos, O. Arslan, A. De, and D. E. Koditschek, “Sensor-Based Legged Robot Homing Using Range-Only Target Localization,” in ROBIO 2017.
• G. Wenger, A. De, and D. E. Koditschek, “Frontal plane stabilization and hopping with a 2DOF tail,” in Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on, 2016, pp. 567–573. IEEE
• T. T. Topping, V. Vasilopoulos, A. De, and D. E. Koditschek, “Towards bipedal behavior on a quadrupedal platform using optimal control,” in SPIE 9837, Unmanned Systems Technology XVIII, 2016, p. 98370H. SPIE
• A. L. Brill, A. De, A. M. Johnson and D. E. Koditschek, “Tail-Assisted Rigid and Compliant Legged Leaping,” in 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Sep, 2015. IEEE
• A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “Averaged Anchoring of Decoupled Templates in a Tail-Energized Monoped, 2015 International Symposium on Robotics Research, Sep, 2015. Springer
• A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “Parallel composition of templates for tail-energized planar hopping,” in Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2015 IEEE International Conference on, 2015, pp. 4562–4569.
• A. De, K. S. Bayer, and D. E. Koditschek, “Active sensing for dynamic, non-holonomic, robust visual servoing,” in Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2014 IEEE International Conference on, 2014, pp. 6192–6198.
• A. De, A. Ribeiro, W. Moran, and D. E. Koditschek, “Convergence of Bayesian Histogram Filters for Location Estimation,” in Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE Intl. Conference on Decision and Control, 2013.
• A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “Toward dynamical sensor management for reactive wall-following,” in Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2013 IEEE International Conference on, 2013, pp. 2400–2406.
• A. De, G. Lynch, A. Johnson, and D. Koditschek, “Motor sizing for legged robots using dynamic task specification,” in 2011 IEEE Conference on Technologies for Practical Robot Applications (TePRA), 2011, pp. 64 –69.
• A. De, J. Lee, N. Keller, and N. J. Cowan, “Toward SLAM on Graphs,” in Algorithmic Foundation of Robotics VIII, vol. 57, G. S. Chirikjian, H. Choset, M. Morales, and T. Murphey, Eds. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2009, pp. 631–645.

Abstracts, Posters, and Technical Reports

• A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “Hybrid averaging shows that within-stance symmetry helps mitigate coupling interactions between degrees of freedom in a sagittal 2DOF monoped and 3DOF biped,” Dynamic Walking 2017.
• A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “Reactive coordination: stabilizing common quadrupedal gaits without CPGs,” Sixth Annual Winter Workshop on Neuromechanics and Dynamics of Locomotion, Tulane University – New Orleans, Louisiana, January 19 – 20, 2017. [[Attach:Avik/neuro2017_poster.pdf | Poster]]
• G. Kenneally, A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “Design Principles for a Family of Direct-Drive Legged Robots,” RSS Workshop on Miniature Legged Robots, July, 2015.
• G. J. Wenger, A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “Roll Stabilization on a Tailed Biped,” RSS workshop on robotic uses for tails, July, 2015.
• A. De and D. E. Koditschek, “The Penn Jerboa: A Platform for Exploring Parallel Composition of Templates,” Technical report, 2015. Also on arXiv:1502.05347 [cs.RO],
• A. De, A. M. Johnson and D. E. Koditschek, “Planar Hopping with a Leg and a Tail,” Dynamic Walking, June, 2014. [[Attach:Avik/dw2014final.pdf | Abstract]] [[Attach:Avik/dw2014_poster.pdf | Poster]]

Thesis

• A. De,  “Modular Hopping and Running via Parallel Composition” Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 2017.
• A. De, “Neuromechanical Control of Paddle Juggling,” Masters thesis, Johns Hopkins University, 2010.

Invited Talks (excluding conference talks)

• Template Composition for Synthesis of New Behaviors from Simpler Constituents — IROS 2018 template-based control workshop
• Tail design and control for a tail- and hip-energized and -stabilized bipedal hopping robot — RSS 2018 workshop on “Unusual appendages: novel, multi-modal, or multi-functional uses for limbs, tails, and other body parts”
• Toward robust locomotion subject to variations in robot scale, mass, payload, and environmental conditions — ICRA 2018 multilegged robots workshop
• Platform design using dynamic motor, electronics, and transmission models — ICRA 2018 actuator workshop
• Modular hopping and running (for biologists and engineers) — UC Berkeley biomechanics seminar — Oct 24, 2017
• Modular hopping and running — Boston University Robotics Lab — Oct 6, 2017
• Thesis Defense “Modular Hopping and Running via Parallel Composition” — Thesis defense — Sep 20, 2017
• CMU bipedal seminar — Feb 17, 2017
• Mechanically Simple, Behaviorally Versatile Quadrupeds — TRI tech talk (with Gavin Kenneally) — Feb 10, 2017
• Mechanically Simple, Behaviorally Versatile Quadrupeds — Google tech talk (with Gavin Kenneally) — Feb 7, 2017
• Anchored Behaviors from Template Compositions — UW seminar — Feb 3, 2017
• Sequential, Parallel and Symbolic Compositions — UPenn ESE PhD Colloquium — Fall 2015
• Anchor synthesis via template composition — AMAM 2015
• UPenn GRASP industry day — April 2015
• Parallel Composition of Templates for Tail-Energized Planar Hopping — MIT Biomimetic Robotics Lab — Oct 2014