Since September 2017, Ludovic Righetti is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the Tandon School of Engineering of New York University. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Tübingen, Germany.
He leads the Machines in Motion Laboratory at New York University and the Movement Generation and Control group at MPI-IS.
A complete list of his publications is available on his NYU laboratory website or on Google Scholar
If you are interested in working with us, either at MPI or NYU, please check out this page first https://wp.nyu.edu/machinesinmotion/working-with-us/ Any inquiry that does not contain: a CV, an unofiicial transcript and a clear description of your background, research interests and how they relate to our research will not receive an answer.
We have developed algorithms which enable an autonomous manipulation system to grasp a wide range of objects and to perform a certain number of manipulation tasks, such as drilling, using a stapler, unlocking a door with a key or changing a tire \cite{Righetti_AR_2013}. More generally, we are interested in providing complete integra...
Ludovic Righetti Mrinal Kalakrishnan Peter Pastor Manuel Wüthrich Alexander Herzog Jeannette Bohg Stefan Schaal
Tuning and designing robotic behavior by combining elementary objective terms is a tedious task which generally consists of finding proper representations for each new skill. Inverse Optimal Control (IOC) allows, by specifying a set of basis functions (or features), to learn the right association of objective terms defining a policy...
Jim Mainprice Mrinal Kalakrishnan Peter Pastor Nathan Ratliff Ludovic Righetti Stefan Schaal Andreas Doerr
An expressive model of human motion is essential for action classification, motion prediction and synthesis. To that end, we are exploring several deep network architectures to predict human movement.
Current methods for motion prediction typically do not wo...
Julieta Martinez Judith Bütepage Javier Romero Hedvig Kjellström Michael Black Ludovic Righetti Partha Ghosh Sergey Prokudin
Motion generation is increasingly formalized as a large scale optimization over future outcomes of actions. For high dimensional manipulation platforms, this optimization is computationally so difficult that for a long time traditional approaches focused primarily on feasibility of the solution rather than even local optimality. Rec...
Nathan Ratliff Ludovic Righetti Jim Mainprice Jeannette Bohg Stefan Schaal
Planning dynamic behaviors for legged robots is a challenging task because the robot is subject to strong dynamic constraints due to its floating base (i.e. it can fall). It needs to take into account intermittent contacts with the environment and apply contact forces in order to move.
In this project, we address the probl...
Ludovic Righetti Alexander Herzog Nick Rotella Sean Mason Felix Grimminger John Rebula Brahayam Ponton Stefan Schaal
Humans live in a real world governed by the laws of physics; that is, we apply and exploit forces, such as gravity, in our daily interactions with the world. In this project we allow virtual humans to interact with a virtual world subject to the laws of physics. How would one's body shape deform in cas...
Michael Black Sergi Pujades Meekyoung Kim Gerard Pons-Moll Javier Romero Ludovic Righetti
When developing controllers for legged robots, one assumes that important quantities like the Center of Mass of the robot (CoM), its position and orientation in space or its joint positions and velocities are know accurately to be used in feedback laws. While the estimation of such quantities is trivial in simulation, it becomes a s...
Nick Rotella Sean Mason Alexander Herzog Ludovic Righetti Stefan Schaal
Autonomous robotic grasping is one of the pre-requisites for personal robots to become useful when assisting humans in households. Seamlessly easy for humans, it still remains a very challenging task for robots. The key problem of robotic grasping is to automatically choose an appropriate grasp configuration given an object as perce...
Alexander Herzog Peter Pastor Mrinal Kalakrishnan Ludovic Righetti Jeannette Bohg Stefan Schaal
Legged robots are expected to locomote autonomously in an uncertain and potentially dynamically changing environment. Active interaction with contacts becomes inevitable to move and apply forces in a goal-directed way and withstand unpredicted changes in the environment. Therefore, we need to design algorithms that exploit interacti...
Ludovic Righetti Alexander Herzog Nick Rotella Sean Mason Felix Grimminger Stefan Schaal
In this project, we are interested in using machine learning techniques to handle robot behaviors with hard impact dynamics and contacts, such as walking, jumping or catching a ball. We investigate reinforcement learning techniques to learn dynamic motions under contact. We also use statistical learning tools to find representations...
Ludovic Righetti Julian Viereck Avadesh Merduri Felix Grimminger Majid Khadiv
An important part of our research is concerned with the problem of movement representations. The way motion and contacts are represented is crucial to derive efficient planning and control algorithms, for example by significantly simplifying the underlying optimization problems. The way sensory information can be integrated to gen...
Ludovic Righetti Stefan Schaal Peter Pastor Mrinal Kalakrishnan
In this project, we investigate the problem of computing movements for robots with arms and legs in intermittent contact with their environment that are physically correct. Our approach uses trajectory optimization and optimal control techniques. In particular, we study how the physics of mechanical systems impose a structure to the...
Ludovic Righetti Alexander Herzog Andrea Del Prete Maximilien Naveau Brahayam Ponton Majid Khadiv Sean Mason Nick Rotella
In this project, we explore the problem of fusing sensor information from inertial, position and force measurements to recover quantities fundamental for the feedback control of legged robots. Our final goal is to find a systematic way of fusing multiple sensor modalities to improve the control of legged robots.
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Merzic, H., Bogdanovic, M., Kappler, D., Righetti, L., Bohg, J.
Leveraging Contact Forces for Learning to Grasp
arXiv, September 2018, Submitted to ICRA'19 (article) Submitted
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Borno, M. A., Righetti, L., Black, M. J., Delp, S. L., Fiume, E., Romero, J.
Robust Physics-based Motion Retargeting with Realistic Body Shapes
Computer Graphics Forum, 37, pages: 6:1-12, July 2018 (article)
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Viereck, J., Kozolinsky, J., Herzog, A., Righetti, L.
Learning a Structured Neural Network Policy for a Hopping Task.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 3(4):4092-4099, October 2018 (article)
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Ponton, B., Herzog, A., Del Prete, A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
On Time Optimization of Centroidal Momentum Dynamics
In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pages: 5776-5782, IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, May 2018 (inproceedings)
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Pham, Q., Madhavan, R., Righetti, L., Smart, W., Chatila, R.
The Impact of Robotics and Automation on Working Conditions and Employment [Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues]
IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 25(2):126-128, June 2018 (article)
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Rotella, N., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Unsupervised Contact Learning for Humanoid Estimation and Control
In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pages: 411-417, IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, 2018 (inproceedings)
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Gams, A., Mason, S., Ude, A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Learning Task-Specific Dynamics to Improve Whole-Body Control
In Hua, IEEE, Beijing, China, November 2018 (inproceedings)
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Mason, S., Rotella, N., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
An MPC Walking Framework With External Contact Forces
In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pages: 1785-1790, IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, May 2018 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Pham, Q., Madhavan, R., Chatila, R.
Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems [Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues]
IEEE Robotics \& Automation Magazine, 25(1):123-126, March 2018 (article)
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Righetti, L., Herzog, A.
Momentum-Centered Control of Contact Interactions
In Geometric and Numerical Foundations of Movements, 117, pages: 339-359, Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, Springer, Cham, 2017 (incollection)
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Khadiv, M., Moosavian, S. A. A., Herzog, A., Righetti, L.
Pattern Generation for Walking on Slippery Terrains
In 2017 5th International Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (ICROM), Iran, August 2017 (inproceedings)
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The Role of Measurement Uncertainty in Optimal Control for Contact Interactions
Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics, pages: 22, November 2016 (conference)
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Herzog, A., Rotella, N., Mason, S., Grimminger, F., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Momentum Control with Hierarchical Inverse Dynamics on a Torque-Controlled Humanoid
Autonomous Robots, 40(3):473-491, 2016 (article)
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Rotella, N., Mason, S., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Inertial Sensor-Based Humanoid Joint State Estimation
In 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pages: 1825-1831, IEEE, Stockholm, Sweden, 2016 (inproceedings)
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Khadiv, M., Kleff, S., Herzog, A., Moosavian, S. A. A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Stepping Stabilization Using a Combination of DCM Tracking and Step Adjustment
In 2016 4th International Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (ICROM), pages: 130-135, IEEE, Teheran, Iran, 2016 (inproceedings)
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Herzog, A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Structured contact force optimization for kino-dynamic motion generation
In 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pages: 2703-2710, IEEE, Daejeon, South Korea, 2016 (inproceedings)
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Mason, S., Rotella, N., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Balancing and Walking Using Full Dynamics LQR Control With Contact Constraints
In 2016 IEEE-RAS 16th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 63-68, IEEE, Cancun, Mexico, 2016 (inproceedings)
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Khadiv, M., Herzog, A., Moosavian, S. A. A., Righetti, L.
Step Timing Adjustement: a Step toward Generating Robust Gaits
In 2016 IEEE-RAS 16th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 35-42, IEEE, Cancun, Mexico, 2016 (inproceedings)
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Ponton, B., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
On the Effects of Measurement Uncertainty in Optimal Control of Contact Interactions
In The 12th International Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics WAFR, Berkeley, USA, 2016 (inproceedings)
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Ponton, B., Herzog, A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
A Convex Model of Momentum Dynamics for Multi-Contact Motion Generation
In 2016 IEEE-RAS 16th International Conference on Humanoid Robots Humanoids, pages: 842-849, IEEE, Cancun, Mexico, 2016 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Nylen, A., Rosander, K., Ijspeert, A.
Kinematic and gait similarities between crawling human infants and other quadruped mammals
Frontiers in Neurology, 6(17), February 2015 (article)
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Herzog, A., Rotella, N., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Trajectory generation for multi-contact momentum control
In 2015 IEEE-RAS 15th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 874-880, IEEE, Seoul, South Korea, 2015 (inproceedings)
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Rotella, N., Herzog, A., Schaal, S., Righetti, L.
Humanoid Momentum Estimation Using Sensed Contact Wrenches
In 2015 IEEE-RAS 15th International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), pages: 556-563, IEEE, Seoul, South Korea, 2015 (inproceedings)
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Toussaint, M., Ratliff, N., Bohg, J., Righetti, L., Englert, P., Schaal, S.
Dual Execution of Optimized Contact Interaction Trajectories
In 2014 IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 47-54, IEEE, Chicago, USA, 2014 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Kalakrishnan, M., Pastor, P., Binney, J., Kelly, J., Voorhies, R. C., Sukhatme, G. S., Schaal, S.
An autonomous manipulation system based on force control and optimization
Autonomous Robots, 36(1-2):11-30, January 2014 (article)
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Herzog, A., Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Righetti, L., Bohg, J., Asfour, T., Schaal, S.
Learning of grasp selection based on shape-templates
Autonomous Robots, 36(1-2):51-65, January 2014 (article)
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Herzog, A., Righetti, L., Grimminger, F., Pastor, P., Schaal, S.
Balancing experiments on a torque-controlled humanoid with hierarchical inverse dynamics
In 2014 IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 981-988, IEEE, Chicago, USA, 2014 (inproceedings)
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Mason, S., Righetti, L., Schaal, S.
Full Dynamics LQR Control of a Humanoid Robot: An Experimental Study on Balancing and Squatting
In 2014 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, pages: 374-379, IEEE, Madrid, Spain, 2014 (inproceedings)
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Rotella, N., Bloesch, M., Righetti, L., Schaal, S.
State Estimation for a Humanoid Robot
In 2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 952-958, IEEE, Chicago, USA, 2014 (inproceedings)
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Hutter, M., Bloesch, M., Buchli, J., Semini, C., Bazeille, S., Righetti, L., Bohg, J.
AGILITY – Dynamic Full Body Locomotion and Manipulation with Autonomous Legged Robots
In 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR), pages: 1-4, IEEE, Linköping, Sweden, 2013 (inproceedings)
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Kalakrishnan, M., Pastor, P., Righetti, L., Schaal, S.
Learning Objective Functions for Manipulation
In 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S.
Using Torque Redundancy to Optimize Contact Forces in Legged Robots
In Redundancy in Robot Manipulators and Multi-Robot Systems, 57, pages: 35-51, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013 (incollection)
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Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S.
Optimal distribution of contact forces with inverse-dynamics control
The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(3):280-298, March 2013 (article)
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Gregg, R., Righetti, L.
Controlled Reduction with Unactuated Cyclic Variables: Application to 3D Bipedal Walking with Passive Yaw Rotation
IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 58(10):2679-2685, October 2013 (article)
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Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Binney, J., Kelly, J., Righetti, L., Sukhatme, G. S., Schaal, S.
Learning Task Error Models for Manipulation
In 2013 IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013 (inproceedings)
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Ernesti, J., Righetti, L., Do, M., Asfour, T., Schaal, S.
Encoding of Periodic and their Transient Motions by a Single Dynamic Movement Primitive
In 2012 12th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids 2012), pages: 57-64, IEEE, Osaka, Japan, November 2012 (inproceedings)
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Kalakrishnan, M., Righetti, L., Pastor, P., Schaal, S.
Learning Force Control Policies for Compliant Robotic Manipulation
In ICML’12 Proceedings of the 29th International Coference on International Conference on Machine Learning, pages: 49-50, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2012 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Schaal, S.
Quadratic programming for inverse dynamics with optimal distribution of contact forces
In 2012 12th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids 2012), pages: 538-543, IEEE, Osaka, Japan, November 2012 (inproceedings)
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Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Righetti, L., Schaal, S.
Towards Associative Skill Memories
In 2012 12th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids 2012), pages: 309-315, IEEE, Osaka, Japan, November 2012 (inproceedings)
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Herzog, A., Pastor, P., Kalakrishnan, M., Righetti, L., Asfour, T., Schaal, S.
Template-based learning of grasp selection
In 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 2379-2384, IEEE, Saint Paul, USA, 2012 (inproceedings)
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Wüthrich, M., Pastor, P., Righetti, L., Billard, A., Schaal, S.
Probabilistic depth image registration incorporating nonvisual information
In 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 3637-3644, IEEE, Saint Paul, USA, 2012 (inproceedings)
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Degallier, S., Righetti, L., Gay, S., Ijspeert, A.
Toward simple control for complex, autonomous robotic applications: combining discrete and rhythmic motor primitives
Autonomous Robots, 31(2-3):155-181, October 2011 (article)
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Kalakrishnan, M., Righetti, L., Pastor, P., Schaal, S.
Learning Force Control Policies for Compliant Manipulation
In 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 4639-4644, IEEE, San Francisco, USA, sep 2011 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Schaal, S.
Control of legged robots with optimal distribution of contact forces
In 2011 11th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, pages: 318-324, IEEE, Bled, Slovenia, 2011 (inproceedings)
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Stulp, F., Theodorou, E., Kalakrishnan, M., Pastor, P., Righetti, L., Schaal, S.
Learning Motion Primitive Goals for Robust Manipulation
In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 325-331, IEEE, San Francisco, USA, sep 2011 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Schaal, S.
Inverse Dynamics Control of Floating-Base Robots with External Constraints: a Unified View
In 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pages: 1085-1090, IEEE, Shanghai, China, 2011 (inproceedings)
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Mistry, M., Righetti, L.
Operational Space Control of Constrained and Underactuated Systems
In Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems, Los Angeles, CA, USA, June 2011 (inproceedings)
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Pastor, P., Righetti, L., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S.
Online movement adaptation based on previous sensor experiences
In 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pages: 365-371, IEEE, San Francisco, USA, sep 2011 (inproceedings)
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Gregg, R., Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Schaal, S.
Constrained Accelerations for Controlled Geometric Reduction: Sagittal-Plane Decoupling for Bipedal Locomotion
In 2010 10th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, pages: 1-7, IEEE, Nashville, USA, 2010 (inproceedings)
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Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Schaal, S.
Inverse dynamics with optimal distribution of ground reaction forces for legged robot
In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR), pages: 580-587, Nagoya, Japan, sep 2010 (inproceedings)