Niels van Duijkeren

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT NIELS VAN DUIJKEREN

I am specialized in numerical optimization and artificial intelligence algorithms for real-time motion planning and control of robotic systems in complex dynamic environments, the applications range from differential-drive mobile robots and cars to seven degree-of-freedom robot arms. My research interests lie in synthesizing feedback schemes from the combination of nonlinear model predictive control, interaction models of the system with the environment (including human behavior) and discrete search and decision-making mechanisms. Recent challenges include efficient coordination between multiple robotic agents in constrained environments, efficiently modeling human motions considering them to result from rational decision-making processes and making optimization on Lie groups for NMPC more accessible. My practical professional interests lie in the development of easy-to-use, highly-efficient and maintainable software for navigation algorithms built on modern programming principles. Formulate optimal control problems in an idiomatic fashion and combine algorithmic differentiation tools, efficient linear algebra routines, and constrained convex optimization software to obtain efficient solution algorithms that optimally exploit the problem structure at compile time.