Dimitris P. Tsakiris

Principal Researcher,
Computational Vision and Robotics Laboratory (CVRL),
Institute of Computer Science (ICS),
Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH)

Faculty Member,

Graduate Program in the Brain and Mind Sciences;
Visiting Professor,

Department of Computer Science;

University of Crete

Address:

Institute of Computer Science - FORTH
100, N. Plastira Str., Vassilika Vouton
GR-70013 Heraklion, Crete, GREECE

Phone: +30 2810 39 17 08
FAX: +30 2810 39 16 01
Skype: dptsakiris
E-mail: tsakiris AT ics DOT forth DOT gr

Former Positions:

Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA)
Research Center of Sophia-Antipolis
Research group Icare (Robot Control and Sensing)

Faculty Research Assistant
Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory
Institute for Systems Research
University of Maryland at College Park

Education:

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park.

Doctoral Dissertation: Motion Control and Planning for Nonholonomic Kinematic Chains.

(Advisor: Prof. P.S. Krishnaprasad.)

M.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park.

Master's Thesis: Visual Tracking Strategies.

(Advisors: Prof. P.S. Krishnaprasad and Prof. Yiannis Aloimonos.)

Eng.Dipl. in Electrical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens.

Research

Research Interests:

Biologically-inspired robotics

Modeling and Control of Continuum Octopus Arm-like Robots

Modeling of octopus arm Elastodynamics and Hydrodynamics by Finite Element Methods.
Design and Control of continuum octopus-like robotic manipulators.

Pedundulatory Locomotion of Polychaete-like Robots

The polychaete annelid marine worms propel themselves in a variety of challenging locomotion environments by a unique form of tail-to-head body undulations, combined with the synchronized action of numerous parapodial lateral appendages.
We call pedundulatory locomotion this combined parapodial and undulatory mode of locomotion.
Robotic analogues of this type of locomotion are being studied, both in simulation, and via experiments with bio-inspired robotic prototypes, which combine undulatory movements of their multi-link body with appropriately coordinated parapodial link oscillations.
Extensive experimental studies of locomotion on sand demonstrate the potential of the NEREIS pedundulatory robotic prototypes, especially their rich gait repertoire and their enhanced performance compared to robots relying only on body undulations. Closed-loop sensor-based reactive behaviors, in particular bio-inspired centering, based on IR data, and visual homing, based on visual servoing and epipolar geometry, have been explored.

The NEREIS pedundulatory robot at the seashore.
A related movie (MPEG 10.3 Mb).

Sensor-based undulatory reactive behaviors:
Movie of an undulatory robotic prototype locomoting on hard floor,
while performing corridor centering based on IR sensors (MPEG, 28.4 Mb).

Videos of experiments with earlier undulatory robotic prototypes (no parapodia)

and of corresponding simulation results with the SIMUUN undulatory locomotion simulator

of ICS-FORTH.

Undulatory Locomotion of Nonholonomic G-Snakes

A G-Snake prototype, the Roller Racer .
A related movie (MPEG 3.6 Mb).

Insect-like Centering Behavior

Panoramic Vision-based Corridor-following for Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

Movie of the LEFKOS nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot of ICS-FORTH
moving at the center of a corridor-like environment using panoramic vision.

Vision-based Stabilization of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

The ANIS mobile manipulator of INRIA used in our experiments.

Robotic Motion Planning and Control

Nonlinear Geometric Control

Geometric Mechanics

Image Understanding and Computational Vision (Active and Purposive)

Publications

Individual listing of publications in electronic form.

Grants and Projects

(Partial listing)

EU FP7 ICT FET Project OCTOPUS

(Novel Design Principles and Technologies

for a New Generation of High Dexterity Soft-bodied Robots

Inspired by the Morphology and Behaviour of the Octopus)

Duration: 2/2009-1/2013

Principal investigator in charge of FORTH activities

EU FP6 IST Project VECTOR

(Versatile Endoscopic Capsule for Gastrointestinal Tumor Recognition and Therapy)

Duration: 9/2006-2/2011

Principal investigator in charge of FORTH activities

EU FP6 IST Project MATHESIS

(Observational Learning in Cognitive Agents)

Duration: 2/2006-1/2009

EU IST FET Project BIOLOCH

(BIOmimetic structures for LOComotion in the Human body)

Duration: 5/2002-10/2005

Principal investigator in charge of FORTH activities

Events

Best Exhibit Award (1st Prize)

VECTOR

ICT 2010

European Commission.

Best Paper Award (1st Prize) to the ICS-FORTH and ESAT-MICAS/KU Leuven teams
at the Eurosensors XXIV International Conference for their joint publication.
(R. Carta, N. Pateromichelakis, J. Thone, M. Sfakiotakis, D.P. Tsakiris & R. Puers,
"A Wireless Powering System for a Vibratory-Actuated Endoscopic Capsule")
Location: Linz, Austria, Date: 5-8 September 2010.

Invited talk.
Organization: Department of Computer Science of Rice University.
Location: Houston, TX, USA, Date: 11 March 2009.
Title: "Bio-inspired Pedundulatory Robotic Locomotion".
Host: Prof. Lydia Kavraki.

Invited talk as part of the GRASP Seminar series.
Organization: GRASP Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania.
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA, Date: 5 March 2009.
Title: "Bio-inspired Pedundulatory Robotic Locomotion".
Host: Prof. Kostas Daniilidis.

Invited talk.
Organization: Department of Informatics and Telecommunications
of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Location: Athens, Greece, Date: 16 October 2008.
Title: "Biologically-inspired Robotics".
Host: Prof. Ioannis Z. Emiris.

Teaching

HY590.75 Biomimetic Robotics

Fall 2008-2009

Fall 2007-2008

Spring 2006-2007

Fall 2005-2006

Fall 2004-2005

Graduate course of the Department of Computer Science of the University of Crete.
Open to students of the Graduate Programme in the BRAIN and MIND sciences.

This course will consider the mechanical behavior and the motion control
of complex robotic systems inspired from biology.
Some examples of such systems are:
- robotic systems emulating the reptile undulatory locomotion,
- active perception systems inspired by the human oculomotor system and
- robotic systems inspired by the visual motion-based insect flight control system.
The course will draw on studies from computational neuroethology
and the computational neurosciences, in order to address biomimetic robot control
and the modeling of biological motion control systems.
More precisely, it will address topics related to:
- the kinematics and dynamics of robotic systems,
- the control of robotic systems, with emphasis on linear and non-linear control,
on sensor-based control, and on behavior-based control,
- the neural mechanisms for control of motion,
such as the central pattern generator neural networks
responsible for rhythmogenesis in biological systems.

ICS-FORTH/York U. Summer School on Biomimetic Robotics

Summer 2007

Summer 2006

Advanced undergraduate course (CSE4421 3.0)
of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering
of York University in Toronto, Canada.

Last update: October 2010.