Vince Kurtz

Research Scientist, Caltech

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Hi, I’m Vince! I’m interested in applying mathematical models to solve real-world problems. Recently, that’s meant developing optimization-based planning and control algorithms for high-degree-of-freedom robots like quadrupeds and manipulators.

Sometimes my research involves flashy things like throwing robots off ladders to get them to land on their feet: other times it’s more mundane, like getting a robot to pick up a plastic box.

I’m currently a research scientist in the Burdick group at Caltech. From 2017-2023 I was a PhD student in the DISCOVER lab at Notre Dame. During my PhD, I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Drake team at Toyota Research Institute. Before grad school, I studied physics and violin performance at Goshen College.

News

Nov 13, 2024 DROP won outstanding paper at the CoRL dexterous manipulation workshop!
Sep 19, 2024 Started research scientist position
May 13, 2024 Gave a talk at Pint of Science LA
Sep 20, 2023 Started postdoc at Caltech
May 22, 2023 Graduated from Notre Dame

Recent Publications

  1. direct_diffusion.png
    Equality Constrained Diffusion for Direct Trajectory Optimization
    Vince Kurtz, and Joel W Burdick
    arXiv preprint, 2024
  2. drop_cube.png
    DROP: Dexterous Reorientation via Online Planning
    Albert H Li, Preston Culbertson, Vince Kurtz , and 1 more author
    arXiv preprint, 2024
  3. pendulum_value_samples.png
    Supervised Learning for Stochastic Optimal Control
    Vince Kurtz, and Joel W Burdick
    In Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) , 2024
  4. dual_jaco.png
    Inverse Dynamics Trajectory Optimization for Contact-Implicit Model Predictive Control
    Vince Kurtz, Alejandro Castro, Aykut Özgün Önol , and 1 more author
    arXiv preprint, 2023
  5. atlas_cover_pic.png
    Temporal Logic Motion Planning with Convex Optimization via Graphs of Convex Sets
    Vince Kurtz, and Hai Lin
    IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2023