Jake Welde: Geometry, Dynamics, and Design for Robotics
I am a PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, working in the GRASP Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, supervised by Dr. Vijay Kumar. I also completed my Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and Masters in Robotics here at Penn.
My work addresses the control of complex mechanical systems. I’m interested in rigorous geometric approaches which leverage strong properties of these control systems and scale gracefully with system complexity, tackling challenges associated with underactuation and non-Euclidean geometry. Such structural properties can inform mechanism and controller design for real-world systems and enable the deployment of robots that more closely parallel the incredible example of animals.
I’m also passionate about protecting the natural miracles of our one and only Earth, working towards a world that recognizes the intrinsic dignity and equality of all people, and furthering our collective understanding of Nature for the benefit of all.
Take a look at my research and publications to learn more about my work.
Curriculum Vitae (Spring 2024)
Recent Updates
| January 2024 | I was invited to give a talk at the 2024 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco in the special session on "Geometry and Symmetry in Differential Equations, Control, and Applications". |
| December 2023 | I will be at IEEE CDC 2023 in Singapore, presenting our work on almost global asymptotic stability in cascade systems. |
| July 2023 | I gave a contributed talk about our work on the connections between differential flatness and Noetherian symmetry at the 2023 SIAM Conference on Control and Its Applications here in Philadelphia. |
| May 2023 | I was at ICRA 2023 in London, sharing our work on the identification of equivariant flat outputs for mechanical systems by exploiting symmetry and numerical optimization. |