Devin Balkcom

Current Research Topics

• Fundamental models of robot, animal, and human locomotion and manipulation
• How should the machines we build do the things we do

Professional Activities

Academic positions

• Adjunct Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School of Business, 2016-present
• Faculty Co-Director, Academic Computing, Dartmouth College, 2013-present
• Associate Professor of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, 2010-present
• Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College, 2004-10

Reviewer

• The IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation
• The International Journal of Robotics Research

Awards

• Dartmouth McLane Family Fellowship, 2010-11
• John M. Manley Huntington Award for Newly Tenured Faculty, 2010

Grants

• NSF Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER), for computing compact roadmaps for motion planning, 2014-16
• NSF Robust Intelligence (RI), for practical techniques for robotic manipulation of string and wire, 2012-16
• Neukom Comp-X Grant, for efficient representations for robot motion planning, 2012
• NSF Infrastructure Grant, for Digital Imaging Laboratory at Dartmouth, 2007-10
• NSF CAREER award 2006-11
• Department of Justice Institute for Security Technology Studies (ISTS), for mobility assessment for emergency response robots, 2006-08
• Department of Justice Byrne Grant, for automated assistance for disaster response, 2005-07
• Institute for Security Technology Studies, 2004
• Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, 2000-04

Selected Publications

• With W. Wang and A. Chakrabarti, “A Fast Online Spanner for Roadmap Construction,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 2015
• With W. Wang and M. Bell, “Towards Arranging and Tightening Knots and Unknots with Fixtures,” Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics XI, Springer, 2015
• With Y. Lyu, “Optimal Trajectories for Planar Rigid Bodies with Switching Costs,” Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics XI, Springer, 2015
• With M. Bell, W. Wang, and J. Kunzika, “Knot-Tying with Four-piece Fixtures,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 33(11), 2014
• With W. Wang, “Sampling Extremal Trajectories for Planar Rigid Bodies,” Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics X, Springer, 2013
• With P. Kavathekar, B. Craig, A. Friedman, and C. Bailey-Kellogg, “Characterizing the Space of Interatomic Distance Distribution Functions Consistent with Solution Scattering Data,” Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, 8(2), 2010
• With M. Bell, “Grasping Non-Stretchable Cloth Polygons,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 29(6), 2010
• With A. Furtuna, “Generalizing Dubins Curves: Minimum-Time Sequences of Body-Fixed Rotations and Translations in the Plane,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 29(6), 2010
• With H. Chitsaz, S. LaValle, and M. Mason, “Minimum Wheel-Rotation Paths for Differential-Drive Mobile Robots,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 28(1) 2009
• With M. Mason, “Robotic Origami Folding,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 27(5), 2008
• With P. Kavathekar and M. Mason, “The Minimum-Time Trajectories for an Omni-Directional Vehicle,” Algorithmic Foundation of Robotics XII, Springer, 2008
• With P. Kavathekar and M. Mason, “Time-Optimal Trajectories for an Omni-Directional Vehicle,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 25(10), 2006
• With J. Trinkle, “Computing Wrench Cones for Planar Rigid Body Contact Tasks,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 21(12), 2002
• With M. Mason, “Time-Optimal Trajectories for Bounded Velocity Differential Drive vehicles,” International Journal of Robotics Research, 21(3), 2002