https://github.com/thowell/cv
Curriculum Vitae
https://github.com/thowell/cv
Last synced: 4 months ago
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Curriculum Vitae
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/thowell/cv
- Owner: thowell
- Created: 2019-07-22T01:01:10.000Z (almost 7 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2023-10-16T18:36:53.000Z (over 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-03-05T18:57:47.792Z (over 1 year ago)
- Language: TeX
- Size: 8.3 MB
- Stars: 2
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
## Taylor Howell
taylor.athaniel.howell@gmail.com, https://thowell.github.io
PhD Candidate, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Stanford University
## Education
PhD 2022, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University.
Advisors: Zac Manchester, Allison Okamura
MS 2019, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University.
BS 2016, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah.
## Experience
Research Scientist Intern - DeepMind
Robotics Simulation Team (MuJoCo)
(June - September 2022)
Research Intern - Google Brain
(June - September 2021)
Course Assistant - Dynamics and Control of Aircraft (AA271a)
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University
(April - June 2021)
Instructor - GREAT Summer Camp.
Department of Computer Science, University of Utah
(June - July 2017)
Twisty Puzzle Designer
(August 2007 - January 2011)
## Publications
*Lead | Co-lead*
Numerical Optimization For Things That Move: Simulation, Planning, and Control. **T. Howell**. 2022. ([dissertation](https://github.com/thowell/thesis))
Predictive Sampling: Real-time Behaviour Synthesis with MuJoCo. **T. Howell**, N. Gileadi, S. Tunyasuvunakool, K. Zakka, T. Erez, Y. Tassa. arXiv. 2022. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.00541)) ([code](https://github.com/deepmind/mujoco_mpc)) ([slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1un6KXNTgmoG-gMXOn_TNUOFWh9EXzDnjOxxwoxMQYiM/edit?usp=sharing))
CALIPSO: A Differentiable Solver for Trajectory Optimization with Conic and Complementarity Constraints. **T. Howell**, K. Tracy, S. Le Cleac'h. Z. Manchester. ISRR. 2022. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.09255)) ([code](https://github.com/thowell/CALIPSO.jl)) ([slides](https://slides.com/taylorhowell/calipso))
Dojo: A Differentiable Physics Engine for Robotics. **T. Howell** & S. Le Cleac'h, Z. Kolter, M. Schwager, Z. Manchester. (submitted to RSS). 2022. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.00806)) ([code](https://github.com/dojo-sim))
Trajectory Optimization with Optimization-Based Dynamics. **T. Howell**, S. Le Cleac'h, S. Singh, P. Florence, Z. Manchester, V. Sindhwani. Robotics and Automation Letters. 2022. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.04928)) ([code](https://github.com/thowell/optimization_dynamics)) ([poster](https://github.com/thowell/cv/blob/master/posters/optimization_dynamics_poster.pdf))
Fast Contact-Implicit Model-Predictive Control. S. Le Cleac'h & **T. Howell**, M. Schwager, Z. Manchester. (submitted to TRO). 2021. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.05616v2)) ([code](https://github.com/thowell/ContactImplicitMPC.jl))
Direct Policy Optimization using Deterministic Sampling and Collocation. **T. Howell**, C. Fu, Z. Manchester. Robotics and Automation Letters. 2020. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.08506v3)) ([code](https://github.com/thowell/direct_policy_optimization))
Scalable Cooperative Transport of Cable-Suspended Loads with UAVs using Distributed Trajectory Optimization. B. Jackson & **T. Howell**, K. Shah, M. Schwager, Z. Manchester. Robotics and Automation Letters. 2020. ([paper](https://roboticexplorationlab.org/papers/distributed_quads.pdf))
ALTRO: A Fast Solver for Constrained Trajectory Optimization. **T. Howell** & B. Jackson, Z. Manchester. International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Macao, China. 2019. ([paper](https://roboticexplorationlab.org/papers/altro-iros.pdf)) ([code](https://github.com/RoboticExplorationLab/TrajectoryOptimization.jl))
Sorting Rotating Micromachines By Variations in Their Magnetic Properties. **T. Howell**, B. Osting, J. Abbott. Physical Review Applied. 2018. ([paper](https://journals.aps.org/prapplied/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.054021))
*Contributions*
RoboPianist: A Benchmark for High-Dimensional Robot Control. K. Zakka, L. Smith, N. Gileadi, **T. Howell**, X. B. Peng, S. Singh, Y. Tassa, P. Florence, A. Zeng, P. Abbeel. arXiv. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.04150))
Differentiable Physics Simulation of Dynamics-Augmented Neural Objects. S. Le Cleac'h, HX Yu, M. Guo, **T. Howell**, R. Gao, J. Wu, Z. Manchester, M. Schwager. (submitted to RAL). 2022. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2210.09420.pdf))
Differentiable Collision Detection for a Set of Convex Primitives. K. Tracy, **T. Howell**, Z. Manchester. ICRA. 2023. ([paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.00669))
Use of a highly parallel Microfluidic Flow Cell Array to determine therapeutic drug dose response curves. J. Arellano, **T. Howell**, J. Gammon, S. Cho, M. Janat Amsbury, B. Gale. Biomedical Microdevices. 2017. ([paper](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10544-017-0166-3))
## Talks & presentations
MuJoCo MPC: An Open-source Tool for Real-time Behavior Synthesis. ([poster](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14M2rz7DWrZeEf3Aa8lnxzaawUINGM0JP98HF-bJCs6g/edit?usp=sharing))
- Hyundai Vision Conference. August 2023.
Numerical Optimization For Things That Move: Simulation, Planning, and Control. ([thesis](https://github.com/thowell/thesis/blob/main/main.pdf)) ([slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypalKNcd1hAI59Fur3mFP5FYANqrQ1Smk2gUb-UiBIA/edit?usp=sharing))
- PhD Defense. Stanford. November 2022.
Contact-Implicit Predictive Control. ([slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cKX3DPjEyANDVlfi7JYHEFXq15LCYBmchT4lVkyVnkc/edit?usp=sharing))
- [ELO-X Workshop](https://elo-x.eu/?p=1597). Freiburg. October 2022.
CALIPSO: A Differentiable Solver for Trajectory Optimization with Conic and Complementarity Constraints. ([slides](https://slides.com/taylorhowel/calipso))
- ISRR 2022. Geneva. September 2022.
Dojo: A Differentible Physics Engine for Robotics. (w/ S. Le Cleac'h) ([slides](https://slides.com/taylorhowell/dojo-bc98a0)) ([poster](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Kdj7ZUSdwdRqJbqqZ1_kVe3V1hIyxTqK7vFjwI9HKHo/edit?usp=sharing))
- Differentiable Physics for Robotics workshop. RSS 2022. New York City. July 2022.
Fast Contact-Implicit Model-Predictive Control. (w/ S. Le Cleac'h) ([slides](https://slides.com/simlc/contact_implicit_mpc)) ([poster](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tdtYqT6TG8T2UW6IB2b7uXRweDTfD8UFUdbj3tJFMbQ/edit?usp=sharing))
- The Science of Bumping into Things workshop. RSS 2022. New York City. July 2022.
Trajectory Optimization with Optimization-Based Dynamics. ([presentation](https://youtu.be/Hntswjw0TAs])) ([slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1E_JPBT9gnIXP5MWUasNvQDgjxo6w6281m8Rp3sXeefM/edit?usp=sharing))
- ICRA 2022, Philadelphia. May 2022.
Dojo: A Differentiable Simulator for Robotics. (w/ S. Le Cleac'h) ([slides](https://slides.com/taylorhowell/dojo-systemx)) ([video](https://youtu.be/TRtOESXJxJQ))
- Microsoft Research. May 2022
- SciML webinar, Carnegie Mellon University. April 2022
- SystemX lunch seminar, Stanford University. March 2022
Contact-Implicit Model-Predictive Control. (w/ S. Le Cleac'h). ([slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Cqc-gLRv_R_L0CqNBmCzncsyD0lzGPoG4-qC2v7D2qI/edit?usp=sharing))
- Machines in Motion, New York University. December 2021.
- Locomotion Seminar, Carnegie Mellon University. November 2021.
ALTRO: A Fast Solver for Constrained Trajectory Optimization. (w/ B. Jackson) ([poster](https://github.com/thowell/cv/blob/master/posters/altro_poster.pdf))
- BARS, University of California Berkeley. November 2019
- System X seminar, Stanford University. November 2019
- Toward Online Optimal Control of Dynamic Robots, ICRA workshop. May 2019