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Andrew Bylard

bylard _at_ stanford _dot_ edu

Andrew Bylard

Alumni · now at Dexterity

Andrew Bylard received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2022. He received his B.Eng. with a dual concentration of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Walla Walla University in 2014 and a M.Sc. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2016.

Andrew’s research interests include hardware-accelerated ray tracing for collision-avoidance of complex triangle meshes in trajectory optimization and geometric methods for reactive control and structured robot task planning. He has also done work in unconventional space robotics, including gecko-inspired controllable dry adhesives for space grasping and manipulation and multi-limbed extendable-boom robots for long-reach mobile manipulation in reduced gravity or climbing applications. He has been a lead developer at the Stanford Space Robotics Facility, which houses test beds used to perform spacecraft contact dynamics experiments and demonstrate autonomous spacecraft robotics and proximity operations under simulated frictionless, microgravity conditions.

Outside work, Andrew enjoys photography, piano, drums, philosophy, history, and learning languages.

Awards:

  • NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship, 2015

Publications

13 publications · full lab bibliography

2022
  1. S. Schneider, A. Bylard, T. G. Chen, P. Wang, M. R. Cutkosky, and M. Pavone, “ReachBot: A Small Robot for Large Mobile Manipulation Tasks,” IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2022.
  2. M. Pavone, M. Cutkosky, M. Lapôtre, S. Schneider, T. G. Chen, and A. Bylard, “ReachBot: a Small Robot for Large Mobile Manipulation Tasks in Martian Cave Environments,” NASA NIAC Program, 2022.
  3. T. G. Chen, B. Miller, C. Winston, S. Schneider, A. Bylard, M. Pavone, and M. R. Cutkosky, “ReachBot: A Small Robot with Exceptional Reach for Rough Terrain,” Proc. IEEE Conf. on Robotics and Automation, 2022.
  4. T. Lew, A. Sharma, J. Harrison, A. Bylard, and M. Pavone, “Safe Active Dynamics Learning and Control: A Sequential Exploration-Exploitation Framework,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 2888--2907, 2022.
2021
  1. A. Bylard, “Leveraging the Geometric Structure of Robotic Tasks for Motion Design,” Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2021.
  2. A. Bylard, R. Bonalli, and M. Pavone, “Composable Geometric Motion Policies using Multi-Task Pullback Bundle Dynamical Systems,” Proc. IEEE Conf. on Robotics and Automation, 2021.
2020
  1. M. Mote, M. Egerstedt, E. Feron, A. Bylard, and M. Pavone, “Collision-Inclusive Trajectory Optimization for Free-Flying Spacecraft,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 1247-1258, 2020.
2019
  1. R. Bonalli, A. Bylard, A. Cauligi, T. Lew, and M. Pavone, “Trajectory Optimization on Manifolds: A Theoretically-Guaranteed Embedded Sequential Convex Programming Approach,” Robotics: Science and Systems, 2019.
  2. R. Bonalli, A. Cauligi, A. Bylard, and M. Pavone, “GuSTO: Guaranteed Sequential Trajectory Optimization via Sequential Convex Programming,” Proc. IEEE Conf. on Robotics and Automation, 2019.
  3. T. Zahroof, A. Bylard, H. Shageer, and M. Pavone, “Perception-Constrained Robot Manipulator Planning for Satellite Servicing,” IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2019.
2017
  1. R. MacPherson, B. Hockman, A. Bylard, M. A. Estrada, M. R. Cutkosky, and M. Pavone, “Trajectory Optimization for Dynamic Grasping in Space using Adhesive Grippers,” Field and Service Robotics, 2017.
  2. A. Bylard, R. MacPherson, B. Hockman, M. R. Cutkosky, and M. Pavone, “Robust Capture and Deorbit of Rocket Body Debris Using Controllable Dry Adhesion,” IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2017.
2016
  1. M. A. Estrada, B. Hockman, A. Bylard, E. W. Hawkes, M. R. Cutkosky, and M. Pavone, “Free-Flyer Acquisition of Spinning Objects with Gecko-Inspired Adhesives,” Proc. IEEE Conf. on Robotics and Automation, 2016.