I'm a professor in the Dartmouth Computer Science department, currently serving as department chair. I co-direct the Reality and Robotics Lab.
I'm interested in efficient robot designs and motion. Research highlights include exact time-optimal motion for mobile robots, robot origami, knot-tying, laundry folding, and construction of interlocking structures. See the project pages for more detail:
Here are a few videos from our youtube channel:
@misc{Zhang2019-reinforcement, author = "Zhang, Yinan and Balkcom, Devin J. and Li, Haoxiang", title = "Towards Physically Safe Reinforcement Learning under Supervision", volume = "abs/1901.06576", year = "2019", url = "http://arxiv.org/abs/1901.06576", howpublished = "arXiv", archivePrefix = "arXiv", eprint = "1901.06576" }
@misc{Lensgraf2019-puzzleflex, author = "Lensgraf, Samuel and Itani, Karim and Zhang, Yinan and Sun, Zezhou and Wu, Yijia and Li, Alberto Quattrini and Zhu, Bo and Whiting, Emily and Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "PuzzleFlex: kinematic motion of chains with loose joints", year = "2019", eprint = "1906.08708", howpublished = "arXiv", archivePrefix = "arXiv", primaryClass = "cs.RO" }
@article{liu2019, author = "Liu, Ruibo and Shao, Qijia and Wang, Siqi and Ru, Christina and Balkcom, Devin and Zhou, Xia", title = "Reconstructing Human Joint Motion with Computational Fabrics", journal = "Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol.", issue_date = "March 2019", volume = "3", number = "1", year = "2019", issn = "2474-9567", pages = "19:1--19:26", articleno = "19", numpages = "26" }
@inproceedings{Putman2019, author = "Putman, Josiah and Oh, Lisa and Zhao, Luyang and Honnold, Evan and Brown, Galen and Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin J.", title = "{LLDM:} Locally linear distance maps for robot motion planning: Extended Abstract", booktitle = "2019 International Symposium on Multi-Robot and Multi-Agent Systems, {MRS}", year = "2019" }
@phdthesis{ZhangPhD, author = "Zhang, Yinan", title = "{Interlocking structure design and assembly }", school = "Dartmouth Computer Science", address = "Hanover, NH", number = "TR2019-874", year = "2019", url = "http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/TR2019-874.pdf", comment = "Ph.D Dissertation. Advisor: Devin Balkcom", keywords = "phdthesis" }
@inproceedings{Zhang2018-interlocking, author = "Zhang, Yinan and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Interlocking block assembly", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundation of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2018", month = "December" }
@inproceedings{Wang2018-time-optimal, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Time-optimal motion of spatial {D}ubins systems", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundation of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2018", month = "December" }
@article{Zhang2018a, author = "Zhang, Yinan and Whiting, Emily and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Assembling and disassembling planar structures with divisible and atomic components", journal = "{IEEE} Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering", year = "2018", month = "July", volume = "15", number = "3", pages = "945 – 954", doi = "10.1109/TASE.2018.2809595" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2018, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Furtuna, Andrei and Wang, Weifu", title = "The Dubins car and other arm-like mobile robots", booktitle = "IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)", year = "2018", month = "May" }
@article{Wang2018, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Knot grasping, folding, and re-grasping", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2018", month = "February", volume = "37", number = "2-3", pages = "378 – 399", doi = "10.1177/0278364918754676" }
@inproceedings{Zhang2017, author = "Zhang, Yinan and Chen, Xiaolei and Qi, Hang and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Rearranging agents in a small space using global controls", booktitle = "{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS})", year = "2017" }
@inproceedings{Kavathekar2017, author = "Kavathekar, Paritosh and Balkcom, Devin", title = "A tactile shirt for teaching human motion tasks", booktitle = "{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS})", year = "2017" }
@misc{javaCoders, author = "Balkcom, Devin", title = "Java for coders", howpublished = "On-line at www.educative.io", year = "2017", keywords = "onlinebook", note = "22 pages" }
@inproceedings{Zhang2016b, author = "Zhang, Yinan and Whiting, Emily and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Assembling and disassembling planar structures with divisible and atomic components", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2016" }
@inproceedings{Wang2016c, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Re-configuring knots to simplify manipulation", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2016" }
@inproceedings{Zhang2016a, author = "Zhang, Yinan and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Interlocking structure assembly with voxels", booktitle = "{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS})", year = "2016" }
@inproceedings{Wang2016b, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Grasping and folding knots", booktitle = "IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)", year = "2016", doi = "10.1109/ICRA.2016.7487549" }
@inproceedings{Wang2016a, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Towards tying knots precisely", booktitle = "IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)", year = "2016" }
@article{Lyu2016c, author = "Lyu, Yu-Han and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Optimal trajectories for planar rigid bodies with switching costs", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2016", volume = "35", number = "5", pages = "454–475" }
@article{Lyu2016a, author = "Lyu, Yu-Han and Chen, Yining and Balkcom, Devin", title = "k-survivability: diversity and survival of expendable robots", journal = "Robotics and Automation Letters", year = "2016", volume = "1", number = "2", pages = "1164 – 1171", note = "Also published as ICRA article by the same name." }
@phdthesis{LyuPhD, author = "Lyu, Yu-Han", title = "{Implications of Motion Planning: Optimality and k-survivability}", school = "Dartmouth Computer Science", address = "Hanover, NH", number = "TR2016-791", year = "2016", URL = "http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/TR2016-791.pdf", comment = "Ph.D Dissertation. Advisor: Devin J. Balkcom.", keywords = "phdthesis" }
@phdthesis{WangPhD, author = "Wang, Weifu", title = "{Constraint-based robot knot tying}", school = "Dartmouth Computer Science", address = "Hanover, NH", number = "TR2016-792", year = "2016", url = "http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/TR2016-792.pdf", comment = "Ph.D Dissertation. Advisor: Devin Balkcom", keywords = "phdthesis" }
@article{Wang2015c, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Towards arranging and tightening knots and unknots with fixtures", journal = "IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering", year = "2015", volume = "12", number = "4", pages = "1318–1331" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2015, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Kannan, Ajay and Lyu, Yu-Han and Wang, Weifu and Zhang, Yinan", title = "Metric cells: towards complete search for optimal trajectories", year = "2015", booktitle = "{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS})" }
@inproceedings{Wang2015b, author = "Wang, Weifu and Berenson, Dmitry and Balkcom, Devin", title = "An online method for tight-tolerance insertion tasks for string and rope", booktitle = "IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)", year = "2015" }
@article{Wang2015a, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin and Chakrabarti, Amit", title = "A fast online spanner for roadmap construction", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2015", volume = "34", number = "11", pages = "1418–1432" }
@misc{khanAlgorithms, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Cormen, Tom", title = "Algorithms Tutorials", howpublished = "On-line at Khan Academy", year = "2015", note = "60 pages" }
@inproceedings{Lyu2014b, author = "Lyu, Yu{-}Han and Furtuna, Andrei A. and Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "The bench mover's problem: minimum-time trajectories, with cost for switching between controls", booktitle = "IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)", year = "2014", pages = "106–112", doi = "10.1109/ICRA.2014.6906596" }
@article{Bell2014, author = "Bell, Matthew P. and Wang, Weifu and Kunzika, Jordan and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Knot-tying with four-piece fixtures", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2014", volume = "33", number = "11", pages = "1481–1489", doi = "10.1177/0278364914532217" }
@inproceedings{Wang2014, author = "Wang, Weifu and Bell, Matthew and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Towards arranging and tightening knots and unknots with fixtures", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2014" }
@inproceedings{Lyu2014a, author = "Lyu, Yu-Han and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Optimal trajectories for planar rigid bodies with switching costs", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2014" }
@inproceedings{Wang2013, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin and Chakrabarti, Amit", title = "A fast streaming spanner algorithm for incrementally constructing sparse roadmaps", booktitle = "{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS})", year = "2013", pages = "1257–1263", doi = "10.1109/IROS.2013.6696511" }
@inproceedings{Li2013, author = "Li, Zhong and Balkcom, Devin and Dollar, Aaron M.", title = "Rigid 2D space-filling folds of unbroken linear chains", booktitle = "IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)", year = "2013", pages = "551–557", doi = "10.1109/ICRA.2013.6630628" }
@inproceedings{Furtuna2013, author = "Furtuna, Andrei A. and Wang, Weifu and Lyu, Yu-Han and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Structure and geometry of minimum-time trajectories for planar rigid bodies", booktitle = "Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing", year = "2013", pages = "1584–1591", doi = "10.1109/Allerton.2013.6736717" }
@inproceedings{Wang2012b, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Sampling extremal trajectories for planar rigid bodies", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2012", pages = "331–347", doi = "10.1007/978-3-642-36279-8\_20" }
@inproceedings{Wang2012a, author = "Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Analytical time-optimal trajectories for an omni-directional vehicle", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2012", pages = "4519–4524", doi = "10.1109/ICRA.2012.6224602", num = "22" }
@inproceedings{Furtuna2011, author = "Furtuna, Andrei A. and Lu, Wenyu and Wang, Weifu and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Minimum-time trajectories for kinematic mobile robots and other planar rigid bodies with finite control sets", booktitle = "{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS})", year = "2011", pages = "4321–4328", doi = "10.1109/IROS.2011.6094923" }
@phdthesis{KavathekarPhD, author = "Kavathekar, Paritosh A.", title = "{Assisting Human Motion-Tasks with Minimal, Real-time Feedback }", school = "Dartmouth Computer Science", address = "Hanover, NH", number = "TR2011-695", year = "2011", URL = "http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/TR2011-695.pdf", comment = "Ph.D Dissertation. Advisor: Devin Balkcom", keywords = "phdthesis" }
@phdthesis{FurtunaPhD, author = "Furtuna, Andrei A.", title = "{Minimum time kinematic trajectories for self-propelled rigid bodies in the unobstructed plane}", school = "Dartmouth Computer Science", address = "Hanover, NH", number = "TR2011-694", year = "2011", URL = "http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/TR2011-694.pdf", comment = "Ph.D Dissertation. Advisor: Devin Balkcom.", keywords = "phdthesis" }
@misc{projectpython, author = "Balkcom, Devin", title = "Project Python: an interactive introduction to Computer Science", howpublished = "On-line at projectpython.net", year = "2011", note = "170 pages" }
@article{Kavathekar2010, author = "Kavathekar, Paritosh A. and Craig, Bruce A. and Friedman, Alan M. and Bailey{-}Kellogg, Chris and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Characterizing the space of interatomic distance distribution functions consistent with solution scattering data", journal = "Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology", year = "2010", volume = "8", number = "2", pages = "315–335", doi = "10.1142/S0219720010004781" }
@article{Bell2010, author = "Bell, Matthew P. and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Grasping non-stretchable cloth polygons", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2010", volume = "29", number = "6", pages = "775–784", doi = "10.1177/0278364909344634" }
@article{Furtuna2010, author = "Furtuna, Andrei A. and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Generalizing {D}ubins curves: minimum-time sequences of body-fixed rotations and translations in the plane", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2010", volume = "29", number = "6", pages = "703–726", doi = "10.1177/0278364910365093" }
@phdthesis{BellPhD, author = "Bell, Matthew P.", title = "{Flexible Object Manipulation}", school = "Dartmouth Computer Science", address = "Hanover, NH", number = "TR2010-663", year = "2010", URL = "http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/reports/TR2010-663.pdf", comment = "Ph.D. Dissertation. Advisor: Devin Balkcom.", keywords = "phdthesis" }
@article{Chitsaz2009, author = "Chitsaz, Hamid Reza and LaValle, Steven M. and Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Minimum wheel-rotation paths for differential-drive mobile robots", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2009", volume = "28", number = "1", pages = "66–80", doi = "10.1177/0278364908096750", num = "17" }
@inproceedings{Furtuna2008, author = "Furtuna, Andrei A. and Balkcom, Devin and Chitsaz, Hamid Reza and Kavathekar, Paritosh A.", title = "Generalizing the {D}ubins and {R}eeds-{S}hepp cars: fastest paths for bounded-velocity mobile robots", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2008", pages = "2533–2539", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2008.4543594" }
@inproceedings{Bell2008, author = "Bell, Matthew P. and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Knot tying with single piece fixtures", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ({ICRA})", year = "2008", pages = "379–384", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2008.4543237", num = "15" }
@article{Balkcom2008, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Robotic origami folding", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2008", volume = "27", number = "5", pages = "613–627", doi = "10.1177/0278364908090235" }
@inproceedings{Ray2006, author = "Ray, Laura and Joslin, James and Murphy, John and Barlow, Jon and Brande, Devin and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Dynamic mobile robots for emergency surveillance and situational awareness", booktitle = "IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics", year = "2006" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2006c, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Demaine, Erik and Demaine, Martin and Ochsendorf, John and You, Zhong", title = "Folding paper shopping bags", booktitle = "International Meeting of Origami Science, Math, and Education (OSME)", pages = "315–334", year = "2006" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2006b, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Kavathekar, Paritosh A. and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "The minimum-time trajectories for an omni-directional vehicle", booktitle = "Algorithmic Foundation of Robotics ({WAFR})", year = "2006", pages = "343–358", doi = "10.1007/978-3-540-68405-3\_22", num = "12", note = "Superceded by IJRR article." }
@inproceedings{LoomisB06, author = "Loomis, Anne and Balkcom, Devin", title = "Computation reuse for rigid-body dynamics", booktitle = "{IEEE/RSJ} International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems ({IROS})", year = "2006", pages = "4181–4186", doi = "10.1109/IROS.2006.281910", num = "11" }
@inproceedings{Chitsaz2006, author = "Chitsaz, Hamid Reza and LaValle, Steven M. and Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Minimum wheel-rotation Paths for differential-drive mobile robots", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2006", pages = "1616–1623", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2006.1641938", note = "Superceded by IJRR paper." }
@article{Balkcom2006a, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Kavathekar, Paritosh A. and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Time-optimal trajectories for an omni-directional vehicle", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2006", volume = "25", number = "10", pages = "985–999", doi = "10.1177/0278364906069166" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2004, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Introducing robotic origami folding", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation", year = "2004", pages = "3245–3250", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2004.1308754" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2002e, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Extremal trajectories for bounded velocity mobile robots", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2002", pages = "1747–1752", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2002.1014794" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2002d, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Gottlieb, E. J. and Trinkle, Jeffrey C.", title = "A sensorless insertion strategy for rigid planar parts", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2002", pages = "882–887", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2002.1013468", note = "Superceded by IJRR article." }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2002c, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Trinkle, Jeffrey C. and Gottlieb, E. J.", title = "Computing wrench cones for planar contact tasks", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2002", pages = "869–875", url = "http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/\textasciitilde devin/papers/djb-icra02wc.pdf", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2002.1013466" }
@article{Balkcom2002b, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Trinkle, Jeffrey C.", title = "Computing wrench cones for planar rigid body contact tasks", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2002", volume = "21", number = "12", pages = "1053–1066", doi = "10.1177/0278364902021012003" }
@article{Balkcom2002a, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Time optimal trajectories for bounded velocity differential drive vehicles", journal = "International Journal of Robotics Research", year = "2002", volume = "21", number = "3", pages = "199–218", doi = "10.1177/027836402320556403" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2001, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Progress in desktop robotics", booktitle = "The Eleventh Yale Workshop on Adaptive and Learning Systems", year = "2001", keywords = "mobipulator, mobile manipulation, desktop robotics" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2000b, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Time optimal trajectories for bounded velocity differential drive robots", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2000", pages = "2499–2504", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2000.846404" }
@inproceedings{Balkcom2000a, author = "Balkcom, Devin and Mason, Matthew T.", title = "Extremal trajectories for bounded velocity differential drive robots", booktitle = "{IEEE} International Conference on Robotics and Automation ({ICRA})", year = "2000", pages = "2479–2484", doi = "10.1109/ROBOT.2000.846401" }
Last updated 11/2020. © Devin Balkcom