Fares J. Abu-Dakka

I am an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Program at New York University Abu Dhabi. My research focuses on advancing robotic manipulation through the integration of control theory, differential geometry, and machine learning. I am especially interested in enhancing robotic systems' performance, adaptability, and safety, exploring how advanced mathematical frameworks and intelligent algorithms can empower robots to interact more effectively with complex environments.

News and updates:

[New] 09/05/2025 - Our workshop on From Thought to Touch and Back: AI, Neural Interfaces, and Sensory Feedback in Prosthetics has been accepted at IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)'2025. Follow the [website] for updates.

[New] 28/02/2025 - Our workshop on Certified Control Synthesis for Robotic Systems has been accepted at The European Control Conference (ECC)'2025. Follow the [website] for updates.

[New] 27/01/2025 - Our paper on Evaluating Human-Robot Skill Gaps in Electrical Circuit Inspection: A New Electronic Task Board for Benchmarking Manipulation has been accepted at IEEE-ICRA'2025.

[New] 27/01/2025 - Our paper on MeshDMP: Motion Planning on Discrete Manifolds using Dynamic Movement Primitives has been accepted at IEEE-ICRA'2025.

01/09/2024 - Joined New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) as Assistant Professor.

23/07/2024 - Our paper on Learning periodic skills for robotic manipulation: insights on orientation and impedance has been accepted by Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). [DOI]

21/07/2024 - Our paper on EEG Motor Imagery classification: Tangent Space with Gate-Generated Weight Classifier has been accepted by Biomimetics. [DOI]

30/06/2024 - Our paper on Interactive learning of physical object properties through robot manipulation and database of object measurements has been accepted by IEEE-IROS 2024. [DOI][arXiv]

19/06/2024 - Our 2nd workshop on Formal methods techniques in robotics systems: Design and control has been accepted at IEEE-IROS'2024. Follow the [website] for updates.

19/06/2024 - Our 5th workshop on Variable Impedance Learning and Control: Navigating Challenges, Exploring Opportunities, and Shaping the Future has been accepted at IEEE-IROS'2024. Follow the [website] for updates.

10/06/2024 - Our paper on A unified formulation of geometry-aware discrete dynamic movement primitives has been accepted by Neurocomputing. [DOI]

03/06/2024 - Our paper on Visual servoing based dynamic groove following with an industrial robot has been accepted at IEEE-CASE'2024. [DOI]

03/05/2024 - I become IEEE Senior Member.

02/04/2024 - I become a Member of the ELLIS Society e.V.

20/03/2024 - Our paper on Fusion dynamical systems with machine learning in imitation learning: A comprehensive overview has been accepted by Information Fusion. [DOI]

29/01/2024 - Our paper on Safe Execution of Learned Orientation Skills with Conic Control Barrier Functions has been accepted at IEEE-ICRA'2024. [DOI][arXiv]

29/01/2024 - Our paper on CITR: A Coordinate-Invariant Task Representation for Robotic Manipulation has been accepted at IEEE-ICRA'2024. [DOI][ResearchGate]

29/01/2024 - Our paper on 1 kHz Behavior Tree for Self-adaptable Tactile Insertion has been accepted at IEEE-ICRA'2024. [DOI][ResearchGate]

08/01/2024 - Our paper on Data-efficient Reinforcement Learning for Variable Impedance Control has been accepted for publication at IEEE Access. [DOI]

12/10/2023 - Our paper on Digital Robot Judge: Building a Task-centric Performance Database of Real-World Manipulation With Electronic Task Boards has been accepted by IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (IEEE-RAM). [DOI]

02/10/2023 - Our paper on Geometric Reinforcement Learning For Robotic Manipulation has been accepted for publication at IEEE-Access. [DOI]

18/09/2023 - Our paper on Model-based Variable Impedance Learning Control for Robotic Manipulation has been accepted by Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). [DOI]

01/09/2023 - Joined the Faculty of Engineering - Electronic and Informatic Department at Mondragon Unibertsitatea as Lecturer and Researcher.

14/08/2023 - Our paper on Dynamic Movement Primitives in Robotics: A Tutorial Survey has been accepted by the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR). [DOI]

14/08/2023 - Our paper on Learning Stable Robotic Skills on Riemannian Manifolds has been accepted by Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). [DOI]

21/06/2023 - Our paper on Orientation Control with Variable Stiffness Dynamical Systems has been accepted at IROS'2023. [arXiv][DOI]

21/06/2023 - Our paper on QDP: Learning to Sequentially Optimise Quasi-Static and Dynamic Manipulation Primitives for Robotic Cloth Manipulation has been accepted at IROS'2023. [website][DOI]

21/06/2023 - Our paper on SPONGE: Sequence Planning with Deformable-ON-Rigid Contact Prediction from Geometric Features has been accepted at IROS'2023. [arXiv][DOI]

28/04/2023 - Our workshop on Formal methods techniques in robotics systems: Design and control has been accepted at IROS'2023. [website].

28/04/2023 - Our workshop on Robotics & AI in Future Factory has been accepted at IROS'2023. [website].

22/03/2023 - Our IV workshop on Variable Impedance Learning and Control: From the Foundations to the Future Perspectives has been accepted at R:SS'2023. [website].

01/12/2022 - Joined Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence, Technische Universität München, as Senior Scientist and Leader for Robot Learning Group.

25/10/2022 - Our paper on Learning Deep Robotic Skills on Riemannian manifolds has been accepted for publication at IEEE-Access. [paper] [code]

02/09/2022 - Our paper on Addressing Sample Efficiency and Model-bias in Model-based Reinforcement Learning has been accepted for publication at the 21st IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (IEEE ICMLA). [DOI]

30/06/2022 - Our paper on A Novel Simulation-Based Quality Metric for Evaluating Grasps on 3D Deformable Objects has been accepted for publication at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'2022). [arXiv]

03/06/2022 - Our III workshop on Variable Impedance Robotic Skills: From the Foundations to the Current Challenges and Perspectives has been accepted at R:SS'2022. [website]

10/01/2022 - Our paper on Deformation-Aware Data-Driven Grasp Synthesis has been accepted for publication at IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). [DOI]

24/12/2021 - Our paper on A Bidirectional Soft Biomimetic Hand Driven by Water Hydraulic for Dexterous Underwater Grasping has been accepted for publication at IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). [DOI]

06/10/2021 - Our paper on Periodic DMP formulation for Quaternion Trajectories has been accepted at ICAR'2021. [arXiv,DOI]

02/05/2021 - Our workshop on Variable Impedance Robotics skills: Challenges and Opportunities has been accepted at IROS'2021. [webpage]

01/03/2021 - Our paper on A Probabilistic Framework for Learning Geometry-Based Robot Manipulation Skills has been accepted for publication at Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). [open access - sciencedirect]

15/02/2021 - Our paper on A Novel Soft Robotic Hand Design With Human-Inspired Soft Palm: Achieving a Great Diversity of Grasps has been accepted for publication at IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (IEEE-RAM). [open access - ieeexplore]

12/02/2021 - Our paper on Probabilistic Surface Friction Estimation Based on Visual and Haptic Measurements has been accepted for publication in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). [open access - ieeexplore]

22/01/2021 - Our paper on Imitation learning-based framework for learning 6-D linear compliant motions has been accepted for publication at Autonomous Robots (AURO). [open access - springer]

22/10/2020 - Our paper on Variable impedance control and learning -- A review has been accepted for publication at Frontiers in Robotics and AI. It is the first survey that focuses on control and learning approaches for variable impedance in robotic manipulators. [open access - frontiers]

12/7/2020 - Our paper on Towards Orientation Learning and Adaptation in Cartesian Space has been accepted for publication at the IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO).

2/1/2020 - Our paper on Geometry-aware Dynamic Movement Primitives has been accepted for ICRA'20!

1/4/2019 - I joined the Intelligent Robotics Group as a research fellow.