Abdalla Swikir

I am an Assistant Professor of Robotics at  Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), Abu Dhabi, UAE. I am also an IEEE senior member and the recipient of the 2023 IEEE CSS George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper and the 2023 IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Best Paper Awards. In addition, I am a part of several IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. I am also in the advisory Board and the Steering Committee of the International Elite Summer School in Robotics and Entrepreneurship.    

Before joining MBZUAI, I was a Senior Scientist and Teaching Coordinator at the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI), where I led the Robot Learning research groups and coordinated and delivered various robotics and control courses. Furthermore, I led several high-profile EU projects with a focus varying from Robotic design to applying AI on large-scale robotic systems. 

My research interests lie at the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics, where I focus on pioneering new strategies that harness AI's potential to enhance robotic control systems. I am particularly drawn to designing and analyzing innovative robotic systems that integrate AI-driven safe learning methodologies, empowering robots and autonomous systems to adapt seamlessly to their environments while upholding safety standards. My work involves compositional analysis of large-scale interconnected systems and using symbolic control and control barrier functions to ensure stability across infinite networks.

Honors & Awards

• 2024: New Generation Star Project at IROS 2024.

• 2024: The 2023 IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Best Paper Award.

• 2024: European Commission’s Innovation Radar recognition for the innovation Bi-Stiffness Actuator (BSA) for exploiting intrinsic compliance, gravity, and inertial coupling effects in elastic joint robots.

• 2023: The 2023 IEEE CSS George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award for the best article in the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

• 2023: IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine Cover.

• 2018: Best Student Paper Award Finalist at The 4th Indian Control Conference.

• 2016: Doctorate Scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service.

• 2013: Study Abroad Scholarship Award from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

• 2008: First place with high honor degree of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.