Senior Scientist

Dr.-Ing. Daniel-Andre Dücker

Technical University of Munich

Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) - The AI Mission Institute (AIM)

Postal address

Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60_62
80992 München

Phone: +49 (89) 289 - 29425
Office hours: after appointment / Please send me an e-mail
daniel.duecker@tum.de

Work Experience

[Summer 2024] - Visiting Scientist (3 months) - Marine Autonomy Lab
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA

[2023 - present] - Senior Scientist / Group Lead - Environmental Robotics
- Munich Institute for Robotics and System Intelligence (MIRMI), TU Munich

[2021 - 2022] - PostDoc / Group Lead Underwater Robotics
- Institute of Mechanics and Ocean Engineering, TU Hamburg

[2016 - 2021] - Research Associate
- Institute of Mechanics and Ocean Engineering, TU Hamburg

Industry Research Internships

AUDI AG - Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
Lufthansa - Technik AG Innovation Management

Education

PhD degree in Robotics and Control
- Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
- Title: Learning, localization, and control of hydrobatic micro underwater robots for autonomous field exploration in confined environments

MBA degree in Technology Management
- Northern Institute of Technology Management, Hamburg, Germany

M.Sc. degree in Theoretical Mechanical Engineering
- Hamburg University of Technology, Germany

Visiting Scholar at University of California Berkeley, CA, USA (10 months)

B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Hamburg University of Technology, Germany

N. Trekel, N. Bauschmann, T. L. Alff, D.-A. Duecker, S. Haddadin, and R. Seifried. Dynamic End Effector Trajectory Tracking for Small-scale Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator Systems (UVMS): Modeling, Control, and Experimental Validation, (accepted at) IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Atlanta, US, 2025.
F. L. Busch, N. Bauschmann, S. Haddadin, R. Seifried, and D.-A. Duecker. Predicting against the Flow: Boosting Source Localization by Means of Field Belief Modeling using Upstream Source Proximity, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Yokohama, Japan, 2024.
A. Moortgat-Pick, M. Schwahn, A. Adamczyk, D.-A. Duecker, and S. Haddadin. Autonomous UAV Mission Cycling: A Mobile Hub Approach for Precise Landings and Continuous Operations in Challenging Environments. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Yokohama, Japan, 2024.
S. Lakshminarayanan, D.-A. Duecker, A. Sarabakha, A. Ganguly, L. Takayama, S. Haddadin. Estimation of External Force Acting on Underwater Robots, IEEE International Conference on
Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), Bari, Italy, 2024.
N. Bauschmann, D.-A. Duecker, T. L. Alff, R. Hochdahl, and R. Seifried. Towards Full Actuation: Reconfigurable Micro Underwater Robots. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Detroit (MI), USA, 2023.
N. Bauschmann, D.-A. Duecker, T. L. Alff, and R. Seifried. Evaluation of Underwater AprilTag Localization for Highly Agile Micro Underwater Robots. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Detroit (MI), USA, 2023.
K Yao, N Bauschmann, T L Alff, W Cheah, D A Duecker, K Groves, O Marjanovic, S Watson. Image-Based Visual Servoing Switchable Leader-follower Control of Heterogeneous Multi-agent Underwater Robot System. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), London, UK, 2023.
F. Steinmetz, D.-A. Duecker, N. Sichert, C. Busse, E. Kreuzer, and B.-C. Renner. UWRange: an open ROS framework for simulating acoustic ranging and localization for underwater robots under realistic conditions. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, Japan, 2022.
D.-A. Duecker. Learning, localization, and control of hydrobatic micro underwater robots for autonomous field exploration in confined environments. MuM Notes in Mechanics and Dynamics: 6, TU Hamburg, 2022.
D.-A. Duecker, B. Mersch, R. Hochdahl, and E. Kreuzer. Embedded Stochastic Field Exploration with Micro Diving Agents using Bayesian Optimization-Guided Tree-Search and GMRFs. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), virtual, 2021.
D.-A. Duecker, C. Horst, and E. Kreuzer. From Aerobatics to Hydrobatics: Embedded Agile Trajectory Tracking with Micro Underwater Robots. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), virtual, 2021.
T. Rueckwald, S. Druecker, D.-A. Duecker, and R. Seifried. Nonlinear system identification of a furuta pendulum using machine learning techniques. PAMM Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics 2021, virtual, 2021.
J. Timke, M. Morlock, D.-A. Duecker, R. Seifried. Learning of a Basketball Free Throw With a Flexible Link Robot. International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (ASME 2021), virtual, 2021.
D.-A. Duecker, N. Bauschmann, T. Hansen, E. Kreuzer, and R. Seifried. Towards Micro Robot Hydrobatics: Vision-based Guidance, Navigation, and Control for Agile Underwater Vehicles in Confined Environments. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Las Vegas, USA, 2020. (IROS 2020 Best Entertainment and Amusement Paper Award)
S. Watson, D.-A. Duecker, and K. Groves. Localisation of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) in Complex and Confined Environments: A Review. Sensors (Switzerland), 2020.
D.-A. Duecker, F. Steinmetz, E. Kreuzer, and C. Renner. Micro AUV Localization for agile Navigation with low-cost Acoustic Modems. IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium, St. Johns, Canada, 2020.
D.-A. Duecker, N. Bauschmann, T. Hansen, and E. Kreuzer. HippoCampus X – A hydrobatic open-source micro AUV for confined environments. IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium, St. Johns, Canada, 2020.
D.-A. Duecker, T. Hansen, and E. Kreuzer. RGB-D Camera-based Navigation for Autonomous Underwater Inspection using Low-Cost micro AUVs. IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Symposium, St. Johns, Canada, 2020.
L. Dostal, A. Bespalko, and D.-A. Duecker. Experimental Study on Reinforcement Learningbased Control of an Energy Harvesting Acrobot. arXiv:2011.09246, 2020.
L. Dostal, H. Grossert, D.-A. Duecker, M. Grube, D. Kreuter, K. Sandmann, B. Zillmann, and R. Seifried. Predictability of vibration loads from experimental data by means of reduced vehicle models and machine learning. IEEE Access, 2020.
D.-A. Duecker, K. Eusemann, and E. Kreuzer. Towards an Open-Source Micro-Robot Oceanarium: A Low-Cost, Modular, and Mobile Underwater Motion-Capture System. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Macau, China, 2019.
D.-A. Duecker, T. Johannink, E. Kreuzer, V. Rausch, and E. Solowjow. An Integrated Approach to Navigation and Control in Micro Underwater Robotics. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montréal, Canada, 2019.
D.-A. Duecker, A. R. Geist, E. Kreuzer, and E. Solowjow. Learning Environmental Field Exploration with Computationally Constrained Underwater Robots: Gaussian Processes Meet Stochastic Optimal Control. Sensors (Switzerland), 2019.
C. Cyr, L. Dostal, and D.-A. Duecker. Towards Reinforcement Learning-based Control of an Energy Harvesting Pendulum. European Control Conference (ECC), Naples, Italy, 2019.
D.-A. Duecker, A. Hackbarth, T. Johannink, E. Kreuzer, and E. Solowjow. Micro Underwater Vehicle Hydrobatics: A Submerged Furuta Pendulum. In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Brisbane, Australia, 2018.
G. Brinkmann, W.M. Bessa, D.-A. Duecker, E. Kreuzer, and E. Solowjow. Reinforcement Learning of Depth Stabilization with a Micro Diving Agent. In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Brisbane, Australia, 2018.
W.M. Bessa, G. Brinkmann, D.-A. Duecker, E. Kreuzer, and E. Solowjow. A Biologically Inspired Framework for the Intelligent Control of Mechatronic Systems and its Application to a Micro Diving Agent, Mathematical Problems in Engineering, vol. 2018, 2018.
D.-A. Duecker, E. Kreuzer, G. Maerker, and E. Solowjow. Parameter Identification for Micro Underwater Vehicles. PAMM Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics 2018, Munich, Germany, 2018.
S. Otto, A. Schmitt, D.-A. Duecker, and R. Seifried: Teaching Vision-based Control for Autonomous Driving with Lego Mindstorms EV3, Raspberry Pi and Simulink, PAMM Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics 2018, Munich, Germany, 2018.
A. D. Buchan, E. Solowjow, D.-A. Duecker, and E. Kreuzer. Low-Cost Monocular Localization with Active Markers for Micro Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Vancouver, Canada, 2017.
D.-A. Duecker, A.R. Geist, M. Hengeler, E. Kreuzer, M.-A. Pick, V. Rausch, and E. Solowjow. Embedded Spherical Localization for Micro Underwater Vehicles based on Attenuation of Electro-Magnetic Carrier Signals. In Sensors (Switzerland), 2017.

EnviroBotics - A Free Space for Blending Robotics and Life Sciences
- Project Lead

"TU Hamburg Partnerships and DAAD Exchange Programs with UC Berkeley and U Waterloo"
- Deputy Coordinator for Inbound/Outbound-Exchange, and Contracts