Alexander Schperberg

Alexander Schperberg
Alexander's Quick Links

  • Biography

    Alexander's background includes extensive experience in employing hybrid machine-learning and model-based approaches towards planning, control, and estimation in both simulation and hardware including legged, climbing, wheeled, and flying robots. His Ph.D work covers topics such as reinforcement learning, Active SLAM, stochastic model predictive control, force control for manipulation and grasping, and estimation using filtering methods combined with vision transformers and deep learning techniques. His current research interests focus on advancing learning methods, from traditional neural networks to large language models, through embedded
    knowledge of the underlying physics of the environment, robots, and contacts between them.

  • MERL Publications

    •  Schperberg, A., Tanaka, Y., Mowlavi, S., Xu, F., Balaji, B., Hong, D., "OptiState: State Estimation of Legged Robots using Gated Networks with Transformer-based Vision and Kalman Filtering", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-054 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Schperberg2024may,
      • author = {{Schperberg, Alexander and Tanaka, Yusuke and Mowlavi, Saviz and Xu, Feng and Balaji, Bharathan and Hong, Dennis}},
      • title = {OptiState: State Estimation of Legged Robots using Gated Networks with Transformer-based Vision and Kalman Filtering},
      • booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = may,
      • publisher = {IEEE},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-054}
      • }
    •  Schperberg, A., Di Cairano, S., Menner, M., "Auto-Tuning of Controller and Online Trajectory Planner for Legged Robots", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, DOI: 10.1109/​LRA.2022.3185387, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 7802-7809, June 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-085 PDF
      • @article{Schperberg2022jun,
      • author = {{Schperberg, Alexander and Di Cairano, Stefano and Menner, Marcel}},
      • title = {Auto-Tuning of Controller and Online Trajectory Planner for Legged Robots},
      • journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
      • year = 2022,
      • volume = 7,
      • number = 3,
      • pages = {7802--7809},
      • month = jun,
      • doi = {10.1109/LRA.2022.3185387},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-085}
      • }

  • Other Publications

    •  Alexander Schperberg, Yusuke Shirai, X. Lin, Yusuke Tanaka and Dennis Hong, "Adaptive Force Controller for Contact-Rich Robotic Systems using an Unscented Kalman Filter", IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (Humanoids), December 2024.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{schperberg2024adaptive,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Shirai, Yusuke and Lin, X. and Tanaka, Yusuke and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Adaptive Force Controller for Contact-Rich Robotic Systems using an Unscented Kalman Filter},
      • booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (Humanoids)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = dec
      • }
    •  Alexander V. Schperberg, "Towards Intelligent Robotic Systems: Unifying Model-based Optimization and Machine Learning for Planning, Control, and Estimation", June 2024, University of California, Los Angeles.
      BibTeX
      • @Other{schperberg2024thesis,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander V.},
      • title = {Towards Intelligent Robotic Systems: Unifying Model-based Optimization and Machine Learning for Planning, Control, and Estimation},
      • school = {University of California, Los Angeles},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = jun
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, Yusuke Tanaka and Dennis Hong, "Planning, Control, and Estimation of a Complex and Underactuated Multi-Modal Robot", ICRA 2024 Workshop: Unconventional Robots: Universal Lessons for Designing Unique Systems, May 2024.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{schperberg2024complex,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Tanaka, Yusuke and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Planning, Control, and Estimation of a Complex and Underactuated Multi-Modal Robot},
      • booktitle = {ICRA 2024 Workshop: Unconventional Robots: Universal Lessons for Designing Unique Systems},
      • year = 2024,
      • address = {Yokohama, Japan},
      • month = may
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, Yusuke Tanaka, Soheil Mowlavi, Feng Xu, Balaji Balaji and Dennis Hong, "OptiState: State Estimation of Legged Robots using Gated Networks with Transformer-based Vision and Kalman Filtering", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2024.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{schperberg2024optistate,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Tanaka, Yusuke and Mowlavi, Soheil and Xu, Feng and Balaji, Balaji and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {OptiState: State Estimation of Legged Robots using Gated Networks with Transformer-based Vision and Kalman Filtering},
      • booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = may
      • }
    •  Yusuke Tanaka, Alexander Schperberg and Dennis Hong, "Exploring the Potentials of Multi-Modal Robotics with SCALER-B", ICRA 2024 Workshop: Unconventional Robots: Universal Lessons for Designing Unique Systems, May 2024.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{schperberg2024scalerb,
      • author = {Tanaka, Yusuke and Schperberg, Alexander and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Exploring the Potentials of Multi-Modal Robotics with SCALER-B},
      • booktitle = {ICRA 2024 Workshop: Unconventional Robots: Universal Lessons for Designing Unique Systems},
      • year = 2024,
      • address = {Yokohama, Japan},
      • month = may
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, Yusuke Tanaka, Feng Xu, Arash Khan, Balaji Balaji and Dennis Hong, "Planner for Robotic Free-Climbing using Reinforcement Learning", Southern California Robotics Symposium (SCR), September 2023.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{schperberg2023planner,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Tanaka, Yusuke and Xu, Feng and Khan, Arash and Balaji, Balaji and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Planner for Robotic Free-Climbing using Reinforcement Learning},
      • booktitle = {Southern California Robotics Symposium (SCR)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = sep
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, Yusuke Tanaka, Feng Xu, Maximilian Menner and Dennis Hong, "Real-to-Sim: Predicting Residual Error of Robotic Systems using a Learning-based Unscented Kalman Filter", IEEE 20th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR), June 2023.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{schperberg2023real_to_sim,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Tanaka, Yusuke and Xu, Feng and Menner, Maximilian and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Real-to-Sim: Predicting Residual Error of Robotic Systems using a Learning-based Unscented Kalman Filter},
      • booktitle = {IEEE 20th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = jun
      • }
    •  X. Lin, Feng Xu, Alexander Schperberg and Dennis Hong, "Learning Near-global-optimal Strategies for Hybrid Non-convex Model Predictive Control of Single Rigid Body Locomotion", arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.07846, June 2022.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{lin2022near_optimal,
      • author = {Lin, X. and Xu, Feng and Schperberg, Alexander and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Learning Near-global-optimal Strategies for Hybrid Non-convex Model Predictive Control of Single Rigid Body Locomotion},
      • journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.07846},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = jun
      • }
    •  Yusuke Shirai, X. Lin, Alexander Schperberg, Yusuke Tanaka, H. Kato, V. Vichathorn and Dennis Hong, "Simultaneous Efficient Contact-Rich Grasping and Locomotion Optimization Enabling Free-Climbing for Multi-Limbed Robots", IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), March 2022.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{shirai2022contact_optimization,
      • author = {Shirai, Yusuke and Lin, X. and Schperberg, Alexander and Tanaka, Yusuke and Kato, H. and Vichathorn, V. and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Simultaneous Efficient Contact-Rich Grasping and Locomotion Optimization Enabling Free-Climbing for Multi-Limbed Robots},
      • booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = mar
      • }
    •  Yusuke Tanaka, Yusuke Shirai, X. Lin, Alexander Schperberg, H. Kato, A. Swerdlow, N. Kumagai and Dennis Hong, "SCALER: A Tough Versatile Quadruped Free-Climber Robot", 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), March 2022.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{tanaka2022scaler,
      • author = {Tanaka, Yusuke and Shirai, Yusuke and Lin, X. and Schperberg, Alexander and Kato, H. and Swerdlow, A. and Kumagai, N. and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {SCALER: A Tough Versatile Quadruped Free-Climber Robot},
      • booktitle = {2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = mar
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, S. Tsuei, Stefano Soatto and Dennis Hong, "SABER: Data-Driven Motion Planner for Autonomously Navigating Heterogeneous Robots", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), May 2021.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{schperberg2024saber,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Tsuei, S. and Soatto, Stefano and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {SABER: Data-Driven Motion Planner for Autonomously Navigating Heterogeneous Robots},
      • journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
      • year = 2021,
      • month = may
      • }
    •  J. S. Lee, N. U. Lee, G. Nair, L. Dinstag, Y. Chapman, K. Chung, S. Wang, H. Sinha, D. Cha, A. V. Kim, Alexander Schperberg, V. Srinivasan, E. Lazar, S. Rubin, R. Hwang, T. Berger, Z. Beker, S. Ronai, M. R. Hannenhalli and S.-H. Kurzrock, "Synthetic lethality-mediated precision oncology via the tumor transcriptome", Cell, Vol. 184, No. 9, pp. 2487-2502.e13, 2021.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{lee2021synthetic_lethality,
      • author = {Lee, J. S. and Lee, N. U. and Nair, G. and Dinstag, L. and Chapman, Y. and Chung, K. and Wang, S. and Sinha, H. and Cha, D. and Kim, A. V. and Schperberg, Alexander and Srinivasan, V. and Lazar, E. and Rubin, S. and Hwang, R. and Berger, T. and Beker, Z. and Ronai, S. and Hannenhalli, M. R. and Kurzrock, S.-H.},
      • title = {Synthetic lethality-mediated precision oncology via the tumor transcriptome},
      • journal = {Cell},
      • year = 2021,
      • volume = 184,
      • number = 9,
      • pages = {2487--2502.e13}
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, K. Chen, S. Tsuei, M. Jewett, J. Hooks, Stefano Soatto, Aaron Mehta and Dennis Hong, "Risk-Averse MPC via Visual-Inertial Input and Recurrent Networks for Online Collision Avoidance", 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), November 2020.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{schperberg2020risk_averse,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Chen, K. and Tsuei, S. and Jewett, M. and Hooks, J. and Soatto, Stefano and Mehta, Aaron and Hong, Dennis},
      • title = {Risk-Averse MPC via Visual-Inertial Input and Recurrent Networks for Online Collision Avoidance},
      • booktitle = {2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},
      • year = 2020,
      • month = nov
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, Alice Boichard, Igor Tsigelny, Shumei Richard and Razelle Kurzrock, "Machine learning model to predict oncologic outcomes for drugs in randomized clinical trials", International Journal of Cancer, pp. 1-13, 2020.
      BibTeX
      • @Article{schperberg2020oncology,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Boichard, Alice and Tsigelny, Igor and Richard, Shumei and Kurzrock, Razelle},
      • title = {Machine learning model to predict oncologic outcomes for drugs in randomized clinical trials},
      • journal = {International Journal of Cancer},
      • year = 2020,
      • pages = {1--13}
      • }
    •  Alexander Schperberg, Yusuke Shirai and Yusuke Tanaka, "Reducing Motion Perturbation for a Bipedal Robot using Model Predictive Control", September 2019.
      BibTeX
      • @Misc{schperberg2019bipedal_mpc,
      • author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Shirai, Yusuke and Tanaka, Yusuke},
      • title = {Reducing Motion Perturbation for a Bipedal Robot using Model Predictive Control},
      • year = 2019,
      • month = sep
      • }
    •  S. Raj, Alexander Schperberg, B. Tsai, S. Brown, T.P. Jung and Y. Wu, "Resting State and Task-Related Brain Dynamics Supporting Creativity", Neuroscience 2018 Conference, 2018.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{raj2018brain_dynamics,
      • author = {Raj, S. and Schperberg, Alexander and Tsai, B. and Brown, S. and Jung, T.P. and Wu, Y.},
      • title = {Resting State and Task-Related Brain Dynamics Supporting Creativity},
      • booktitle = {Neuroscience 2018 Conference},
      • year = 2018
      • }
    •  Y. Wu, J. Wang, A. Tran, Alexander Schperberg, J. Caldwell, T.P. Jung and P.C. Kuo, "MoBI-Box: A next generation Mobile Brain-Body Imaging Platform", 2016 IEEE International Multi-Disciplinary Conference on Cognitive Methods in Situation Awareness and Decision Support (CogSIMA), 2016, pp. 93-96.
      BibTeX
      • @Inproceedings{wu2016mobibox,
      • author = {Wu, Y. and Wang, J. and Tran, A. and Schperberg, Alexander and Caldwell, J. and Jung, T.P. and Kuo, P.C.},
      • title = {MoBI-Box: A next generation Mobile Brain-Body Imaging Platform},
      • booktitle = {2016 IEEE International Multi-Disciplinary Conference on Cognitive Methods in Situation Awareness and Decision Support (CogSIMA)},
      • year = 2016,
      • pages = {93--96},
      • address = {San Diego, CA, USA}
      • }