William S. Yerazunis

William S. Yerazunis
Bill's Quick Links

  • Biography

    Bill has worked in numerous fields, including parallel computation, SETI, jet engine production, real-time signal processing, expert systems, pattern recognition, text classification, wireless power, and meta-materials. He is the author of the CRM114 spam filter, has appeared as a continuing character in educational science television, and was voted one of the 50 most important people in computer network security by Network World magazine.

  • Recent News & Events

    •  NEWS    MERL at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2024
      Date: May 13, 2024 - May 17, 2024
      Where: Yokohama, Japan
      MERL Contacts: Anoop Cherian; Radu Corcodel; Stefano Di Cairano; Chiori Hori; Siddarth Jain; Devesh K. Jha; Jonathan Le Roux; Diego Romeres; William S. Yerazunis
      Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Optimization, Robotics, Speech & Audio
      Brief
      • MERL made significant contributions to both the organization and the technical program of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2024, which was held in Yokohama, Japan from May 13th to May 17th.

        MERL was a Bronze sponsor of the conference, and exhibited a live robotic demonstration, which attracted a large audience. The demonstration showcased an Autonomous Robotic Assembly technology executed on MELCO's Assista robot arm and was the collaborative effort of the Optimization and Robotics Team together with the Advanced Technology department at Mitsubishi Electric.

        MERL researchers from the Optimization and Robotics, Speech & Audio, and Control for Autonomy teams also presented 8 papers and 2 invited talks covering topics on robotic assembly, applications of LLMs to robotics, human robot interaction, safe and robust path planning for autonomous drones, transfer learning, perception and tactile sensing.
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    •  NEWS    MERL work on 3D Printing in Orbit featured in IEEE Spectrum
      Date: June 3, 2022
      Where: IEEE Spectrum
      MERL Contacts: Avishai Weiss; William S. Yerazunis
      Research Areas: Applied Physics, Communications, Robotics
      Brief
      • MERL's research on on-orbit manufacturing was recently featured in an IEEE Spectrum article. The article, titled How Satellites Will 3D Print Their Own Antennas in Space gives an overview of MERL's efforts towards developing a system that construct spacecraft parts in their natural environment-- that is, in space. The technology, called OOM for On-Orbit Manufacturing, provides a way to manufacture not just antenna dishes, but general freeform sturctures on orbit and in a vacuum, using an solar-hardened resin based approach. This technology includes both a special high performance liquid resin, as well as a 3D freeform printer capable of building objects far larger than the as-launched satellite.

        An important aspect of the special resin is that all components have extremely low vapor pressures and do not boil away even in a vacuum. When exposed to solar ultraviolet, the resin hardens by polymerization crosslinking, forming a tough, rigid solid in a few seconds of exposure. No separate UV source is needed, making the entire process very energy efficient. Additionally, the crosslinking resin is heat resistant, and is unaffected to at least 400 degrees C. The 3D printer needed to print the resin is unlike common liquid-resin SLA printers- there is no vat of liquid resin, instead a shielded nozzle delivers the liquid resin directly to where the resin is needed. The result is the ability to construct large and very large structures, not just parabolic dishes, but also solar panel supports and structural trusswork, while in orbit. The system could even construct parts that were unanticipated during mission design and launch.

        MERL's On-Orbit Manufacturing Technology had previously been featured in a Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Press Release and was recently on display at a recent press exhibition in Tokyo, Japan.

        IEEE Spectrum is the flagship magazine and website of the IEEE, the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and the applied sciences. IEEE Spectrum has a circulation of over 400,000 engineers worldwide, making it one of the leading science and engineering magazines.
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  • Awards

    •  AWARD    Mitsubishi Electric US Receives a 2022 CES Innovation Award for Touchless Elevator Control Jointly Developed with MERL
      Date: November 17, 2021
      Awarded to: Elevators and Escalators Division of Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc.
      MERL Contacts: Daniel N. Nikovski; William S. Yerazunis
      Research Areas: Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Signal Processing
      Brief
      • The Elevators and Escalators Division of Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc. has been recognized as a 2022 CES® Innovation Awards honoree for its new PureRide™ Touchless Control for elevators, jointly developed with MERL. Sponsored by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the CES Innovation Awards is the largest and most influential technology event in the world. PureRide™ Touchless Control provides a simple, no-touch product that enables users to call an elevator and designate a destination floor by placing a hand or finger over a sensor. MERL initiated the development of PureRide™ in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic by proposing the use of infra-red sensors for operating elevator call buttons, and participated actively in its rapid implementation and commercialization, resulting in a first customer installation in October of 2020.
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    •  AWARD    DEIM 2010 Best Paper Award
      Date: February 1, 2010
      Awarded to: Hideya Shibata, Mamoru Kato, Mitsunori Kori and William Yerazunis
      Awarded for: "An Automatic Training Data Collection Method for Confidential E-mail Detection"
      Awarded by: The Forum on Data Engineering and Information Management (DEIM)
      MERL Contact: William S. Yerazunis
      Research Area: Data Analytics
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  • MERL Publications

    •  Zhong, J., Nikovski, D.N., Yerazunis, W.S., Ando, T., "Learning Time-Optimal Control of Gantry Cranes", International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA), December 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-181 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Zhong2024dec,
      • author = {{Zhong, Junmin and Nikovski, Daniel N. and Yerazunis, William S. and Ando, Taishi}},
      • title = {Learning Time-Optimal Control of Gantry Cranes},
      • booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = dec,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-181}
      • }
    •  Nikovski, D.N., Zhong, J., Yerazunis, W.S., "Memory-Based Learning of Global Control Policies from Local Controllers", 21st International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO'24), November 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-158 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Nikovski2024nov,
      • author = {{Nikovski, Daniel N. and Zhong, Junmin and Yerazunis, William S.}},
      • title = {Memory-Based Learning of Global Control Policies from Local Controllers},
      • booktitle = {21st International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO'24)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = nov,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-158}
      • }
    •  Ota, K., Jha, D.K., Jain, S., Yerazunis, W.S., Corcodel, R., Shukla, Y., Bronars, A., Romeres, D., "Autonomous Robotic Assembly: From Part Singulation to Precise Assembly", IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems., October 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-133 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Ota2024oct,
      • author = {Ota, Kei and Jha, Devesh K. and Jain, Siddarth and Yerazunis, William S. and Corcodel, Radu and Shukla, Yash and Bronars, Antonia and Romeres, Diego}},
      • title = {Autonomous Robotic Assembly: From Part Singulation to Precise Assembly},
      • booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = oct,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-133}
      • }
    •  Nikovski, D., Zhong, J., Yerazunis, W.S., "Memory-Based Global Iterative Linear Quadratic Control", International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies (CoDIT), July 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-089 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Nikovski2024jul2,
      • author = {{Nikovski, Daniel and Zhong, Junmin and Yerazunis, William S.}},
      • title = {Memory-Based Global Iterative Linear Quadratic Control},
      • booktitle = {International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies (CoDIT)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-089}
      • }
    •  Nikovski, D., Yerazunis, W.S., "Adaptive Velocity Estimators for Learning Control", International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies (CoDIT), July 2024.
      BibTeX TR2024-088 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Nikovski2024jul,
      • author = {{Nikovski, Daniel and Yerazunis, William S.}},
      • title = {Adaptive Velocity Estimators for Learning Control},
      • booktitle = {International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies (CoDIT)},
      • year = 2024,
      • month = jul,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2024-088}
      • }
    See All MERL Publications for Bill

  • Videos

  • MERL Issued Patents

    • Title: "Contactless Elevator Service for an Elevator Based on Augmented Datasets"
      Inventors: Sahinoglu, Zafer; Peng, Kuan-Chuan; Sullivan, Alan; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 12,071,323
      Issue Date: Aug 27, 2024
    • Title: "Soft Robotic Tentacle Gripper"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Solomon, Erin; McAleenan, James
      Patent No.: 11,685,058
      Issue Date: Jun 27, 2023
    • Title: "System and Method for Robotic Assembly Based on Adaptive Compliance"
      Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Romeres, Diego; Jha, Devesh; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 11,673,264
      Issue Date: Jun 13, 2023
    • Title: "Multi-Tentacular Soft Robotic Grippers"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Solomon, Erin
      Patent No.: 11,565,406
      Issue Date: Jan 31, 2023
    • Title: "Elastomeric Tactile Sensor"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Jordan, Scott
      Patent No.: 11,548,165
      Issue Date: Jan 10, 2023
    • Title: "Method and system for touchless elevator control"
      Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 11,518,646
      Issue Date: Dec 6, 2022
    • Title: "Tactile Sensor"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Jordan, Scott
      Patent No.: 11,472,040
      Issue Date: Oct 18, 2022
    • Title: "On-Orbit Additive Manufacturing of Parabolic Reflectors via Solar Photopolymerization"
      Inventors: Weiss, Avishai; Yerazunis, William S.; Cottrell, Richard
      Patent No.: 11,155,723
      Issue Date: Oct 26, 2021
    • Title: "Dexterous Gripper for Robotic End-Effector Applications"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Ainampudi, Parthasarathi; Gopalan, Nakul
      Patent No.: 11,104,008
      Issue Date: Aug 31, 2021
    • Title: "System and Method for Depositing a Metal to form a Three-Dimensional Part"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Barnwell, John C.; Vetterling, William
      Patent No.: 10,994,371
      Issue Date: May 4, 2021
    • Title: "Systems and Methods for On-Orbit Fabrication of Structures by 3D Printing"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Weiss, Avishai; Wang, Bingnan
      Patent No.: 10,906,290
      Issue Date: Feb 2, 2021
    • Title: "Method and Apparatus for Printing 3D Objects Using Additive Manufacturing and Material Extruder with Translational and Rotational Axes"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Barnwell, John C.; Katz, Joseph; Brinkman, Dirk
      Patent No.: 10,350,874
      Issue Date: Jul 16, 2019
    • Title: "Artificial Magnetic Structures for Wireless Power Transfer"
      Inventors: Wang, Bingnan; Yerazunis, William S.; Teo, Koon Hoo
      Patent No.: 9,842,685
      Issue Date: Dec 12, 2017
    • Title: "System and Method for Calibrating Laser Processing Machines"
      Inventors: Goldsmith, Abraham M.; Bortoff, Scott A.; Shilpiekandula, Vijay; Sullivan, Alan; Yerazunis, William S.; Barnwell, John C.
      Patent No.: 9,718,146
      Issue Date: Aug 1, 2017
    • Title: "Flat-Panel Acoustic Apparatus"
      Inventors: Le Roux, Jonathan; Hershey, John R.; Yerazunis, William S.; Boufounos, Petros T.; Daudet, Laurent
      Patent No.: 9,661,414
      Issue Date: May 23, 2017
    • Title: "Method and Apparatus for Printing 3D Objects Using Additive Manufacturing and Material Extruder with Translational and Rotational Axes"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Barnwell, John C.; Katz, Joseph; Brinkman, Dirk
      Patent No.: 9,481,131
      Issue Date: Nov 1, 2016
    • Title: "System and Method for Automatically Optimizing Wireless Power"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Wang, Bingnan; Teo, Koon Hoo; Duan, Chunjie; Barnwell, III, John C.; Burns, Dan J.
      Patent No.: 9,281,875
      Issue Date: Mar 8, 2016
    • Title: "Cabling Configuration for Railless Elevators"
      Inventors: Shilpiekandula, Vijay; Yerazunis, William S.; Barnwell, III, John C.; Bortoff, Scott A.; Katz, Joseph
      Patent No.: 8,978,831
      Issue Date: Mar 17, 2015
    • Title: "System and Method for Calibrating Laser Cutting Machines"
      Inventors: Goldsmith, Abraham M.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 8,938,317
      Issue Date: Jan 20, 2015
    • Title: "Laser Cutting Machine"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Barnwell, III, John C.; Bortoff, Scott A.; Shilpiekandula, Vijay; Goldsmith, Abraham M.
      Patent No.: 8,921,734
      Issue Date: Dec 30, 2014
    • Title: "System and Method for Optimizing Machining Simulation"
      Inventors: Sullivan, Alan; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 8,483,858
      Issue Date: Jul 9, 2013
    • Title: "Wireless Energy Transfer to Moving Devices"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Vish, Iyer; Huang, Da; Duan, Chunjie; Teo, Koon Hoo
      Patent No.: 8,384,247
      Issue Date: Feb 26, 2013
    • Title: "Memory-Based High-Speed Interferometer"
      Inventors: Brinkman, Dirk; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,990,542
      Issue Date: Aug 2, 2011
    • Title: "Optical Fluid Level Encoder"
      Inventors: Brinkman, Dirk; Leigh, Darren L.; Yerazunis, William S.; Dietz, Paul H.; Reynolds, David C.; Westhues, Jonathan
      Patent No.: 7,535,571
      Issue Date: May 19, 2009
    • Title: "Fuel-Cell Actuated Mechanical Device"
      Inventors: Shepherd, Roderick L.; Yerazunis, William S.; Lau, King-Tong
      Patent No.: 7,409,830
      Issue Date: Aug 12, 2008
    • Title: "Fast Switching Camera Aperture"
      Inventors: Matusik, Wojciech; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,367,723
      Issue Date: May 6, 2008
    • Title: "Low Bandwidth Zero Knowledge Authentication Protocol and Device"
      Inventors: Sundaram, Ravi; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,245,718
      Issue Date: Jul 17, 2007
    • Title: "Multi-Way LED-Based Surface Reflectance Sensor and Spectrophotometer"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,170,606
      Issue Date: Jan 30, 2007
    • Title: "Privacy Enhanced Display Device"
      Inventors: Carbone, Marco S.; Leigh, Darren L.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,164,779
      Issue Date: Jan 16, 2007
    • Title: "Video Recording Device for a Targetable Weapon"
      Inventors: Leigh, Darren L.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,158,167
      Issue Date: Jan 2, 2007
    • Title: "Video Recording Device Responsive to Triggering Event"
      Inventors: Hiatt, Wally; Freeman, William T.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,088,387
      Issue Date: Aug 8, 2006
    • Title: "Communication Using Bi-Directional LEDs"
      Inventors: Vannucci, Giovanni; Dietz, Paul H.; Yerazunis, William S.; Leigh, Darren L.
      Patent No.: 7,072,587
      Issue Date: Jul 4, 2006
    • Title: "DATA STORAGE WITH OVERWRITE"
      Inventors: Freeman, William T.; Hiatt, Wally; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 7,012,632
      Issue Date: Mar 14, 2006
    • Title: "Multi-Way LED-Based Chemochromic Sensor"
      Inventors: Dietz, Paul H.; Yerazunis, William S.; Diamond, Dermot
      Patent No.: 7,008,795
      Issue Date: Mar 7, 2006
    • Title: "Electronic Display with Compensation for Shaking"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Leigh, Darren L.
      Patent No.: 6,906,754
      Issue Date: Jun 14, 2005
    • Title: "LED with Controlled Capacitive Discharge For Photo Sensing"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Dietz, Paul H.; Migdal, Joshua N.
      Patent No.: 6,870,148
      Issue Date: Mar 22, 2005
    • Title: "Real-Time Audio Buffering for Telephone Handsets"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Dietz, Paul H.
      Patent No.: 6,771,768
      Issue Date: Aug 3, 2004
    • Title: "Security-Enhanced Display Device"
      Inventors: Leigh, Darren L.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 6,650,306
      Issue Date: Nov 18, 2003
    • Title: "Accessory Adapted for Digital Personal Assistant"
      Inventors: Carlson, Andrew H.; Wickman, Curtis A.; Yerazunis, William S.; Bajracharya, Max P.
      Patent No.: 6,600,657
      Issue Date: Jul 29, 2003
    • Title: "Land and Water Based Flash Flood Detection and Warning System"
      Inventors: Leigh, Darren L.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: 6,558,216
      Issue Date: May 6, 2003
    • Title: "Hyper-Dimensional Datascope"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Walterman, Michael
      Patent No.: 6,492,988
      Issue Date: Dec 10, 2002
    • Title: "Digital Personal Assistant Docking Station Camera"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Leigh, Darren L.
      Patent No.: 6,477,588
      Issue Date: Nov 5, 2002
    • Title: "Clip-on Accessory for Personal Digital Assistant"
      Inventors: Carlson, Andrew H.; Yerazunis, William S.
      Patent No.: D427,602
      Issue Date: Jul 4, 2000
    • Title: "Method for Smooth Motion in a Distributed Virtual Reality Environment"
      Inventors: Yerazunis, William S.; Waters, Richard C.
      Patent No.: 5,793,382
      Issue Date: Aug 11, 1998
    See All Patents for MERL