Andres Valenzuela
Principal Research Scientist at Boston Dynamics
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Summary
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Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolAndres Valenzuela is a Principal Research Scientist with 13 years of experience designing and implementing control, planning, and perception algorithms for legged and mobile robots, currently leading research at Boston Dynamics. He combines deep academic training from MIT (Sc.D.) with hands-on product and algorithm development at Toyota Research Institute and MathWorks, advancing whole-body planning, collision avoidance, and dynamic motion for humanoid and quadrupedal platforms. A longtime contributor to the Drake robotics toolbox, Andres has improved core simulation and collision-handling components that underpin model-based verification and control for real robots. Known for bridging theory and practice, he excels at turning gradient-based planning and novel control strategies into robust, production-ready software. Based in Cambridge, MA, he brings both system-level insight and low-level implementation rigor to high-impact robotics challenges.
13 years of coding experience
15 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Science (Sc. D.) Mechanical Engineering, Doctor of Science (Sc. D.) Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBachelor of Science (BS) Mechanical Engineering, Bachelor of Science (BS) Mechanical Engineering at University of Notre Dame
Spanish
Stackoverflow
88reputation
511reached
4answers
1question
Github Skills (14)
collision-detection10
c-language10
robotics10
cprogramming-language10
python9
dynamics9
linear-algebra9
rigid-bodies9
geometry8
3d8
geom8
eigen6
drake6
clang6
Programming languages (6)
Github contributions (5)
RobotLocomotion/drake
Sep 2013 - Aug 2021
Model-based design and verification for robotics.
Role in this project:
Backend Developer & Robotics Engineer
Backend Developer & Robotics EngineerContributions:113 reviews, 810 commits, 218 PRs in 8 years 1 month
Contributions summary:Andres's commits primarily focused on enhancing the Drake robotics framework, particularly within the context of the TimeSteppingRigidBodyManipulator class. Their contributions included adding sensor states and other features to the manipulator, improving error handling within the codebase, and resolving issues related to frame management and collision detection. The user also addressed issues related to handling of collision geometry and constraints.
model-basedmodel-based-designroboticsdrakeverification
avalenzu/miconvex-planning
Sep 2015 - Mar 2017
Contributions:59 commits, 6 pushes, 8 branches in 1 year 6 months
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