I'm an engineer and computer scientist working at Autodesk Canada on improving tools for animators. I completed my Ph.D. in 2010 under the supervision of Aaron Hertzmann at the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto.
My research interests span the areas of computer graphics, robotics, and biomechanics, focusing on building better physically-based models of motion. This includes designing methods that ease dynamic character animation/control and understanding how machine learning and optimal control techniques can be leveraged to create human-like motion.
Publications
- M. Al Borno, M. de Lasa, and A. Hertzmann, "Trajectory Optimization for Full-Body Movements with Complex Contacts, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG)
- M. de Lasa, I. Mordatch, and A. Hertzmann, "Feature-Based Locomotion Controllers", ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2010, 29, 3, (Proc. SIGGRAPH)
- I. Mordatch, M. de Lasa, and A. Hertzmann, "Robust Physics-Based Locomotion Using Low-Dimensional Planning", ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2010, 29, 3, (Proc. SIGGRAPH)
- M. de Lasa and A. Hertzmann, "Prioritized Optimization for Task-Space Control", International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), St. Louis, MO, Oct. 11-15, 2009.
- A. Layon, M. de Lasa, R. Playter, S. Talebi, M. LaFiandra, "Validation of a Load Carriage Simulation", SAE Digital Human Modeling for Design and Engineering Symposium, Rochester, MI, June 15-17, 2004.
- T. Yamamoto, M. Fujita, M. de Lasa, S. Talebi, D. Jewell, R. Playter, M. Raibert, "Development of Dynamic Gaits for the AIBO Entertainment Robot: Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks", Proceedings CLAWAR 2001, pp. 695-702, Karlsruhe, Germany, Sept.24-26, 2001.
- M. de Lasa and M. Buehler, "Dynamic Compliant Quadruped Walking", Proceedings ICRA 2001, pp 3153-3158, Seoul, Korea, May 21-26, 2001.
- M. de Lasa and M. Buehler, "Dynamic Compliant Walking of a Quadruped Robot: Preliminary Experiments", Proceedings CLAWAR 2000, Madrid, Spain, Oct 2-5, 2000.
Theses
- M. de Lasa, Feature-Based
Control for Physics-Based Character Animation,
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Toronto, Oct. 2010.
2011 Canadian Artifical Intelligence Association (CAIAC) Doctoral Dissertation Award - M. de Lasa, Dynamic Compliant Walking of the Scout II Quadruped, Master's Thesis, McGill University, July 2000.
Miscellaneous
- Hoop Dreams: An animated short made for a character animation class.