Brief Biography
Dr. Martin de Lasa is Principal Developer and Software Development Manager at
Autodesk where he leads the Media and Entertainment Division's Animation Team.
Prior to joining Autodesk, he completed doctoral studies
in
Computer Science at the
University of Toronto (2010). He also
holds a M.E.Sc in Electrical Engineering from
McGill University
(2000), a B.E.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Western Ontario (UWO) (1998), and a B.Sc. in Computer Science
(1998) from UWO. Prior to his doctoral work he was Technical
Lead, Architect, and Manager, at
Boston Dynamics, where he
played a leading role in human simulation and robotics projects,
including:
Digital Biomechanics,
BigDog, and
LittleDog.
His
research interests span the areas of computer graphics and
robotics, focusing on leveraging optimal control, optimization,
and machine learning methods to build physically-based models of
motion to ease animation/control of simulated characters and
robotic systems. He is the recipient of the CAIAC doctoral
dissertation award for the top Canadian dissertation in
artificial intelligence in 2011.