Optimization
Efficient solutions to large-scale problems.
Much of MERL's research activity involves formulating scientific and engineering problems as optimizations, which can be solved in an efficient way. We have developed fundamental algorithms to better solve classic problems, such as quadratic programs and minimum-cost paths. Our work also involves developing theoretical bounds to understand performance limits.
Quick Links
-
Researchers
Stefano
Di Cairano
Ankush
Chakrabarty
Arvind
Raghunathan
Toshiaki
Koike-Akino
Daniel N.
Nikovski
Christopher R.
Laughman
Philip V.
Orlik
Yebin
Wang
Ye
Wang
Kieran
Parsons
Devesh K.
Jha
Abraham P.
Vinod
Scott A.
Bortoff
Diego
Romeres
Matthew
Brand
Petros T.
Boufounos
Hassan
Mansour
Pu
(Perry)
WangAvishai
Weiss
Jianlin
Guo
Vedang M.
Deshpande
Hongbo
Sun
Dehong
Liu
Hongtao
Qiao
Bingnan
Wang
Yanting
Ma
Saviz
Mowlavi
Yuki
Shirai
Gordon
Wichern
Purnanand
Elango
Chungwei
Lin
William S.
Yerazunis
Jinyun
Zhang
Abraham
Goldsmith
Shingo
Kobori
Wataru
Tsujita
Anoop
Cherian
Radu
Corcodel
Pedro
Miraldo
Joshua
Rapp
Alexander
Schperberg
Kenji
Inomata
Jing
Liu
-
Awards
-
AWARD Mitsubishi Electric and MERL work recognized with IEEJ Distinguished Paper Award Date: June 1, 2025
Awarded to: Arvind Raghunathan, Daniel Nikovski
MERL Contacts: Daniel N. Nikovski; Arvind Raghunathan
Research Areas: Electric Systems, OptimizationBrief- A publication jointly authored by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation's Advanced Technology Center (ATC) and MERL researchers has been recognized with the 2025 IEEJ Distinguished Paper Award by the Institute of Electrical Engineers Japan. The paper titled "Power Band Model Based on Flow Network and Weekly Unit Commitment Problem Considering Reserve Market" published in the IEEJ Transactions on Power and Energy presents a novel Unit Commitment formulation for scheduling the generator operations. Arvind Raghunathan and Daniel Nikovksi were co-authors on this publication.
-
AWARD Mitsubishi Electric Team Wins Awards at GalFer Contest Date: June 23, 2025
Awarded to: Bingnan Wang, Tatsuya Yamamoto, Yusuke Sakamoto, Siyuan Sun, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, and Ye Wang
MERL Contacts: Toshiaki Koike-Akino; Bingnan Wang; Ye Wang
Research Areas: Machine Learning, Multi-Physical Modeling, OptimizationBrief- The MELSUR (Mitsubishi Electric SURrogate) team, consisting of a group of MERL and Mitsubishi Electric researchers, ranked first in two out of three categories in the GalFer Contest.
The GalFer (Galileo Ferraris) contest aims to compare the accuracy and efficiency of data-driven methodologies for the multi-physics simulation of traction electric machines. A total of 26 teams worldwide participated in the contest, which consists of three categories. The MELSUR team, including MERL staff Bingnan Wang, Toshiaki Koike-Akino, Ye Wang, MERL intern Siyuan Sun, Mitsubishi Electric researchers Tatsuya Yamamoto and Yusuke Sakamoto, ranked first for the category of "Novelty" and "Interpolation". The results were announced during an award ceremony at the COMPUMAG 2025 conference in Naples, Italy.
- The MELSUR (Mitsubishi Electric SURrogate) team, consisting of a group of MERL and Mitsubishi Electric researchers, ranked first in two out of three categories in the GalFer Contest.
-
AWARD MERL Researchers Win Best Workshop Poster Award at the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) Date: June 2, 2023
Awarded to: Yuki Shirai, Devesh Jha, Arvind Raghunathan and Dennis Hong
MERL Contacts: Devesh K. Jha; Arvind Raghunathan; Yuki Shirai
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Optimization, RoboticsBrief- MERL's paper titled: "Closed-Loop Tactile Controller for Tool Manipulation" Won the Best Poster Award in the workshop on "Embracing contacts : Making robots physically interact with our world". First author and MERL intern, Yuki Shirai, was presented with the award at a ceremony held at ICRA in London. MERL researchers Devesh Jha, Principal Research Scientist, and Arvind Raghunathan, Senior Principal Research Scientist and Senior Team Leader as well as Prof. Dennis Hong of University of California, Los Angeles are also coauthors.
The paper presents a technique to manipulate an object using a tool in a closed-loop fashion using vision-based tactile sensors. More information about the workshop and the various speakers can be found here https://sites.google.com/view/icra2023embracingcontacts/home.
- MERL's paper titled: "Closed-Loop Tactile Controller for Tool Manipulation" Won the Best Poster Award in the workshop on "Embracing contacts : Making robots physically interact with our world". First author and MERL intern, Yuki Shirai, was presented with the award at a ceremony held at ICRA in London. MERL researchers Devesh Jha, Principal Research Scientist, and Arvind Raghunathan, Senior Principal Research Scientist and Senior Team Leader as well as Prof. Dennis Hong of University of California, Los Angeles are also coauthors.
See All Awards for Optimization -
-
News & Events
-
NEWS Diego Romeres Delivers Invited Talks at Fraunhofer Italia and the University of Padua Date: July 16, 2025 - July 18, 2025
MERL Contact: Diego Romeres
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Control, Machine Learning, Optimization, Robotics, Human-Computer InteractionBrief- MERL researcher Diego Romeres was invited to present MERL's latest research at two institutions in Italy this July, focusing on human-robot collaboration and LLM-driven assembly systems.
On July 16th, Dr. Romeres delivered a talk titled “Human-Robot Collaborative Assembly” at Fraunhofer Italia – Innovation Engineering Center (EIC) in Bolzano. His presentation showcased research on human-robot collaboration for efficient and flexible assembly processes. Fraunhofer Italia EIC is a non-profit research institute focused on enabling digital and sustainable transformation through applied innovation in close collaboration with both public and private sectors.
Two days later, on July 18th, Dr. Romeres was hosted by the University of Padua, one of Europe’s oldest and most renowned universities. His invited lecture, “Robot Assembly through Human Collaboration & Large Language Models”, explored how artificial intelligence can enhance human-robot synergy in complex assembly tasks.
- MERL researcher Diego Romeres was invited to present MERL's latest research at two institutions in Italy this July, focusing on human-robot collaboration and LLM-driven assembly systems.
-
NEWS MERL contributes to 2025 European Control Conference Date: June 24, 2025 - June 27, 2025
Where: Thessaloniki
MERL Contacts: Stefano Di Cairano; Daniel N. Nikovski; Diego Romeres; Yebin Wang
Research Areas: Control, Dynamical Systems, Machine Learning, Multi-Physical Modeling, Optimization, RoboticsBrief- MERL researchers contributed to both the technical program and workshop organization at the 2025 European Control Conference (ECC), held in Thessaloniki, Greece, from June 24 to 27. ECC is one of the premier conferences in the field of control.
In the main conference, MERL researchers presented four papers covering a range of topics, including: Representation learning, Motion planning for tractor-trailers, Motion planning for mobile manipulators, Learning high-dimensional dynamical systems, Model learning for robotics.
Additionally, MERL co-organized a workshop with the University of Padua titled “Reinforcement Learning for Robotic Control: Recent Developments and Open Challenges.” MERL researcher Diego Romeres also delivered an invited talk titled “Human-Robot Collaborative Assembly” in that workshop.
- MERL researchers contributed to both the technical program and workshop organization at the 2025 European Control Conference (ECC), held in Thessaloniki, Greece, from June 24 to 27. ECC is one of the premier conferences in the field of control.
See All News & Events for Optimization -
-
Research Highlights
-
Internships
-
MS0156: Internship - Stochastic Model Predictive Control with Generative Models for Smart Building Control
MERL is looking for a research intern to develop efficient transformer-informed stochastic MPC to control net-zero energy buildings. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real impact in the field of cutting-edge deep learning and predictive control on a real system. Publication of results produced during the internship is desired. The expected duration of the internship is 3-6 months with a flexible start date.
The Ideal Candidate Will Have:
- Significant hands-on experience with stochastic MPC
- Publications in SMPC are a strong plus
- Fluency in Python and PyTorch
- Understanding of probabilistic time-series prediction
- Experience with convex programming
- Convex formulations of MPC/SMPC problems are a strong plus
- Completed their MS, or >50% of their PhD program
Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc. "MERL" provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, MERL complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
MERL expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of MERL’s employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.
Working at MERL requires full authorization to work in the U.S and access to technology, software and other information that is subject to governmental access control restrictions, due to export controls. Employment is conditioned on continued full authorization to work in the U.S and the availability of government authorization for the release of these items, which might include without limitation, obtaining an export license or other documentation. MERL may delay commencement of employment, rescind an offer of employment, terminate employment, and/or modify job responsibilities, compensation, benefits, and/or access to MERL facilities and information systems, as MERL deems appropriate, to ensure practical compliance with applicable employment law and government access control restrictions.
- Significant hands-on experience with stochastic MPC
-
EA0076: Internship - Machine Learning for Electric Motor Design
MERL is seeking a motivated and qualified intern to conduct research on machine learning based electric motor design and optimization. Ideal candidates should be Ph.D. students with a solid background and publication record in electric machine design, optimization, and machine learning. Hands-on experience with the implementation of optimization algorithms, machine learning and deep learning methods is required. Strong programming skills using Python/PyTorch are expected. Knowledge and experience with electric machine principle, design and finite-element analysis are highly desirable. Start date for this internship is flexible and the duration is about 3 months.
-
CI0169: Internship - Robotic AI Agent
Those who are passionate about pushing the boundaries of embodied AI, join our cutting-edge research team as an intern and contribute to the development of generalist AI agents for humanoid robots. This is a unique opportunity to work on impactful projects aimed at publishing in top-tier AI and robotics venues.
What We’re Looking For
We’re seeking highly motivated individuals with:
- Advanced research experience in robotic AI, edge AI, and agentic AI systems.
- Hands-on expertise in Large Language Models (LLMs), Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models and Foundation Models
- Strong proficiency with Python, PyTorch, deep learning, and robotic agent frameworks
Internship Details
- Duration: ~3 months
- Start Date: Flexible
- Goal: Publish research at leading AI/robotics conferences and journals
If you're excited about shaping the future of humanoid robotics and AI agents, we’d love to hear from you!
See All Internships for Optimization -
-
Openings
-
CI0177: Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Agentic AI
-
CA0093: Research Scientist - Control for Autonomous Systems
-
OR0052: Research Scientist - Optimization Algorithms
See All Openings at MERL -
-
Recent Publications
- "AI-Driven Scenario Discovery: Diffusion Models and Multi-Armed Bandits for Building Control Validation", Energy and Buildings, September 2025.BibTeX TR2025-132 PDF
- @article{Tang2025sep,
- author = {Tang, Wei-Ting and Vinod, Abraham P. and Germain, François G and Paulson, Joel A. and Laughman, Christopher R. and Chakrabarty, Ankush},
- title = {{AI-Driven Scenario Discovery: Diffusion Models and Multi-Armed Bandits for Building Control Validation}},
- journal = {Energy and Buildings},
- year = 2025,
- month = sep,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-132}
- }
, - "A Dynamic Analysis of Refrigerant Mass in Vapor Compression Cycles", International Modelica Conference, September 2025.BibTeX TR2025-135 PDF
- @inproceedings{Bortoff2025sep,
- author = {Bortoff, Scott A. and Deshpande, Vedang M. and Laughman, Christopher R. and Qiao, Hongtao},
- title = {{A Dynamic Analysis of Refrigerant Mass in Vapor Compression Cycles}},
- booktitle = {International Modelica Conference},
- year = 2025,
- month = sep,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-135}
- }
, - "Zero-Shot Parameter Estimation of Modelica Models using Patch Transformer Networks", International Modelica and FMI Conference, September 2025.BibTeX TR2025-133 PDF
- @inproceedings{Chakrabarty2025sep,
- author = {Chakrabarty, Ankush and Forgione, Marco and Piga, Dario and Bemporad, Alberto and Laughman, Christopher R.},
- title = {{Zero-Shot Parameter Estimation of Modelica Models using Patch Transformer Networks}},
- booktitle = {International Modelica and FMI Conference},
- year = 2025,
- month = sep,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-133}
- }
, - "Application-Oriented Co-Design of Motors and Motions for a 6DOF Robot Manipulator", IEEE Conference on Automation and Science Engineering, August 2025.BibTeX TR2025-121 PDF
- @inproceedings{Stein2025aug,
- author = {Stein, Adrian and Wang, Yebin and Sakamoto, Yusuke and Wang, Bingnan and Fang, Huazhen},
- title = {{Application-Oriented Co-Design of Motors and Motions for a 6DOF Robot Manipulator}},
- booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Automation and Science Engineering},
- year = 2025,
- month = aug,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-121}
- }
, - "Navigating the Trade-offs and Synergies of Economic and Environmental Sustainability Using Process Systems Engineering", American Control Conference (ACC), July 2025.BibTeX TR2025-106 PDF
- @inproceedings{Zhang2025jul2,
- author = {Zhang, Qi and Avraamidou, Styliani and Paulson, Joel A. and Thakkar, Vyom and Wang, Zhenyu and Chiang, Leo and Braun, Birgit and Rathi, Tushar and Chakrabarty, Ankush and Sorouifar, Farshud and Tang, Wei-Ting and Guertin, France and Munoz, Paola and Sampat, Apoorva},
- title = {{Navigating the Trade-offs and Synergies of Economic and Environmental Sustainability Using Process Systems Engineering}},
- booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
- year = 2025,
- month = jul,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-106}
- }
, - "Truck Fleet Coordination for Warehouse Trailer Management by Temporal Logic with Energy Constraints", American Control Conference (ACC), July 2025.BibTeX TR2025-103 PDF
- @inproceedings{Cardona2025jul,
- author = {Cardona, Gustavo and Vasile, Cristian-Ioan and {Di Cairano}, Stefano},
- title = {{Truck Fleet Coordination for Warehouse Trailer Management by Temporal Logic with Energy Constraints}},
- booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
- year = 2025,
- month = jul,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-103}
- }
, - "Safe Interactive Motion Planning by Differentiable Optimal Control and Online Preference Learning", American Control Conference (ACC), July 2025.BibTeX TR2025-104 PDF
- @inproceedings{ChavezArmijos2025jul,
- author = {Chavez Armijos, Andres and Berntorp, Karl and {Di Cairano}, Stefano},
- title = {{Safe Interactive Motion Planning by Differentiable Optimal Control and Online Preference Learning}},
- booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
- year = 2025,
- month = jul,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-104}
- }
, - "Geostationary Satellite Station Keeping and Collocation under High-Thrust Impulsive Control", American Control Conference (ACC), July 2025.BibTeX TR2025-101 PDF
- @inproceedings{Pavlasek2025jul,
- author = {Pavlasek, Natalia and {Di Cairano}, Stefano and Weiss, Avishai},
- title = {{Geostationary Satellite Station Keeping and Collocation under High-Thrust Impulsive Control}},
- booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
- year = 2025,
- month = jul,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2025-101}
- }
,
- "AI-Driven Scenario Discovery: Diffusion Models and Multi-Armed Bandits for Building Control Validation", Energy and Buildings, September 2025.
-
Videos
-
Software & Data Downloads
-
Optimal Recursive McCormick Linearization of MultiLinear Programs -
Convex sets in Python -
Meta-Learning State Space Models -
Python-based Robotic Control & Optimization Package -
Template Embeddings for Adiabatic Quantum Computation -
Quasi-Newton Trust Region Policy Optimization -
Convergent Inverse Scattering using Optimization and Regularization
-