Daniel N. Nikovski
- Phone: 617-621-7510
- Email:
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Position:
Research / Technical Staff
Data Analytics Group Manager -
Education:
Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, 2002 -
Research Areas:
External Links:
Daniel's Quick Links
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Biography
Dan's research is focused on algorithms for reasoning, planning, and learning with probabilistic models. His current work is on the application of such algorithms to hard transportation problems such as group elevator control and traffic prediction. He also has varied interests in the field of data mining.
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Recent News & Events
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NEWS New robotics benchmark system Date: November 16, 2020
MERL Contacts: Devesh K. Jha; Daniel N. Nikovski; Diego Romeres; Alan Sullivan
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, RoboticsBrief- MERL researchers, in collaboration with researchers from MELCO and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Science at MIT, have released simulation software Circular Maze Environment (CME). This system could be used as a new benchmark for evaluating different control and robot learning algorithms. The control objective in this system is to tip and the tilt the maze so as to drive one (or multiple) marble(s) to the innermost ring of the circular maze. Although the system is very intuitive for humans to control, it is very challenging for artificial intelligence agents to learn efficiently. It poses several challenges for both model-based as well as model-free methods, due to its non-smooth dynamics, long planning horizon, and non-linear dynamics. The released Python package provides the simulation environment for the circular maze, where movement of multiple marbles could be simulated simultaneously. The package also provides a trajectory optimization algorithm to design a model-based controller in simulation.
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NEWS MERL researchers presenting three papers at ICML 2020 Date: July 12, 2020 - July 18, 2020
Where: Vienna, Austria (virtual this year)
MERL Contacts: Mouhacine Benosman; Anoop Cherian; Devesh K. Jha; Daniel N. Nikovski
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Data Analytics, Dynamical Systems, Machine Learning, Optimization, RoboticsBrief- MERL researchers are presenting three papers at the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2020), which is virtually held this year from 12-18th July. ICML is one of the top-tier conferences in machine learning with an acceptance rate of 22%. The MERL papers are:
1) "Finite-time convergence in Continuous-Time Optimization" by Orlando Romero and Mouhacine Benosman.
2) "Can Increasing Input Dimensionality Improve Deep Reinforcement Learning?" by Kei Ota, Tomoaki Oiki, Devesh Jha, Toshisada Mariyama, and Daniel Nikovski.
3) "Representation Learning Using Adversarially-Contrastive Optimal Transport" by Anoop Cherian and Shuchin Aeron.
- MERL researchers are presenting three papers at the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2020), which is virtually held this year from 12-18th July. ICML is one of the top-tier conferences in machine learning with an acceptance rate of 22%. The MERL papers are:
See All News & Events for Daniel -
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Awards
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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 ProcessingBrief- 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 Daniel Nikovski receives Outstanding Reviewer Award at NeurIPS'21 Date: October 18, 2021
Awarded to: Daniel Nikovski
MERL Contact: Daniel N. Nikovski
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Machine LearningBrief- Daniel Nikovski, Group Manager of MERL's Data Analytics group, has received an Outstanding Reviewer Award from the 2021 conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS'21). NeurIPS is the world's premier conference on neural networks and related technologies.
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AWARD Best conference paper of IEEE PES-GM 2020 Date: June 18, 2020
Awarded to: Tong Huang, Hongbo Sun, K.J. Kim, Daniel Nikovski, Le Xie
MERL Contacts: Kyeong Jin (K.J.) Kim; Daniel N. Nikovski; Hongbo Sun
Research Areas: Data Analytics, Electric Systems, OptimizationBrief- A paper on A Holistic Framework for Parameter Coordination of Interconnected Microgrids Against Natural Disasters, written by Tong Huang, a former MERL intern from Texas A&M University, has been selected as one of the Best Conference Papers at the 2020 Power and Energy Society General Meeting (PES-GM). IEEE PES-GM is the flagship conference for the IEEE Power and Energy Society. The work was done in collaboration with Hongbo Sun, K. J. Kim, and Daniel Nikovski from MERL, and Tong's advisor, Prof. Le Xie from Texas A&M University.
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AWARD Best Student Paper Award at the International Conference on Data Mining Date: November 30, 2017
Awarded to: Yan Zhu, Makoto Imamura, Daniel Nikovski, Eamonn Keogh
MERL Contact: Daniel N. Nikovski
Research Area: Data AnalyticsBrief- Yan Zhu, a former MERL intern from the University of California at Riverside has won the Best Student Paper Award at the International Conference on Data Mining in 2017, for her work on time series chains, a novel primitive for time series analysis. The work was done in collaboration with Makoto Imamura, formerly at Information Technology Center/AI Department, and currently a professor at Tokai University in Tokyo, Japan, Daniel Nikovski from MERL, and Yan's advisor, Prof. Eamonn Keogh from UC Riverside, whose lab has had a long and fruitful collaboration with MERL and Mitsubishi Electric.
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AWARD SICE 2008 Best Paper Award Date: July 1, 2008
Awarded to: Nishiuma, N.; Goto, Y.; Kumazawa, H.; Komaya K.; Nikovski, D. and Brand, M.
Awarded for: "Travel Time Prediction using Singular Value Decomposition"
Awarded by: Journal of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers of Japan
MERL Contacts: Daniel N. Nikovski; Norihiro Nishiuma
Research Area: Data Analytics
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MERL Publications
- , "Imitation and Supervised Learning of Compliance for Robotic Assembly", arXiv, December 2021.BibTeX
- @article{Jha2021dec,
- author = {Jha, Devesh K. and Romeres, Diego and Yerazunis, William S. and Nikovski, Daniel N.},
- title = {Imitation and Supervised Learning of Compliance for Robotic Assembly},
- journal = {arXiv},
- year = 2021,
- month = dec
- }
- , "Distribution system fault location analysis using graph neural network with node and link attributes", IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference - Europe (ISGT Europe), DOI: 10.1109/ISGTEurope52324.2021.9639928, October 2021.BibTeX TR2021-130 PDF
- @inproceedings{Sun2021oct,
- author = {Sun, Hongbo and Kawano, Shunsuke and Nikovski, Daniel N. and Takano, Tomihiro and Mori, Kazuyuki},
- title = {Distribution system fault location analysis using graph neural network with node and link attributes},
- booktitle = {IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference - Europe (ISGT Europe)},
- year = 2021,
- month = oct,
- doi = {10.1109/ISGTEurope52324.2021.9639928},
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-130}
- }
- , "Solving Bernoulli Bandit Problems for Weather-relative Overhead Distribution Line Failures Forecasting", IEEE PES GM, DOI: 10.1109/PESGM46819.2021.9638153, July 2021.BibTeX TR2021-087 PDF
- @inproceedings{Wang2021jul2,
- author = {Wang, Shengyi and Sun, Hongbo and Kim, Kyeong Jin and Guo, Jianlin and Nikovski, Daniel N.},
- title = {Solving Bernoulli Bandit Problems for Weather-relative Overhead Distribution Line Failures Forecasting},
- booktitle = {IEEE PES GM},
- year = 2021,
- month = jul,
- doi = {10.1109/PESGM46819.2021.9638153},
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-087}
- }
- , "Control of Mechanical Systems via Feedback Linearization Based on Black-Box Gaussian Process Models", European Control Conference (ECC), June 2021.BibTeX TR2021-068 PDF
- @inproceedings{DallaLibera2021jun,
- author = {Dalla Libera, Alberto and Amadio, Fabio and Nikovski, Daniel N. and Carli, Ruggero and Romeres, Diego},
- title = {Control of Mechanical Systems via Feedback Linearization Based on Black-Box Gaussian Process Models},
- booktitle = {European Control Conference (ECC)},
- year = 2021,
- month = jun,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-068}
- }
- , "Tactile-RL for Insertion: Generalization to Objects of Unknown Geometry", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2021.BibTeX TR2021-052 PDF
- @inproceedings{Dong2021may,
- author = {Dong, Siyuan and Jha, Devesh K. and Romeres, Diego and Kim, Sangwoon and Nikovski, Daniel N. and Rodriguez, Alberto},
- title = {Tactile-RL for Insertion: Generalization to Objects of Unknown Geometry},
- booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
- year = 2021,
- month = may,
- url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2021-052}
- }
- , "Imitation and Supervised Learning of Compliance for Robotic Assembly", arXiv, December 2021.
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Software Downloads
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Videos
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Control of Mechanical Systems via Feedback Linearization Based on Black-Box Gaussian Process Models
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Towards Human-Level Learning of Complex Physical Puzzles
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Examples of Robotic Manipulation
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Tactile-RL for Insertion: Generalization to Objects of Unknown Geometry
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Deep Reactive Planning in Dynamic Environments
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Monte Carlo Probabilistic Inference for Learning Control
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Advanced HVAC Technologies
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Fast Pattern Search in Big Data
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Globally Optimal Power Flow
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MERL Issued Patents
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Title: "System and Method for Automatic Error Recovery in Robotic Assembly"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Jha, Devesh; Romeres, Diego
Patent No.: 11,161,244
Issue Date: Nov 2, 2021 -
Title: "Predictive Classification of Future Operations"
Inventors: Jha, Devesh; Zhang, Wenyu; Laftchiev, Emil; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 10,996,664
Issue Date: May 4, 2021 -
Title: "Methods and Systems of Random Projection Filter Banks for Time Series Prediction and Fault Prognosis"
Inventors: Farahmand, Amir massoud; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 10,729,382
Issue Date: Aug 4, 2020 -
Title: "Methods and Systems for Discovery of Prognostic Subsequences in Time Series"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Zhu, Yan; Farahmand, Amir massoud
Patent No.: 10,712,733
Issue Date: Jul 14, 2020 -
Title: "Optimizing Operations of Multiple Air-Conditioning Units"
Inventors: Raghunathan, Arvind U; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 10,161,649
Issue Date: Dec 25, 2018 -
Title: "System and Method for Group Elevator Scheduling Based on Submodular Optimization"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Raghunathan, Arvind U; Ramalingam, Srikumar
Patent No.: 10,118,796
Issue Date: Nov 6, 2018 -
Title: "Method for Anomaly Detection in Time Series Data Based on Spectral Partitioning"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Kniazev, Andrei; Jones, Michael J.
Patent No.: 9,984,334
Issue Date: May 29, 2018 -
Title: "Model Predictive Control with Uncertainties"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Di Cairano, Stefano; Zhao, Yiming
Patent No.: 9,946,241
Issue Date: Apr 17, 2018 -
Title: "Method for Detecting Power Theft in a Power Distribution System"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Wang, Zhenhua
Patent No.: 9,945,889
Issue Date: Apr 17, 2018 -
Title: "Method and System for Scheduling Elevator Cars in a Group Elevator System with Uncertain Information about Arrivals of Future Passengers"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 9,834,405
Issue Date: Dec 5, 2017 -
Title: "Method for Learning Exemplars for Anomaly Detection"
Inventors: Jones, Michael J.; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 9,779,361
Issue Date: Oct 3, 2017 -
Title: "Method and System for Selecting Power Sources in Hybrid Electric Vehicles"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Farahmand, Amir massoud
Patent No.: 9,637,111
Issue Date: May 2, 2017 -
Title: "Actions Prediction for Hypothetical Driving Conditions"
Inventors: Harsham, Bret A.; Hershey, John R.; Le Roux, Jonathan; Nikovski, Daniel N.; Esenther, Alan W.
Patent No.: 9,434,389
Issue Date: Sep 6, 2016 -
Title: "Method and System for Autonomously Delivering Information to Drivers"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Harsham, Bret A.; Hershey, John R.; Brinkman, Dirk
Patent No.: 9,305,306
Issue Date: Apr 5, 2016 -
Title: "System and Method for Optimal Power Flow Analysis"
Inventors: Raghunathan, Arvind U; Nikovski, Daniel N.; Gopalakrishnan, Ajit
Patent No.: 9,280,744
Issue Date: Mar 8, 2016 -
Title: "Method for Optimizing Power Flows in Electric Power Networks"
Inventors: Raghunathan, Arvind U; Gopalakrishnan, Ajit; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 9,184,589
Issue Date: Nov 10, 2015 -
Title: "Method and System for Dynamically Adapting user Interfaces in Vehicle Navigation Systems to Minimize Interaction Complexity"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Hershey, John R.; Harsham, Bret A.; Le Roux, Jonathan
Patent No.: 9,170,119
Issue Date: Oct 27, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Predicting Future Travel Time Using Geospatial Inference"
Inventors: Jones, Michael J.; Nikovski, Daniel N.; Geng, Yanfeng
Patent No.: 9,122,987
Issue Date: Sep 1, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Globally Optimizing Power Flows in Electric Networks"
Inventors: Raghunathan, Arvind U; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 9,093,842
Issue Date: Jul 28, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Detecting Anomalies in Multivariate Time Series Data"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Jones, Michael J.
Patent No.: 9,075,713
Issue Date: Jul 7, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Scheduling Power Generators Based on Optimal Configurations and Approximate Dynamic Programming"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Zhang, Weihong
Patent No.: 8,996,185
Issue Date: Mar 31, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Operating Building Climate Control System Using Integrated Temperature and Humidity Models"
Inventors: Xu, Jingyang; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,958,921
Issue Date: Feb 17, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Predicting Outputs of Photovoltaic Devices Based on Two-Dimensional Fourier Analysis and Seasonal Auto-Regression"
Inventors: Zhang, Weihong; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,942,959
Issue Date: Jan 27, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Optimizing Run Curve of Vehicles"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Lidicky, Bernard
Patent No.: 8,938,348
Issue Date: Jan 20, 2015 -
Title: "Method for Determining Run-Curves for Vehicles Based on Travel Time"
Inventors: Xu, Jingyang; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,838,304
Issue Date: Sep 16, 2014 -
Title: "Controlling Operation of Vapor Compression System"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Laughman, Christopher; Burns, Dan J
Patent No.: 8,793,003
Issue Date: Jul 29, 2014 -
Title: "Method for Predicting Travel Times Using Autoregressive Models"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,762,036
Issue Date: Jun 24, 2014 -
Title: "Method for Determining Run-Curves for Vehicles in Real-Time Subject to Dynamic Travel Time and Speed Limit Constraint"
Inventors: Xu, Jingyang; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,660,723
Issue Date: Feb 25, 2014 -
Title: "Method for Matching Elements in Schemas of Databases Using a Bayesian Network"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,577,857
Issue Date: Nov 5, 2013 -
Title: "Method for Scheduling the Operation of Power Generators using Factored Markov Decision Process"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,566,266
Issue Date: Oct 22, 2013 -
Title: "A Method for Converting Dynamical Systems with Continuous State Spaces into Markov Decision Processes with Discrete States"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,412,649
Issue Date: Apr 2, 2013 -
Title: "HVAC Control System"
Inventors: Forlines, Clifton L.; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,412,381
Issue Date: Apr 2, 2013 -
Title: "A Method for Predicting Time Series with Seasonal Components"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,315,961
Issue Date: Nov 20, 2012 -
Title: "Method and System for Classifying Data in System with Limited Memory"
Inventors: Jain, Ankur; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 8,108,325
Issue Date: Jan 31, 2012 -
Title: "Method and System for Determining Instantaneous Peak Power Consumption in Elevator Banks"
Inventors: Brand, Matthew E.; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 7,743,890
Issue Date: Jun 29, 2010 -
Title: "Method and Apparatus for Representing and Classifying Microwave Back-Projection Radar Signals"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Jain, Ankur
Patent No.: 7,671,786
Issue Date: Mar 2, 2010 -
Title: "Method and System for Detecting Changes in Sensor Sample Streams"
Inventors: Jain, Ankur; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 7,555,399
Issue Date: Jun 30, 2009 -
Title: "System and Method for Scheduling Elevator Cars Using Pairwise Delay Minimization"
Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Brand, Matthew E.; Ebner, Dietmar
Patent No.: 7,546,905
Issue Date: Jun 16, 2009 -
Title: "System and Method for Scheduling Elevator Cars Using Branch-and-Bound"
Inventors: Brand, Matthew E.; Nikovski, Daniel N.; Ebner, Dietmar
Patent No.: 7,484,597
Issue Date: Feb 3, 2009 -
Title: "Detecting and Diagnosing Faults in HVAC Equipment"
Inventors: Peker, Kadir A.; Nikovski, Daniel N.; Radhakrishnan, Regunathan; Divakaran, Ajay
Patent No.: 7,444,251
Issue Date: Oct 28, 2008 -
Title: "Real-Time Retail Marketing System and Method"
Inventors: Kato, Mamoru; Nikovski, Daniel N.; Divakaran, Ajay
Patent No.: 7,240,834
Issue Date: Jul 10, 2007 -
Title: "Method and System for Scheduling Cars in Elevator Systems Considering Existing and Future Passengers"
Inventors: Brand, Matthew E.; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 7,014,015
Issue Date: Mar 21, 2006 -
Title: "Optimal Parking of Free Cars in Elevator Group Control"
Inventors: Brand, Matthew E.; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 6,808,049
Issue Date: Oct 26, 2004 -
Title: "Method and System for Dynamic Programming of Elevators for Optimal Group Elevator Control"
Inventors: Brand, Matthew E.; Nikovski, Daniel N.
Patent No.: 6,672,431
Issue Date: Jan 6, 2004
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Title: "System and Method for Automatic Error Recovery in Robotic Assembly"
