Wolfgang Hönig

Robotics Researcher

Wolfgang Hoenig

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I am an independent junior research group leader at TU Berlin heading the Intelligent Multi-Robot Coordination Lab. Previously, I was a postdoctoral scholar at the Department of Aerospace, California Institute of Technology, advised by Soon-Jo Chung. I hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the the University of Southern California, where I was advised by Nora Ayanian. My research focuses on enabling large teams of physical robots to collaboratively solve real-world tasks, using tools from informed search, optimization, and machine learning.

In my free time, I enjoy hiking, hanging out in a hammock, and playing the ukulele.

Academic Experience

  • Independent Junior Research Group Leader, Computer Science, TU Berlin 2021 - now.
  • Postdoc, Aerospace, Caltech 2019 - 2020.
  • Ph.D. Student, Computer Science, USC 2014 - 2019.
  • Diploma Student (M.S. equivalent), Computer Science, TU Dresden 2006 - 2012.

Industrial Experience

  • Visiting Research Scientist, Bitcraze AB 2021.
  • Research Scientist Intern, Amazon Robotics 2017.
  • Senior Software Engineer, NVIDIA 2012 - 2014.

Open-Source Code

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Crazyswarm

2016 - now

Co-author (with J. A. Preiss) and maintainer

Framework to control 50+ Crazyflie 2.x quadrotors from a single PC. The Crazyswarm is used at many universities worldwide to experimentally validate multi-robot systems algorithms. Written in C++ and Python and based on crazyflie_ros.

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libMultiRobotPlanning

2017 - now

Author and maintainer

Library and example applications for multi-robot path planning (CBS, ECBS, SIPP, and variants) and task assignment. Written in C++ (templated state/actions).

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crazyflie_ros

2015 - 2021 (now integrated in Crazyswarm)

Author and maintainer

Robot Operating System (ROS) stack for the Crazyflie 1 and 2.x quadrotors. The stack provides low- and high-level interfaces, includes examples, and is described in a tutorial-style book chapter in detail. Written in C++ and Python.

Publications

Book Chapters and Journals

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Neural-Swarm2: Planning and Control of Heterogeneous Multirotor Swarms using Learned Interactions

IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2021

G. Shi, W. Hönig, X. Shi, Y. Yue, and S.-J. Chung

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Neural Tree Expansion for Multi-Robot Planning in Non-Cooperative Environments

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2021

B. Rivière, W. Hönig, M. Anderson, and S.-J. Chung

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Hierarchical Task Assignment and Path Finding with Limited Communication for Robot Swarms

Applied Sciences, 2021

D. Albani, W. Hönig, D. Nardi, N. Ayanian, and V. Trianni

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GLAS: Global-to-Local Safe Autonomy Synthesis for Multi-Robot Motion Planning with End-to-End Learning

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2020
Honorable Mention for Best RA-L paper in 2020.

B. Rivière, W. Hönig, Y. Yue, and S.-J. Chung

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Persistent and Robust Execution of MAPF Schedules in Warehouses

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2019

W. Hönig, S. Kiesel, A. Tinka, J. W. Durham, and N. Ayanian

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Trajectory Planning for Quadrotor Swarms

IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), Special Issue Aerial Swarm Robotics, 2018

W. Hönig, J. A. Preiss, T. K. S. Kumar, G. S. Sukhatme, and N. Ayanian

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Overview: A Hierarchical Framework for Plan Generation and Execution in Multirobot Systems

IEEE Intelligent Systems, 2017

H. Ma, W. Hönig, L. Cohen, T. Uras, H. Xu, T. K. S. Kumar, N. Ayanian and S. Koenig

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Flying Multiple UAVs Using ROS

Chapter in Robot Operating System (ROS): The Complete Reference (Volume 2), Springer, 2017

W. Hönig and N. Ayanian

Conferences

Sequence-of-Constraints MPC: Reactive Timing-Optimal Control of Sequential Manipulation

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022

M. Toussaint, J. Harris, J.-S. Ha, D. Driess, W. Hönig

db-A*: Discontinuity-bounded Search for Kinodynamic Mobile Robot Motion Planning

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022

W. Hönig, J. Ortiz-Haro, M. Toussaint

Information-Based Guidance and Control Architecture for Multi-Spacecraft On-Orbit Inspection

AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, 2021
Awarded best AIAA GNC Graduate Student Paper.

Y. Nakka, W. Hönig, C. Choi, A. Harvard, A. Rahmani, S.-J. Chung

A Project on Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF)

Symposium on Educational Advances in Artificial Intelligence (EAAI), Model AI Assignments, 2020

W. Hönig, Jiaoyang Li, Sven Koenig

Neural-Swarm: Decentralized Close-Proximity Multirotor Control Using Learned Interactions

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2020

G. Shi, W. Hönig, Y. Yue, S.-J. Chung

Sim-to-(Multi)-Real: Transfer of Low-Level Robust Control Policies to Multiple Quadrotors

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019

A. Molchanov*, T. Chen*, W. Hönig, J.A. Preiss, N. Ayanian, and G.S. Sukhatme

Summary: Distributed Task Assignment and Path Planning with Limited Communication for Robot Teams

International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2019
(Short Paper)

D. Albani*, W. Hönig*, N. Ayanian, D. Nardi, and V. Trianni

Lifelong Path Planning with Kinematic Constraints for Multi-Agent Pickup and Delivery

AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2019

H. Ma, W. Hönig, S. Kumar, N. Ayanian, and S. Koenig

Robust Trajectory Execution for Multi-Robot Teams Using Distributed Real-time Replanning

Int. Symp. on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS), 2018

B. Şenbaşlar, W. Hönig, and N. Ayanian

Trajectory Planning for Heterogeneous Robot Teams

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2018

M. Debord, W. Hönig, and N. Ayanian

Conflict-Based Search with Optimal Task Assignment

IEEE/RSJ Intl Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2018

W. Hönig, S. Kiesel, A. Tinka, J. W. Durham, and N. Ayanian

Downwash-Aware Trajectory Planning for Large Quadrotor Teams

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 250-257, 2017

J. A. Preiss, W. Hönig, G. S. Sukhatme, and N. Ayanian

Summary: Multi-Agent Path Finding with Kinematic Constraints

International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), 2017

W. Hönig, T. K. S. Kumar, L. Cohen, H. Ma, H. Xu, N. Ayanian, and S. Koenig

Crazyswarm: A Large Nano-Quadcopter Swarm

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017

J. A. Preiss*, W. Hönig*, G. S. Sukhatme, and N. Ayanian

Dynamic multi-target coverage with robotic cameras

IEEE/RSJ Intl Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2016

W. Hönig and N. Ayanian

Formation change for robot groups in occluded environments

IEEE/RSJ Intl Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2016

W. Hönig, T. K. S. Kumar, H. Ma, S. Koenig, and N. Ayanian

Multi-Agent Path Finding with Kinematic Constraints

Intl Conf. on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), 2016
Awarded best paper in robotics track.

W. Hönig, T. K. S. Kumar, L. Cohen, H. Ma, H. Xu, N. Ayanian, and S. Koenig

Mixed Reality for Robotics

IEEE/RSJ Intl Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015

W. Hönig, C. Milanes, L. Scaria, T. Phan, M. Bolas, and N. Ayanian

Workshops, Symposia, and Extended Abstracts

Theses