Mario Coppola

About me


I'm a researcher in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence with a background in aerospace engineering. I am currently completing my PhD at the Delft University of Technology, where I am part of the Micro Air Vehicle Lab (MAVLab) as well as the Space Systems Engineering group.

Scroll down to see some of my latest work!

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PhD Graduation


I will publicly defend my PhD dissertation on Monday April 19th 2021 at 15:00 CEST.
Before the defense, at 14:30 CEST, I will give a short presentation of my PhD research.

The event will be livestreamed at this link.
Go to stream

My PhD dissertation is available at the following link.
Download thesis

Latest projects


Designing provable swarms

In this project, central to my PhD research, I set out to develop machine learning algorithms that would enable large teams of robots to collaborate together while verifying that their local choices would ultimately result in achieving the cooperative goal.


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Relative localization in robot teams

How can we get small drones to sense each other during flight without using GPS? In this project, I have developed an efficient and effective technology for relative localization between robots in unknown scenarios, based only on antenna communication.


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Publications and resources


Check out my Google Scholar profile for more info on my publications. 

Journal publications

A survey on swarming with micro air vehicles: Fundamental challenges and constraints
Mario Coppola, Kimberly N. McGuire, Christophe De Wagter, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 7:18, Feb 2020.

Link to paper


The PageRank algorithm as a method to optimize swarm behavior through local analysis
Mario Coppola, Jian Guo, Eberhard Gill, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. Swarm Intelligence, 13(3):277-319, Dec 2019.

Link to paper Download data Download optimization code (Matlab) Download simulation code (C++)


Provable self-organizing pattern formation by a swarm of robots with limited knowledge
Mario Coppola, Jian Guo, Eberhard Gill, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. Swarm Intelligence, 13(1):59-94, Mar 2019.

Link to paper Download data Download code Videos


On-board range-based relative localization for micro air vehicles in indoor leader-follower flight
Steven van der Helm, Mario Coppola, Kimberly N. McGuire, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. Autonomous Robots, 44(3):415-441, Mar 2019.

Link to paper Download data Download code Videos


On-board communication-based relative localization for collision avoidance in Micro Air Vehicle teams
Mario Coppola, Kimberly N. McGuire, Kirk Y. W. Scheper, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. Autonomous Robots, 42(8):1787-1805, Dec 2018.

Link to paper Download data Download code Videos

Conference publications

Optimization of swarm behavior assisted by an automatic local proof for a pattern formation task.
Mario Coppola and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. In Marco Dorigo, Mauro Birattari, Christian Blum, Anders L. Christensen, Andreagiovanni Reina, and Vito Trianni, editors, Swarm Intelligence — 11th International Conference, ANTS 2018, Rome, Italy, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, volume 11172, pages 123-134, Cham, 2018. Springer International Publishing.

Link to paper


Towards autonomous navigation of multiple pocket-drones in real-world environments
Kimberly McGuire, Mario Coppola, Christophe de Wagter, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. In 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pages 244-249, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2017.

Link to paper Videos

Preprints

A model-based framework for learning transparent swarm behaviors
Mario Coppola, Jian Guo, Eberhard Gill, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. arXiv preprint arXiv: 2103.05343, 2021.

Link to paper Download Code Download Data

MAMBPO: Sample-efficient multi-robot reinforcement learning using learned world models
Daniël Willemsen, Mario Coppola, and Guido C. H. E. de Croon. arXiv pre-print arXiv:2103.03662, 2021.

Link to paper Download Code

An autonomous swarm of micro flying robots with range-based relative localization
Shushuai Li, Mario Coppola, Christophe De Wagter, Guido C. H. E. de Croon. arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.05853, 2020.

Link to paper Resources Videos

Contact

You can contact me through LinkedIn or by email

Email

m.coppola@tudelft.nl