Nils Wilde

Nils Wilde is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. He specializes in robotics, AI, and human-computer interaction, with a focus on cognitive robotics, multi-robot systems, and human-robot interaction. His research integrates planning, optimization, control, and machine learning to develop interactive and adaptive robotic systems.

His educational background includes:

• BSc and MSc in Computer Science or related field from Technical University Berlin (2012, 2016)
• PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo (2016–2020), co-supervised by Dana Kulić and Stephen L. Smith
• Postdoctoral Fellow at TU Delft (2021–2024) in the Autonomous Multi-Robots Lab with Javier Alonso-Mora
• Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo’s Autonomous Systems Lab (until August 2021)

Nils Wilde's research centers on enabling robots to learn from human feedback and adapt to user preferences in dynamic environments. His work spans preference learning, multi-objective planning, motion planning, task assignment in multi-robot systems, and human-robot interaction. He develops algorithms that allow robotic systems to balance competing objectives such as efficiency, safety, and user comfort, particularly in service robotics applications like hospitals and industrial facilities.

His recent publications (2020–2024) demonstrate a strong trajectory in top robotics venues (T-RO, RA-L, ICRA, IROS, CoRL, CDC, WAFR), with a focus on multi-objective optimization, dynamic vehicle routing, sensor scheduling, and learning user preferences. A key theme is improving the quality of service in robotic systems by optimizing metrics like waiting times, statistical distinctness of plans, and user satisfaction, often through novel cost functions and learning frameworks.

Nils is actively building a new robotics lab at Dalhousie University, with funded PhD positions and an interdisciplinary research environment. He is involved in organizing academic workshops, such as the upcoming 2025 RSS workshop on Multi-Objective Optimization and Planning in Robotics. He mentors prospective students and encourages applications from diverse backgrounds.