Arno Verduyn, Engineer & Researcher

Arno Verduyn

Latest News

May 2026

Our workshop paper has been accepted for the 2026 ICRA workshop on Geometry in the Age of Data-Driven Robotics!

April 2026

Our paper, introducing a novel invariant representation of motion and force trajectories, has been accepted for the 2026 WAFR Symposium in Oulu, Finland!

July 2025

After years of research, learning, and collaboration, I am excited to share that last week I defended my thesis and received a PhD in Mechanical Engineering! You can find the thesis text by clicking the following link.

I would like to thank my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Ir. Joris De Schutter and Dr. Ir. Maxim Vochten, for their guidance and support during my years as a master's and PhD student.

May 2025

Our paper on frame-invariant motion gesture recognition for human-robot interaction has been accepted for the CASE 2025 conference in Los Angeles, California, USA!

Feb. 2024

Our paper on rigid-body trajectory segmentation has been accepted for the ICRA 2024 conference in Yokohama, Japan!

Dec. 2023

Our paper on interpreting contact tasks using coordinate-invariant trajectory representations has been published in the December 2023 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics!

Mar. 2023

We achieved a Best Poster Award at the Flanders Make Conference on Machines, Vehicles and Production Technology, which took place on 30 March 2023 at Antwerp Expo.

May 2023

Our paper on trajectory generation for robotic spray painting has been accepted for the 2023 CASE conference in Auckland, New Zealand!

Personal info

I've always been fascinated by how systems behave, and how they can be modeled and controlled. I enjoy the full process: understanding the underlying dynamics, designing control or decision strategies, and seeing everything come together in a working system.

Outside of engineering and research, I like to keep a balanced routine. Drawing helps me focus on detail and creativity, while athletics (especially the 400m sprint) teaches me discipline, and resilience. I enjoy setting goals and seeing them take shape, whether in research, art, or sport.

CV Download

You can find my complete CV as a PDF using this link.

CV Summary

I am an engineer and researcher with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, and a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. I have experience in applied robotics research at KU Leuven and Flanders Make. My work focuses on developing robust invariant representations of motion and interaction forces, supported by strong skills in mathematical modeling, numerical methods, and algorithm design.

I enjoy critical thinking and analysis. My experience includes publishing peer‑reviewed papers, presenting at international conferences, mentoring students, and working hands‑on using MATLAB, Python, ROS, C++, and robotic systems.

Contact info

Feel free to reach out to me via email: or any of the social media platforms listed below:

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You can also explore my code repositories on GitHub, or explore my research contributions on ORCID, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar:

Github ORCID ResearchGate Google Scholar

TRO

Invariant Descriptors of Motion and Force Trajectories for Interpreting Object Manipulation Tasks in Contact. Maxim Vochten, Ali Mousavi Mohammadi, Arno Verduyn, Tinne De Laet, Erwin Aertbeliën, and Joris De Schutter. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2023. [PDF] IEEE.org

PLOS

An Optimal Method for Calculating an Average Screw Axis for a Joint, with Improved Sensitivity to Noise and Providing an Analysis of the Dispersion of the Instantaneous Axes. Andrea Ancillao, Maxim Vochten, Arno Verduyn, Joris De Schutter, and Erwin Aertbeliën. PLOS One, 2022. [PDF] plos.org

CASE

Enhancing Hand Palm Motion Gesture Recognition by Eliminating Reference Frame Bias via Frame-Invariant Similarity Measures. Arno Verduyn, Maxim Vochten, and Joris De Schutter. In 2025 IEEE 21st International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 2025. [PDF] IEEE.org

ICRA

Enhancing motion trajectory segmentation of rigid bodies using a novel screw-based trajectory-shape representation. Arno Verduyn, Maxim Vochten, and Joris De Schutter. In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024. [PDF] IEEE.org

CASE

Shape-based path adaptation and simulation-based velocity optimization of initial tool trajectories for robotic spray painting. Arno Verduyn, Joris De Schutter, Wilm Decré, and Maxim Vochten. In 2023 IEEE 19th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 2023. [PDF] IEEE.org

BILTS: A Bi-Invariant Similarity Measure for Robust Object Trajectory Recognition under Reference Frame Variations. Arno Verduyn, Erwin Aertbeliën, Glenn Maes, Joris De Schutter, Maxim Vochten. arXiv preprint, 2025. [PDF] arxiv.org