Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Bernhard Thomaszewski is a leading researcher at the intersection of computational fabrication, physics-based simulation, and robotics, whose work has fundamentally shaped how designers and engineers create physical objects and autonomous systems. His research spans differentiable simulation, robotic creature design, soft robotics, and programmable materials, consistently bridging the gap between computational methods and real-world fabrication. Thomaszewski's most influential contribution, his analytically differentiable dynamics (ADD) framework (2020, 144 citations), introduced a unified, differentiable solver for frictional contact in rigid and deformable systems — a breakthrough enabling gradient-based optimization of complex physical interactions. His pioneering work on interactive design tools for 3D-printable robotic creatures (2015, 91 citations) and Skaterbots (2018, 94 citations) democratized robot design by automating complex motion synthesis and structural optimization for casual users and engineers alike. Earlier work on physical face cloning (2012, 47 citations) demonstrated his reach into biomechanics and animatronics. More recently, Thomaszewski has pushed into metamaterial design through neural networks and programmable weave structures, exploring tunable mechanical properties for robotics and engineering applications. With over 400 cumulative citations across his most notable works, his contributions have had substantial and lasting impact on computational design and fabrication communities.