Diaz-Mercado, Yancy

Assistant Professor

Mechanical Engineering
Maryland Robotics Center
The Institute for Systems Research

2104A Glenn L. Martin Hall, Building 088

Website(s):
Collaborative Controls and Robotics Lab
CCRL Website
Personal Site

Yancy Diaz-Mercado earned his Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2016, and his M.S. from the same institution in 2014. He graduated magna cum laude in 2011 with a B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. He is the director of the Collaborative Controls and Robotics Laboratory, whose research focus is on developing collaborative autonomy for multi-agent systems, robotics, and enabling human-swarm interactions.

Before joining the faculty at the University of Maryland College Park as an assistant professor in 2018, Dr. Diaz was a senior professional engineer with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and a member of the Advanced Concepts section within the Guidance, Navigation, and Controls group.

Dr. Diaz is interested in the control and coordination of multi-agent systems using control theory, optimization, and graph theory. In particular, he is interested in developing theoretically-sound, scalable control solutions that enable effective control of large-scale networked systems, and applying these to facilitate robot swarm manipulation.

IEEE Spectrum Spotlight

Your finger on a tablet can control entire swarms of robots.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/georgia-tech-robot-swarm-control

Science Magazine Spotlight

How to control a robot fleet using a smart tablet.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/05/watch-how-control-robot-fleet-using-smart-tablet

WSB-TV (Channel 2 Action News) Interview with Craig Lucie

Georgia tech project could change how rescuers respond to disasters.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/georgia- tech- project- could-change-how-rescuers-res/nmXNC/

Georgia Tech News.

Controlling swarms of robots with a finger.

http://www.news.gatech.edu/2015/05/12/controlling-swarms-robots-finger

Fox News.

Want to control a swarm of robots? Georgia tech has the answer.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/05/12/want-to-control-swarm-robots-georgia-tech-has-answer.html

UPI.

Watch a simple tablet control robot swarm.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/05/12/Watch-a-simple-tablet-control-robot-swarm/7491431455304/

Tech Times.

Control your own robot army with the tip of your finger.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/52512/20150512/control-your-own-robot-armywith-the-tip-of-your-finger.htm

Tech Crunch.

Swarming robots can now follow your fingertips.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/13/swarming-robots-can-now-follow-your-fingertips/

NH Voice.

Researchers program robots to respond to commands issued through tablet device.

http://nhv.us/content/15052449-researchers-program-robots-respond-commands-issued-through

Perfect Science.

Engineers program army of robots to respond to commands issued through tablet.

http://perfscience.com/content/2141778-engineers-program-army-robots-respond-commands-issued-through-tablet

Spring 2020

ENME 462: Vibrations, Controls, and Optimization II

Fall 2019

ENME 808T: Advaced Topics: Network Control Systems

Spring 2019

ENME 361: Vibrations, Controls, and Optimization I

Fall 2018

ENME 462: Vibrations, Controls, and Optimization II

PhD Thesis

Diaz-Mercado, Yancy

Interactions in Multi-Robot Systems

Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016.

Book Chapters

Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Lee, Sung G; Egerstedt, Magnus

Human-Swarm Interactions via Coverage of Time-Varying Densities

Wang, Yue; Zhang, Fumin (Ed.): Trends in Control and Decision-Making for Human-Robot Collaboration Systems, Chapter 15, Springer, 2017.

Journal Articles

6.	Mair, L O; Liu, X; Dandamudi, B; Jain, K; Chowdhury, S; Weed, J; Diaz-Mercado, Y; Weinberg, I N; Krieger, A MagnetoSuture: Tetherless Manipulation of Suture Needles IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, 2 (2), pp. 206-215, 2020. @article{MagneticNeedleb, title = {MagnetoSuture: Tetherless Manipulation of Suture Needles}, author = {L O Mair and X Liu and B Dandamudi and K Jain and S Chowdhury and J Weed and Y Diaz-Mercado and I N Weinberg and A Krieger}, doi = {10.1109/TMRB.2020.2988462}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics}, volume = {2}, number = {2}, pages = {206-215}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close doi:10.1109/TMRB.2020.2988462 Close
5.	Davydov, Alexander ; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy Sparsity Structure and Optimality of Multi-Robot Coverage Control IEEE Control Systems Letters, 4 (1), pp. 13-18, 2020. @article{OptimalityTVD, title = {Sparsity Structure and Optimality of Multi-Robot Coverage Control}, author = {Alexander {Davydov} and Yancy {Diaz-Mercado}}, doi = {10.1109/LCSYS.2019.2921513}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, journal = {IEEE Control Systems Letters}, volume = {4}, number = {1}, pages = {13-18}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close doi:10.1109/LCSYS.2019.2921513 Close
4.	Santos, Maria; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Egerstedt, Magnus Coverage Control for Multirobot Teams With Heterogeneous Sensing Capabilities Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), IEEE, 3 (2), pp. 919-925, 2018. @article{Diaz:HeterogeneousCoverageb, title = {Coverage Control for Multirobot Teams With Heterogeneous Sensing Capabilities}, author = {Maria Santos and Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Magnus Egerstedt}, doi = {10.1109/LRA.2018.2792698}, year = {2018}, date = {2018-01-01}, journal = {Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), IEEE}, volume = {3}, number = {2}, pages = {919-925}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close doi:10.1109/LRA.2018.2792698 Close
3.	Rivera-Ortiz, Phillip; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy On Guaranteed Capture in Multi-Player Reach-Avoid Games via Coverage Control Control Systems Letters (L-CSS), IEEE, 2 (4), pp. 767-772, 2018, ISSN: 2475-1456. @article{Diaz:ReachAvoidCapture, title = {On Guaranteed Capture in Multi-Player Reach-Avoid Games via Coverage Control}, author = {Phillip Rivera-Ortiz and Yancy Diaz-Mercado}, doi = {10.1109/LCSYS.2018.2849582}, issn = {2475-1456}, year = {2018}, date = {2018-01-01}, journal = {Control Systems Letters (L-CSS), IEEE}, volume = {2}, number = {4}, pages = {767-772}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close doi:10.1109/LCSYS.2018.2849582 Close
2.	Diaz-Mercado, Y; Egerstedt, M Multirobot Mixing via Braid Groups Robotics, IEEE Transactions on, PP (99), pp. 1-11, 2017, ISSN: 1552-3098. @article{braid_journalb, title = {Multirobot Mixing via Braid Groups}, author = {Y Diaz-Mercado and M Egerstedt}, doi = {10.1109/TRO.2017.2737636}, issn = {1552-3098}, year = {2017}, date = {2017-01-01}, journal = {Robotics, IEEE Transactions on}, volume = {PP}, number = {99}, pages = {1-11}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close doi:10.1109/TRO.2017.2737636 Close
1.	Lee, Sung G; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Egerstedt, Magnus Multi-Robot Control Using Time-Varying Density Functions Robotics, IEEE Transactions on, 31 (2), pp. 489-493, 2015, ISSN: 1552-3098. @article{Lee:TVD, title = {Multi-Robot Control Using Time-Varying Density Functions}, author = { Sung G. Lee and Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Magnus Egerstedt}, doi = {10.1109/TRO.2015.2397771}, issn = {1552-3098}, year = {2015}, date = {2015-01-01}, journal = {Robotics, IEEE Transactions on}, volume = {31}, number = {2}, pages = {489-493}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close doi:10.1109/TRO.2015.2397771 Close

Conference Proceedings

16.	Fan, Matthew; Liu, Xiaolong; Jain, Kamakshi; Lerner, Daniel; Weinberg, Irving N; Mair, Lamar O; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Krieger, Axel Towards Autonomous Control of Magnetic Suture Needles Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE International Conference on, Forthcoming, ((Under Review)). @inproceedings{MagneticNeedleControl, title = {Towards Autonomous Control of Magnetic Suture Needles}, author = {Matthew Fan and Xiaolong Liu and Kamakshi Jain and Daniel Lerner and Irving N Weinberg and Lamar O Mair and Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Axel Krieger}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-08-01}, booktitle = {Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE International Conference on}, note = {(Under Review)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {forthcoming}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
15.	Davydov, Alexander ; Yeo, Derrick; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy Low-Mobility Atmospheric Sensing via Multi-Vehicle Adaptive Coverage Control 2020 AIAA AVIATION Forum, 2020. @inproceedings{CoverageWindFarm, title = {Low-Mobility Atmospheric Sensing via Multi-Vehicle Adaptive Coverage Control}, author = {Alexander {Davydov} and Derrick Yeo and Yancy {Diaz-Mercado}}, url = {https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2020-2821}, doi = {10.2514/6.2020-2821}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-06-08}, booktitle = {2020 AIAA AVIATION Forum}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2020-2821 doi:10.2514/6.2020-2821 Close
14.	Xu, Xiaotian; Rodríguez-Seda, Erick J; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy Persistent Awareness-Based Multi-Robot Coverage Control Forthcoming, ((Under Review)). @inproceedings{PersistentCoverageConsensus, title = {Persistent Awareness-Based Multi-Robot Coverage Control}, author = {Xiaotian Xu and Erick J Rodríguez-Seda and Yancy Diaz-Mercado}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, journal = {Decision and Control (CDC), IEEE 59nd Annual Conference on}, note = {(Under Review)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {forthcoming}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
13.	Rodríguez-Seda, Erick J; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy Decentralized Persistent Area Coverage Control with Loss of Awareness Control Technology and Applications (CCTA), IEEE Conference on, Forthcoming, ((To Appear)). @inproceedings{PersistentCoverageb, title = {Decentralized Persistent Area Coverage Control with Loss of Awareness}, author = {Erick J Rodríguez-Seda and Yancy Diaz-Mercado}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, booktitle = {Control Technology and Applications (CCTA), IEEE Conference on}, note = {(To Appear)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {forthcoming}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
12.	Rivera-Ortiz, Phillip; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Kobilarov, Marin Multi-Player Pursuer Coordination for Nonlinear Reach-Avoid Games in Arbitrary Dimensions via Coverage Control 2020 American Controls Conference (ACC), Forthcoming, ((To Appear)). @inproceedings{CaptureSurfaceb, title = {Multi-Player Pursuer Coordination for Nonlinear Reach-Avoid Games in Arbitrary Dimensions via Coverage Control}, author = {Phillip Rivera-Ortiz and Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Marin Kobilarov}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, booktitle = {2020 American Controls Conference (ACC)}, note = {(To Appear)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {forthcoming}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
11.	Xu, Xiaotian; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy Multi-Robot Control Using Coverage Over Time-Varying Domains 2020 American Controls Conference (ACC), Forthcoming, ((To Appear, Keynote Presentation)). @inproceedings{TimeVaryingDomainb, title = {Multi-Robot Control Using Coverage Over Time-Varying Domains}, author = {Xiaotian Xu and Yancy Diaz-Mercado}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, booktitle = {2020 American Controls Conference (ACC)}, note = {(To Appear, Keynote Presentation)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {forthcoming}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
10.	Xu, Xiaotian; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy Multi-Robot Control Using Coverage Over Time-Varying Non-Convex Domains 2020 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Forthcoming, ((To Appear)). @inproceedings{TimeVaryingDomainNonConvex, title = {Multi-Robot Control Using Coverage Over Time-Varying Non-Convex Domains}, author = {Xiaotian Xu and Yancy Diaz-Mercado}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-01-01}, booktitle = {2020 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)}, note = {(To Appear)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {forthcoming}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
9.	Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Jones, Austin; Egerstedt, Magnus; Belta, Calin Correct-by-Construction Synthesis for Multi-Robot Mixing Decision and Control (CDC), IEEE 54nd Annual Conference on, 2015. @inproceedings{BTL, title = {Correct-by-Construction Synthesis for Multi-Robot Mixing}, author = { Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Austin Jones and Magnus Egerstedt and Calin Belta}, doi = {10.1109/CDC.2015.7402112}, year = {2015}, date = {2015-01-01}, booktitle = {Decision and Control (CDC), IEEE 54nd Annual Conference on}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close doi:10.1109/CDC.2015.7402112 Close
8.	Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Lee, Sung G; Egerstedt, Magnus Distributed Dynamic Density Coverage for Human-Swarm Interactions American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 353-358, 2015. @inproceedings{Diaz:D3C_HSI, title = {Distributed Dynamic Density Coverage for Human-Swarm Interactions}, author = { Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Sung G. Lee and Magnus Egerstedt}, doi = {10.1109/ACC.2015.7170761}, year = {2015}, date = {2015-01-01}, booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)}, pages = {353-358}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close doi:10.1109/ACC.2015.7170761 Close
7.	Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Egerstedt, Magnus Multi-Robot Mixing of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots Control Applications (CCA), IEEE Conference on, pp. 524-529, 2014. @inproceedings{MixingUnicycles, title = {Multi-Robot Mixing of Nonholonomic Mobile Robots}, author = { Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Magnus Egerstedt}, doi = {10.1109/CCA.2014.6981399}, year = {2014}, date = {2014-01-01}, booktitle = {Control Applications (CCA), IEEE Conference on}, pages = {524-529}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close doi:10.1109/CCA.2014.6981399 Close
6.	Lu, Jun; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Egerstedt, Magnus; Zhou, Haomin; Chow, Shui-Nee Shortest Paths Through 3-Dimensional Cluttered Environments Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE International Conference on, pp. 6579-6585, 2014. @inproceedings{pathece, title = {Shortest Paths Through 3-Dimensional Cluttered Environments}, author = { Jun Lu and Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Magnus Egerstedt and Haomin Zhou and Shui-Nee Chow}, doi = {10.1109/ICRA.2014.6907830}, year = {2014}, date = {2014-01-01}, booktitle = {Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE International Conference on}, pages = {6579-6585}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close doi:10.1109/ICRA.2014.6907830 Close
5.	Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Egerstedt, Magnus Multi-Robot Mixing Using Braids Decision and Control (CDC), IEEE 52nd Annual Conference on, pp. 2001-2005, 2013, ISSN: 0743-1546. @inproceedings{MixingBraids, title = {Multi-Robot Mixing Using Braids}, author = { Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Magnus Egerstedt}, doi = {10.1109/CDC.2013.6760175}, issn = {0743-1546}, year = {2013}, date = {2013-01-01}, booktitle = {Decision and Control (CDC), IEEE 52nd Annual Conference on}, pages = {2001-2005}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close doi:10.1109/CDC.2013.6760175 Close
4.	Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Lee, Sung G; Egerstedt, Magnus; Young, Shih-Yih Optimal trajectory generation for next generation flight management systems Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), IEEE/AIAA 32nd, pp. 3C5-1-3C5-10, 2013, ISSN: 2155-7195. @inproceedings{NextGen, title = {Optimal trajectory generation for next generation flight management systems}, author = { Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Sung G. Lee and Magnus Egerstedt and Shih-Yih Young}, doi = {10.1109/DASC.2013.6712566}, issn = {2155-7195}, year = {2013}, date = {2013-01-01}, booktitle = {Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), IEEE/AIAA 32nd}, pages = {3C5-1-3C5-10}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close doi:10.1109/DASC.2013.6712566 Close
3.	Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Pabon, Jose; Ortiz-Rivera, Eduardo Voltage regulation for a thermoelectric generator using a KY-converter Center for Power Electronic Systems Annual Conference (CPES), 2011. @inproceedings{KY, title = {Voltage regulation for a thermoelectric generator using a KY-converter}, author = { Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Jose Pabon and Eduardo Ortiz-Rivera}, year = {2011}, date = {2011-01-01}, booktitle = {Center for Power Electronic Systems Annual Conference (CPES)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
2.	Garcia-Vergara, Sergio; Pabon, Jose; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Ortiz-Rivera, Eduardo An integrated undergraduate research experience in control, power electronics, and design using a Micromouse Frontiers in Education, IEEE, 2010. @inproceedings{Frontiers, title = {An integrated undergraduate research experience in control, power electronics, and design using a Micromouse}, author = { Sergio Garcia-Vergara and Jose Pabon and Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Eduardo Ortiz-Rivera}, year = {2010}, date = {2010-01-01}, booktitle = {Frontiers in Education, IEEE}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close
1.	Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Garcia-Vergara, Sergio; Pabon, Jose; Ortiz-Rivera, Eduardo Maximum power control based on matching dc motor dynamics and fuel cell dynamic behavior Center for Power Electronic Systems Annual Conference (CPES), 2010. @inproceedings{Fuel_Cell, title = {Maximum power control based on matching dc motor dynamics and fuel cell dynamic behavior}, author = { Yancy Diaz-Mercado and Sergio Garcia-Vergara and Jose Pabon and Eduardo Ortiz-Rivera}, year = {2010}, date = {2010-01-01}, booktitle = {Center for Power Electronic Systems Annual Conference (CPES)}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {inproceedings} } Close

Online Abstracts

Caminita, Mia; Honavar, Sara; Kwon, Hyun Joon; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Hahn, Jin-Oh; Kiemel, Tim; Shim, Jae Kun

Interpersonal and interlimb synergies in handling of a heavy object motor task

01.08.2020, (Under Review).

Xu, Xiaotian; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy

Multi-Robot Control Using Coverage Over Time-Varying Domains: Extended Abstract

01.01.2019.

Canal, Gregory; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Rozell, Christopher; Egerstedt, Magnus

Controlling High-Complexity Robotic Swarms with Low-Complexity EEG Brain-Machine Interfaces

Washington, DC, 01.01.2017, (Program No. 147.38).

Intellectual Property

Egerstedt, Magnus; Lee, Sung Gun; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy; Chopra, Smriti

Control of Swarming Robots

2015, (US Patent).

Egerstedt, Magnus; Lee, Sung G; Diaz-Mercado, Yancy

Density-Based Manipulation of Teams of Robots

2014, (US Provisional Patent).

Faculty Directory