I am an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines and I lead the Motion Planning, Active Learning, and Autonomy (MPALA) Lab. I am a core faculty member of the Robotics program and an affiliated faculty memeber of the Quantum Engineering program at Mines. I also contribute to the OpenBionics initiative.
I was a Postodoctroal Research Associate at the University of Maryland. Previously, I obtained my PhD in Electrical Engineering and my MS in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. I received a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of West Attica.
Email: george.kontoudis@mines.edu
Office: Brown Hall BB 280C
Links: CV, Scholar, Scopus, GitHub
Research Interests
My research focuses on the intersection of robotics, control theory, and machine learning. I am particularly interested in developing hybrid theoretical frameworks and novel robotic systems that bridge the gap between machine learning and autonomous systems. A central theme in my work is exploring how learning algorithms and control theory can enable multi-agent systems to collaborate efficiently with minimal information exchange, especially in tasks such as robotic navigation, exploration, and manipulation. In parallel, I actively contribute to the OpenBionics initiative, working on the design and development of affordable, open-source robotic hands and prosthetic devices.
Selected Publications
- Multi-Agent Federated Learning using Covariance-Based Nearest Neighbor Gaussian Processes (TMLCN 2025) [pdf]
- Adaptive Exploration-Exploitation Active Learning of Gaussian Processes (IROS 2023) [pdf]
- Decentralized Multi-Agent Motion Planning using Cognitive Hierarchy and Gaussian Process Classification (TIV 2026) [pdf]
- An Adaptive Actuation Mechanism for Anthropomorphic Robot Hands (Front. Robot. AI 2019) [pdf]
News
Jan 2026: Fahad Asat and Analissia Wise joined our MPALA Lab
Dec 2025: Two papers accepted at AAMAS. Congratulations Sanket and Meet!
Dec 2025: Paper appears in IEEE Transactions on Machine Learning in Communications and Networking
Dec 2025: Audrey Smith and Aaron Fanganello joined our MPALA Lab
Oct 2025: Gave an invited talk at CU Boulder
Sep 2025: Arael Anaya particpated in the Fall Undergraduate Research Symosium at Mines
Aug 2025: Dave Fobar and Matthew Smith joined our MPALA Lab
Jul 2025: Gave an invited talk at the Workshop on Data-Driven and Risk-Aware Control for Safety-Critical Autonomous Systems (ACC)
Jun 2025: Gave an invited talk at the NSF RET cohort of Colorado School of Mines
Jun 2025: Ethan Brown joined our MPALA Lab
Jun 2025: Started serving as Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL)
May 2025: Meet Gandhi joined our MPALA Lab
Apr 2025: Paper accepted at EMBC. Congratulations Mykola!
Mar 2025: Arael Anaya and Olivia Franklin joined our MPALA Lab
Jan 2025: Code for the Decentralized Gaussian Process project has been released
Jan 2025: Evan Pacic and Jude Ortiz joined our MPALA Lab
Oct 2024: Remi Jones and Elijah Paiz placed 2nd for their poster presentation in the Undergraduate Research Symosium at Mines
Sep 2024: Ross Hodson, Remi Jones, and Elijah Paiz particpated in the Fall Undergraduate Research Symosium at Mines
Aug 2024: Sanket Salunkhe joined our MPALA Lab
May 2024: Paper appears in IEEE Access
May 2024: Ross Hodson, Remi Jones, and Elijah Paiz joined our MPALA Lab
Jan 2024: Started my tenure-track appointment at Colorado School of Mines
Sep 2023: Paper accepted at MRS
Aug 2023: Paper appears in IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems
June 2023: Paper accepted at IROS
May 2023: Gave an invited talk at the Maryland Robotics Center Research Symposium
May 2023: Workshop paper accepted at ICRA
Jan 2023: Paper accepted at ACC
Sep 2022: Paper accepted at DARS
Jul 2022: Paper accepted at CDC
Jul 2022: Selected as the General Co-Chair of the RSS Pioneers Workshop 2023
Jun 2022: Selected for the Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) Pioneers Workshop [Pioneers22]
May 2022: Chapter appears in Brain and Cognitive Intelligence Control in Robotics, Taylor & Francis Group, CRC Press
Mar 2022: Preprint is posted on ArXiv
Jan 2022: Selected as the Online Platform Chair of CoRL 2022
Jan 2022: Started my postdoc at the University of Maryland
Dec 2021: Defended my PhD dissertation in Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech
Oct 2021: Paper appears in Frontiers in Neurorobotics
Jul 2021: Paper accepted at CDC
May 2021: Paper appears in Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Feb 2021: Two papers [ICRA21-1], [ICRA21-2] accepted at ICRA
Jan 2021: Paper accepted at ACC
Dec 2020: Passsed my preliminary exam (PhD proposal) in Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech
Aug 2020: Paper accepted at SMC
Jan 2020: Paper accepted at ACC
Oct 2019: Gave an invited talk at the Workshop on New Challenges in Humanoid Grasping and Manipulation (Humanoids)
Sep 2019: Paper accepted at WuWNet
Aug 2019: Paper accepted at Humanoids
Jul 2019: Paper appears in Frontiers in Robotics and AI
Apr 2019: Paper accepted at ICORR
Mar 2019: Paper appears in IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems
Jan 2019: Paper accepted at ACC
Dec 2018: Defended my MSc thesis in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech
Sep 2017: Paper accepted at ADPRL
Aug 2016: Started my graduate studies at Virginia Tech
Mar 2016: Graduated with a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at National Technical University of Athens
Nov 2015: Won the 2nd place in 2015 Hackaday Prize with the OpenBionics Initiative
Oct 2015: Released an assembly guide for the OpenBionics prostheses
Sep 2015: Won the Robotdalen Innovation Award with the OpenBionics Initiative
Jul 2015: Paper accepted at IROS
Jan 2015: Released an assembly guide for the OpenBionics robot hands