Nicholas Barbara

PhD Candidate in Robotics & Control

Australian Centre for Robotics | University of Sydney

I'm an engineer and researcher with a passion for solving challenging problems and understanding how the world works. My current research involves developing new techniques in robust reinforcement learning for application in real-world robotic systems. My key interests include optimal and learning-based control, spacecraft mission design and GNC, astronomy, and a little bit of cricket and jazz.

This page is a bit of a work-in-progress. In the mean time, please check out the links below and feel free to reach out via email at nicholas.barbara@sydney.edu.au.

LinkedIn Google Scholar GitHub

Select Publications

On Robust Reinforcement Learning with Lipschitz-Bounded Policy Networks

arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.11432 (2024)

Nicholas H. Barbara, Ruigang Wang, Ian R. Manchester

arXiv Code

Learning Over Contracting and Lipschitz Closed-Loops for Partially-Observed Nonlinear Systems

62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (2023)

Nicholas H. Barbara, Ruigang Wang, Ian R. Manchester

Paper arXiv Code

RobustNeuralNetworks.jl: a Package for Machine Learning and Data-Driven Control with Certified Robustness

Presented at JuliaCon 2023

Nicholas H. Barbara, Max Revay, Ruigang Wang, Jing Cheng, Ian R. Manchester

arXiv Code

Learning Over All Stabilizing Nonlinear Controllers for a Partially-Observed Linear System

IEEE Control Systems Letters, Vol. 7 (2023)

Ruigang Wang, Nicholas H. Barbara, Max Revay, Ian R. Manchester

Paper arXiv

Classifying Kepler light curves for 12 000 A and F stars using supervised feature-based machine learning

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022)

Nicholas H. Barbara, Timothy R. Bedding, Ben D. Fulcher, Simon J. Murphy, Timothy Van Reeth

Paper arXiv

New GEO paradigm: Re-purposing satellite components from the GEO graveyard

Acta Astronautica (2020)

Nicholas H. Barbara, Stephanie Lizy-Destrez, Paolo Guardabasso, Didier Alary

Paper

Other Projects

Julia Bindings and Visualiser for the MuJoCo Physics Engine

Presented at JuliaCon 2024

Jamie Mair, Nicholas H. Barbara

Code