Nils Dengler joined the PEARL group as a Postdoc in June 2026 under Prof. Georgia Chalvatzaki. His research interests span in the fields of Robot Learning, Active Perception, and Uncertainty Quantification.
Nils defended his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Bonn under the supervision of Prof. Maren Bennewitz with his thesis titled “Learning Perception and Manipulation of Objects in Cluttered Environments ”.
Research Interests:
- Robot Learning
- Active Perception
- Semantic mapping
- Reinforcement learning
- Object manipulation
Jobs: I am currently looking for motivated student assistants (HiWi) interested in robot learning, active perception, and manipulation to support my ongoing research projects. If you are interested, please send a meaningful application outlining your background, interests, and relevant experience to nils.dengler@tu-darmstadt.de.
News:
June 2026 – Paper accepted for publication at IROS: A Robust Placeability Metric for
Model-Free Unified Pick-and-Place Reasoning
June 2026 – Joined PEARL Lab as a Postdoc
April 2026 – Successfully defended my PhD titled “Learning Perception and Manipulation of Objects in Cluttered Environments“
Key References
A Robust Placeability Metric for Model-Free Unified Pick-and-Place Reasoning), B. Wingender, N. Dengler, R. Menon, S. Pan, M. Bennewitz, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2026.
Point of View: How Perspective Affects Perceived Robot Sociability, S. Agrawal, A. Akhtar, N. Dengler, M. Bennewitz, IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2026.
Efficient Trajectory Optimization for Autonomous Racing via Formula-1 Data-Driven Initialization, S. Shehadeh, L. Kutsch,
N. Dengler, S. Pan, M. Bennewitz, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 2026.
Interpreting Context-Aware Human Preferences for Multi-Objective Robot Navigation, T. Sethuraman, S. Agrawal, N. Dengler, J. de Heuvel, T. Hassan, M. Bennewitz, International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR), 2026.
[Code]
PeRoI: A Pedestrian-Robot Interaction Dataset for Learning Avoidance, Neutrality, and Attraction Behaviors in Social Navigation, S. Agrawal, N.S. Ostermann-Myrau, N. Dengler, M. Bennewitz, IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), 2026.
[Dataset]
RHINO-AR: An Augmented Reality Exhibit for Teaching Mobile Robotics Concepts in Museums, N. Dengler, T. Graf, L. Van Holland, P. Stotko, R. Klein, M. Bennewitz, arXiv preprint, 2026.
Efficient Manipulation-Enhanced Semantic Mapping With Uncertainty-Informed Action Selection, N. Dengler, J. Mücke, R. Menon, M. Bennewitz, IEEE/RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2025. [Code] [Video]
EvidMTL: Evidential Multi-Task Learning for Uncertainty-Aware Semantic Surface Mapping from Monocular RGB Images), R. Menon, N. Dengler, S. Pan, G.K.G. Chenchani, M. Bennewitz, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2025.
[Code]
Learning Goal-Directed Object Pushing in Cluttered Scenes with Location-Based Attention, N. Dengler, J. Del Aguila Ferrandis, J. Moura, S. Vijayakumar, M. Bennewitz, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2025.
[Code]
Towards Rhino-AR: A System for Real-Time 3D Human Pose Estimation and Volumetric Scene Integration on Embedded AR Headsets, L. Van Holland, N. Kaspers, N. Dengler, P. Stotko, M. Bennewitz, R. Klein, International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR), 2025.
Map Space Belief Prediction for Manipulation-Enhanced Mapping, J.M.C. Marques, N. Dengler, T. Zaenker, J. Mücke, S. Wang, M. Bennewitz, K. Hauser, Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2025. [Code] [Video]
Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Behavior-Based Cooperative Navigation, M. Dawood, S. Pan, N. Dengler, S. Zhou, A. Schoellig, M. Bennewitz, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) and IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2025.
[Pre-Print] [Code] [Video]
Integrating One-Shot View Planning with a Single Next-Best View via Long-Tail Multiview Sampling, S. Pan, H. Hu, H. Wei, N. Dengler, T. Zaenker, M. Dawood, M. Bennewitz, IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2024.
[Code] [Video]
Evaluating Robot Influence on Pedestrian Behavior Models for Crowd Simulation and Benchmarking, S. Agrawal, N. Dengler, M. Bennewitz, International Conference on Social Robotics +AI (ICSR), 2024. [Code]
Compact Multi-Object Placement Using Adjacency-Aware Reinforcement Learning, B. Kreis, N. Dengler, J. de Heuvel, R. Menon, Hamsa Datta Perur, M. Bennewitz, IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2024. [Code] [Video]
RHINO-VR Experience: Teaching Mobile Robotics Concepts in an Interactive Museum Exhibit, E. Schlachhoff, N. Dengler, L. Van Holland, P. Stotko, J. de Heuvel, R. Klein, M. Bennewitz, IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2024.
Trust, (Dis)Comfort, and Voice Quality: Anthropomorphism in Verbal Interactions with NAO, C. Thimm, P. Engelhardt, P. Nehls, J. Hens, M. Biehler, C. Hermanns, P. Huzel, M. Bennewitz, J. Mücke, N. Dengler, HCI International 2024 Posters, 2024.
DawnIK: Decentralized Collision-Aware Inverse Kinematics Solver for Heterogeneous Multi-Arm Systems, S. Marangoz, R. Menon, N. Dengler, M. Bennewitz, IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2023. [Code]
Viewpoint Push Planning for Mapping of Unknown Confined Spaces, N. Dengler, S. Pan, V. Kalagaturu, R. Menon, M. Dawood, M. Bennewitz, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2023. [Code]
NBV-SC: Next Best View Planning based on Shape Completion for Fruit Mapping and Reconstruction, R. Menon, T. Zaenker, N. Dengler, M. Bennewitz, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2023.
Handling Sparse Rewards in Reinforcement Learning Using Model Predictive Control, M. Dawood, N. Dengler, J. de Heuvel, M. Bennewitz, IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), 2023.
Learning Goal-Directed Non-Prehensile Pushing in Cluttered Scenes, N. Dengler, D. Großklaus, M. Bennewitz, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022.
[Code] [Video]
Sensor-Based Navigation Using Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning, C. Gebauer, N. Dengler, M. Bennewitz, International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS-17), 2022.
[Video]
Online Object-Oriented Semantic Mapping and Map Updating, N. Dengler, T. Zaenker, F. Verdoja, M. Bennewitz, European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR), 2021.
[Code]
Predicting Human Navigation Goals based on Bayesian Inference and Activity Regions., L. Bruckschen, K. Bungert, N. Dengler, M. Bennewitz, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), 2020.