The Geometry, Design, and Control (GeoDesiC) Laboratory is a robotics and control research group at Cornell University, led by Prof. Jake Welde. GeoDesiC Lab was founded in 2025 and is part of the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Our research explores the role of differential geometry and dynamical systems theory in control synthesis and morphology design for robotic systems, exploiting structural properties to explainably synthesize efficient controllers, accelerate learning algorithms, and develop more capable robot morphologies. We explore both abstract questions in control theory as well as concrete implications in the design of autonomous aerial robots, with the goal of synergy between these dual aspects of autonomous systems.
To learn more about the lab, take a look at our research, publications, and lab members. You can also find information about joining the lab.
fun facts: the lab’s logo is an artistic rendering of a Möbius strip, a non-Euclidean manifold that is both a non-trivial fiber bundle and a non-orientable surface. A geodesic is a path of extremal length within the curved surface of a manifold, a generalization of a “straight line” in Euclidean space.