PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

David Held

David Held is an associate professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where he directs the Robots Perceiving and Doing (RPAD) lab. His work applies robot learning to object manipulation and autonomous driving, and his training includes mechanical engineering degrees from MIT, a Stanford computer science PhD, and a postdoctoral researcher role at UC Berkeley. In 2016 he, Sebastian Thrun, and Silvio Savarese posted a preprint of a neural tracker that runs at 100 fps. In 2017 he was an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon and won a Google Faculty Research Award. He received an NSF CAREER Award in 2021 and a Department of Defense MURI award in 2024.

Timeline

  1. 2016

    A neural tracker at 100 fps

    In 2016 he, Sebastian Thrun, and Silvio Savarese post a preprint of a neural tracker that runs at 100 fps.

  2. By 2017

    Stanford PhD and Berkeley postdoc

    He earns B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering at MIT. By 2017 he completes a Stanford computer science PhD, then works as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley with Pieter Abbeel.

  3. 2017

    Assistant professor at CMU

    In 2017 he is an assistant professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, working on machine learning for object manipulation.

  4. 2017

    A Google Faculty Research Award

    In 2017 he wins a Google Faculty Research Award for work in machine learning and machine perception.

  5. 2021

    An NSF CAREER Award

    In 2021 he receives an NSF CAREER Award.

  6. 2024

    A Department of Defense MURI project

    In 2024 he receives a Department of Defense MURI award to lead a CMU team on robots that handle unexpected challenges.

  7. As of October 2026

    Associate professor and RPAD director

    He is an associate professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and directs the Robots Perceiving and Doing (RPAD) lab. His work applies robot learning to object manipulation and autonomous driving.

Sources and credits

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  1. [1604.01802] Learning to Track at 100 FPS with Deep Regression Networks arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Learning to Track at 100 FPS with Deep Regression Networks - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University ri.cmu.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. David Held davheld.github.io. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. David Held: Robots Learning to Understand Environmental Changes - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University ri.cmu.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. Team - Automate Pose Estimation for Robotics Manipulation mscvprojects.ri.cmu.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Faculty Members Affiliated With Machine Learning at CMU Win Google Faculty Research Awards 2017 ml.cmu.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  7. Held Receives MURI Award To Help Robots Solve Problems - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University ri.cmu.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  8. David Held - The Robotics Institute - CMU ri.cmu.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.