PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kostas Daniilidis

Also known as Konstantinos Daniilidis

Kostas Daniilidis is a computer scientist whose research applies geometry to computer vision and robotics. He earned an electrical-engineering degree at the National Technical University of Athens in 1986 and a doctorate in computer science at the University of Karlsruhe in 1992, then joined Penn Engineering in 1998. His 1999 paper introduced a dual-quaternion method for hand-eye calibration; he directed Penn's GRASP Laboratory from 2008 to 2013 and served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education from 2012 to 2016. In 2017, he coauthored event-based visual-inertial odometry and received ICRA's Best Conference Paper Award. Penn honored his PhD mentoring in 2025 and selected CASPER4D, the project he co-led with Hashimoto, for a 2026 AI award; he is now a professor at Penn and Director of Athena Research Center's Institute of Robotics.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1986–1992

    Engineering in Athens and Karlsruhe

    He earns a degree in electrical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens in 1986 and a PhD in computer science at the University of Karlsruhe in 1992.

  2. 1998

    Joining Penn Engineering

    He joins Penn Engineering in 1998 as an assistant professor in computer and information science.

  3. 1999

    Dual-quaternion hand-eye calibration

    In 1999, he publishes Hand-Eye Calibration Using Dual Quaternions, introducing dual quaternions for hand-eye calibration. The paper gives a simultaneous solution for hand-eye rotation and translation using singular value decomposition.

  4. 2008–2016

    GRASP and Penn leadership

    He directs Penn's GRASP Laboratory from 2008 to 2013 and serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Education from 2012 to 2016.

  5. 2017

    Event-based visual-inertial odometry

    In 2017, he coauthors Event-Based Visual Inertial Odometry, which fuses event-based tracking with an inertial measurement unit to estimate a camera's full six-degree-of-freedom pose. He receives ICRA's Best Conference Paper Award in 2017.

  6. 2025

    A doctoral mentoring award

    In 2025, he receives Penn's Provost's Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring.

  7. 2026

    CASPER4D for surgical video

    In 2026, Penn AI selects CASPER4D for the Discovering the Future of AI award. Co-led by him and Daniel A. Hashimoto, the project will develop AI models that reconstruct a four-dimensional representation of the surgical field from standard surgical video.

  8. As of October 2026

    Director of Athena's Robotics Institute

    By September 2026, he is Director of Athena Research Center's Institute of Robotics and a professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

  1. Since 1998University of PennsylvaniaAssistant Professor in Computer and Information Science, Director
  2. NowAthena Research and Innovation Center In Information Communication & Knowledge TechnologiesDirector

Education

  1. 1992University of KarlsruhePhD in computer science
  2. 1986National Technical University of AthensDegree in electrical engineering

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Kostas Daniilidis. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes University of Pennsylvania. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  3. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes Athena Research and Innovation Center In Information Communication & Knowledge Technologies. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Pennsylvania. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Kostas Daniilidis yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Robotics Engineering Distinguished Speaker Series: Professor Kostas Daniilidis wpi.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. GRASP Lab’s New Director almanac.upenn.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Hand-Eye Calibration Using Dual Quaternions colab.ws. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Event-Based Visual Inertial Odometry openaccess.thecvf.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Teaching Awards-Faculty provost.upenn.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Penn AI announces the 2026 Discovering the Future of AI award recipients research.upenn.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Athena at the 19th European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV 2026) athenarc.gr. Checked 21 October 2026.