General Secretariat for Youth
2011
Worked voluntarily in the Hellenic Post Office of Hydra during the summer season. This was part of the Hellenic Ministry of Transport and Communications “Holidays and volunteering” program.
Robotics engineer, researcher, and software developer
Ph.D. candidate and senior robotics researcher focused on perception, motion planning, control, and software systems for legged and field robotics.
Research, consulting, and applied robotics work from Athens.
Perception, motion planning, and control for biomimetic legged robots.
Hellenic Robotics Center of Excellence.
Research, engineering, and academic work in robotics and AI.
Athanasios (Thanasis) Mastrogeorgiou is a robotics researcher who takes algorithms from high-fidelity simulation to robust field deployments in agriculture, healthcare logistics, energy infrastructure, and industrial automation.
He is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechatronics at the Control Systems Laboratory of NTUA, supervised by Prof. Evangelos G. Papadopoulos, working on perception and motion planning for legged robots: reinforcement-learning-based control, multi-camera SLAM, and gait analysis.
His work was a Best Agri-Robotics Paper finalist at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2024, a Best Paper finalist at IEEE/ASME AIM 2023, and received Second Prize at CLAWAR 2020.
2011
Worked voluntarily in the Hellenic Post Office of Hydra during the summer season. This was part of the Hellenic Ministry of Transport and Communications “Holidays and volunteering” program.
2017
Teaching Computer Essentials at the Association for the Social Support of Youth (ARSIS). ARSIS is a Non Governmental Organization, specializing in the social support of youth that are in difficulty or danger and in the advocacy of their rights.
Selected work across wheeled systems, legged locomotion, simulation, and aerial builds.
Visual servoing using mecanum wheels for precision agriculture tasks.
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MSC Adams simulation using detailed CAD files for container loading workflows.
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Second Prize Award work on evaluating DRL algorithms for quadrupedal systems.
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Deep reinforcement learning and control for handling slopes with quadruped robots.
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Middleware and EtherCAT control work for the Laelaps II quadruped platform.
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Framework for motion processing on demonstrated data and FSM-based motion representation.
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Evaluation of Webots during quadruped robot motions and comparison with alternative software.
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Autonomous navigation scenarios built in the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio ecosystem.
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Independent drone builds and flight experiments around custom FPV systems.
View projectStudies in applied informatics, artificial intelligence, automation, and professional languages.
2016 - Present
National Technical University of Athens, Athens (Greece)
Robotics: Perception, motion planning and control for biomimetic legged robots.
2011 - 2013
National Technical University of Athens, Athens (Greece)
Dissertation Title: Evaluation of the Webots robot simulation environment during quadruped robot motions, and comparison with alternative software.
Project Achievement: The project's goal was to build a Webots model of the lab's (NTUA CSL) Quadruped Robot and using Matlab programmed controllers perform a number of tests on various terrains in order to evaluate the software and the controllers.
2008 - 2009
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
Dissertation Title: Learning Bipedal Locomotion Using Finite State Machines.
Project Achievement: Building a framework that performs motion processing on demonstrated data, and reveals the information necessary, in order to rig a motion on an FSM representation.
2003 - 2008
University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki (Greece)
Dissertation Title: Autonomous Robot Navigation Within The Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio Simulation Environment.
Project Achievement: Analysing and evaluating the MRDS platform by setting up various robot navigation scenarios. Another important outcome of this project was a manual for the MRDS (in Greek) which can later be used by university students on future projects.
Research, software engineering, delivery leadership, and applied robotics roles across academia and industry.
Nov 2025 - Present
HERON - Hellenic Robotics Center Of Excellence
Perception and motion planning for legged robots.
Jan 2024 - Dec 2025
Jan 2021 - Dec 2025
Tech Hive Labs
Managing and overseeing full project lifecycles to ensure timely and efficient delivery of robotics and AI-driven solutions:
Dec 2019 - Feb 2021
2014 - Present
Projects:
May 2018 - Dec 2019
Sept 2013 - Present
Computer Programmer | Web Developer.
Sept 2009 - Dec 2010
2006
Representing University of Macedonia I was responsible for informing the public on broadband services using specific demonstration scenarios (video streaming, video conference, distant learning, etc.).
Journal articles, conference papers, abstracts, theses, and talks on legged locomotion, gait analysis, agricultural and inspection robotics, and robot perception.
Geladaris, A., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Simatos, O., Poulakakis, I., Sfakiotakis, M., and Polygerinos, P., “Artificial Feature Generation and Optimal IMU Placement for VIO in Pipeline Inspection Robots,” IEEE Access, vol. 14, pp. 115469–115479, 2026, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2026.3716363.
Geladaris, A., Papakostas, L., Mastrogeorgiou, A., and Polygerinos, P., “Exploiting a Variable-Sized Map and Vicinity-Based Memory for Dynamic Real-Time Planning of Autonomous Robots,” Robotics, vol. 14, no. 4, art. no. 44, 2025, doi: 10.3390/robotics14040044.
Tsintzira, K., Smyrli, A., Mastrogeorgiou, A., and Papadopoulos, E., “Low-Cost Markerless Gait Analysis Using a Minimal Human Model,” in Proc. 2025 IEEE 25th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE), Athens, Greece, Nov. 6–8, 2025, pp. 558–562, doi: 10.1109/BIBE66822.2025.00099.
Moustris, G., Flessa, T., Mermigkas, P., Alamanos, I., Kardaris, N., Vatistas, A., Tzafestas, C., Maragos, P., Bonias, G., Skembris, A., Geladaris, A., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Rong, J., Bagiokos, P., Makrygiorgou, D., Panidis, S., and Melissaris, D., “An Autonomous Inspection Robot for Extra-High Voltage Substations,” in Proc. 2025 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference Europe (ISGT Europe), Valletta, Malta, Oct. 20–23, 2025, pp. 1–5, doi: 10.1109/ISGTEurope64741.2025.11305645.
Moraiti, P., Giannikos, P., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Mavridis, P., Zhou, L., and Chatzakos, P., “A Comprehensive Framework for Automated Quality Control in the Automotive Industry,” in Proc. 2025 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), Hangzhou, China, Jul. 14–18, 2025, pp. 1–8, doi: 10.1109/AIM64088.2025.11175711.
Giannikos, P., Papakostas, L., Katralis, E., Mavridis, P., Chryssinas, G., Inglezou, M., Panagopoulos, N., Porichis, A., Mastrogeorgiou, A., and Chatzakos, P., “An Integrated System for WEEE Sorting Employing X-Ray Imaging, AI-Based Object Detection and Segmentation, and Delta Robot Manipulation,” in Proc. 2025 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), Hangzhou, China, Jul. 14–18, 2025, pp. 1–8, doi: 10.1109/AIM64088.2025.11175846.
Papakostas, L., Geladaris, A., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Sharples, J., Hattenberger, G., Chatzakos, P., and Polygerinos, P., “Optimized Area Coverage in Disaster Response Utilizing Autonomous UAV Swarm Formations,” in Proc. 2025 33rd Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED), Tangier, Morocco, Jun. 10–13, 2025, pp. 630–635, doi: 10.1109/MED64031.2025.11073337.
Stavrakakis, O., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Smyrli, A., and Papadopoulos, E., “Guidelines for Optimal Human Mesh Generation Using Deep Learning-Driven Avatar Reconstruction for Gait Analysis,” in Proc. 2024 IEEE-RAS 23rd International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), Nancy, France, Nov. 22–24, 2024, pp. 787–794, doi: 10.1109/Humanoids58906.2024.10769832.
Zarras, I., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Machairas, K., Koutsoukis, K., and Papadopoulos, E., “Vinymap: A Vineyard Inspection and 3D Reconstruction Framework for Agricultural Robots,” in Proc. 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Abu Dhabi, UAE, Oct. 14–18, 2024, pp. 1812–1817, doi: 10.1109/IROS58592.2024.10801409. Best Agri-Robotics Paper Award Finalist
Kokas, C., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Machairas, K., Koutsoukis, K., and Papadopoulos, E., “Multicamera Visual SLAM for Vineyard Inspection,” in Proc. 2024 32nd Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED), Chania, Crete, Greece, Jun. 11–14, 2024, pp. 75–80, doi: 10.1109/MED61351.2024.10566198.
Pagliarani, N., Tzafestas, C., Papadopoulos, E., Maragos, P., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Porichis, A., Grogan, H., Ehrhardt, R., and Cianchetti, M., “SoftGrip: Towards a Soft Robotic Platform for Automatized Mushroom Harvesting,” in Proc. European Robotics Forum 2024 (ERF), Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, Rimini, Italy, Mar. 13–15, 2024, pp. 48–52, doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-76424-0_9.
Stavrakakis, O., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Smyrli, A., and Papadopoulos, E., “Gait Analysis with Trinocular Computer Vision Using Deep Learning,” in Proc. 2023 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing Challenges and Workshops (ICIPCW), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 8–11, 2023, pp. 3702–3706, doi: 10.1109/ICIPC59416.2023.10328370.
Mavridis, P., Mavrikis, N., Mastrogeorgiou, A., and Chatzakos, P., “Low-Cost, Accurate Robotic Harvesting System for Existing Mushroom Farms,” in Proc. 2023 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), Seattle, WA, USA, Jun. 28–30, 2023, pp. 144–149, doi: 10.1109/AIM46323.2023.10196219. Best Paper Award Finalist
Geladaris, A., Papakostas, L., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Sfakiotakis, M., and Polygerinos, P., “Real-Time Local Map Generation and Collision-Free Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Vehicles in Dynamic Environments,” in Proc. 2023 International Conference on Control, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Optimization (ICCAIRO), Ierapetra, Crete, Greece, Apr. 11–13, 2023, pp. 1–6, doi: 10.1109/ICCAIRO58903.2023.00009.
Mastrogeorgiou, A., Papatheodorou, A., Koutsoukis, K., and Papadopoulos, E., “Learning Energy-Efficient Trotting for Legged Robots,” in Robotics in Natural Settings: Proc. CLAWAR 2022, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol. 530, Ponta Delgada, Portugal, Sep. 12–14, 2022, pp. 204–215, doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-15226-9_21.
Mastrogeorgiou, A., Elbahrawy, Y., Kecskeméthy, A., and Papadopoulos, E., “Slope Handling for Quadruped Robots Using Deep Reinforcement Learning and Toe Trajectory Planning,” in Proc. 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Las Vegas, NV, USA (virtual), Oct. 24, 2020–Jan. 24, 2021, pp. 3777–3782, doi: 10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9341645.
Mastrogeorgiou, A., Elbahrawy, Y., Machairas, K., Kecskeméthy, A., and Papadopoulos, E., “Evaluating Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Quadrupedal Slope Handling,” in Robots in Human Life: Proc. 23rd International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile Machines (CLAWAR 2020), Moscow, Russia (virtual), Aug. 24–26, 2020, pp. 345–352, doi: 10.13180/clawar.2020.24-26.08.58. Second Prize Award
Bolanakis, G., Machairas, K., Koutsoukis, K., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Loupis, M., and Papadopoulos, E., “Automating Loading and Locking of New Generation Air-Cargo Containers,” in Proc. 9th EASN International Conference on Innovation in Aviation & Space, Athens, Greece, Sep. 3–6, 2019, MATEC Web of Conferences, vol. 304, art. no. 04019, doi: 10.1051/matecconf/201930404019.
Mastrogeorgiou, A., Papatheodorou, A., Koutsoukis, K., Machairas, K., and Papadopoulos, E., “Learning Energy Efficient Trotting for Legged Robots,” Greeks in AI 2025 Symposium, Athens, Greece, Jul. 19–20, 2025. Refereed abstract
Stavrakakis, O., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Smyrli, A., and Papadopoulos, E., “Guidelines for Optimal Mesh Generation Using Deep Learning-Driven Avatar Reconstruction for Gait Analysis,” Greeks in AI 2025 Symposium, Athens, Greece, Jul. 19–20, 2025. Refereed abstract
Mavridis, P., Mastrogeorgiou, A., and Chatzakos, P., “Mushroom Detection and Pose Estimation Using Instance Segmentation and Model Fitting,” ICRA 2022 Workshop on Agricultural Robotics and Automation, Philadelphia, PA, USA, May 27, 2022. Poster
Papatheodorou, A., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Machairas, K., Koutsoukis, K., and Papadopoulos, E., “Middleware Interconnecting ROS/ROS2 with the EtherCAT Protocol,” ROS World 2021, virtual, Oct. 20–21, 2021. Talk
Papatheodorou, A., Mastrogeorgiou, A., Machairas, K., Koutsoukis, K., and Papadopoulos, E., “EtherCAT Master for Laelaps II Quadruped,” ROS World 2020, virtual, Nov. 12, 2020. Lightning talk
Mastrogeorgiou, A., Smyrli, A., Papadopoulos, E., Kecskeméthy, A., and Gegenbauer, S., “Application of OpenPose Deep Learning Algorithm for Gait Parameter Identification,” ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics, Duisburg, Germany, Jul. 15–18, 2019. Extended abstract
Mastrogeorgiou, A., Koutsoukis, K., and Machairas, K., “Towards a Controller for Quadrupedal Locomotion on Compliant Terrains,” Dynamic Walking Conference 2018, Pensacola, FL, USA, May 21–24, 2018. Talk
Mastrogeorgiou, A. and Papadopoulos, E., “Towards an Enhanced Controller for Slope Climbing,” ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics, Barcelona, Spain, Jun. 29–Jul. 2, 2015. Abstract-refereed paper
Mastrogeorgiou, A., “Evaluation of the Webots Robot Simulation Environment During Quadruped Robot Motions, and Comparison with Alternative Software,” MSc thesis, Interdepartmental Program of Postgraduate Studies in Automation, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, 2013. Supervisor: E. G. Papadopoulos.
Mastrogeorgiou, A., “Learning Bipedal Locomotion Using Finite State Machines,” MSc thesis, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, 2009. Supervisor: I. Havoutis.
Mastrogeorgiou, A., “Autonomous Robot Navigation Within the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio Simulation Environment,” BSc thesis, Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2008. Supervisor: D. Hristu-Varsakelis.
Papadopoulos, E., Smyrli, A., and Mastrogeorgiou, A., “Legged Robots: The Next Steps Towards Agile Mobility,” 1st HERON Summer School in Robotics and AI, Eugenides Foundation, Athens, Greece, Jun. 30, 2026. Plenary talk
Mastrogeorgiou, A., “Computer Vision for Automatized Harvesting,” IEEE ICRA 2024 Workshop on Advancing Sustainable Food Systems through Agri-Robotics Innovations, Yokohama, Japan, May 13, 2024. Invited talk
Mastrogeorgiou, A. and Smyrli, A., “Markerless Motion Analysis,” ESMAC 2023 Annual Meeting, Athens, Greece, Sep. 19, 2023. Pre-conference seminar
Κόντη, Δ., «Τα ελληνικά ρομπότ που θέλουν να κατακτήσουν το Διάστημα», Η Καθημερινή, 13 Σεπτεμβρίου 2026.
Καραϊσκάκη, Τ., «Ρομπότ με αντίληψη, το στοίχημα στο ΕΜΠ», Η Καθημερινή, σελ. 8, 22 Ιανουαρίου 2020.
Παρασκευοπούλου, Α., «Βραδιά Ερευνητή 2019», ΕΡΤ1, Δελτίο Ειδήσεων στις 9, 27 Σεπτεμβρίου 2019.
Παπαδόπουλος, Ε., Μαχαιράς, Κ., Κουτσούκης, Κ., Μαστρογεωργίου, Α., Μακροδημήτρης, Μ., Σωτηρόπουλος, Μ. και Βάλβης, Ι., «Ρομποτικά συστήματα με έμπνευση από τη φύση», Μετάδοση Ισχύος, τεύχ. 224, σελ. 34–37, Νοέμβριος–Δεκέμβριος 2018.