David Olivares
Research Scientist at Akkodis Research. PhD in Robotics from Paris-Saclay University.
Paris Area, France
I am a research scientist currently working on autonomous driving at Akkodis Research.
I recently graduated from a PhD in Robotics from Paris-Saclay University, completed through an industrial collaboration between Akkodis Research and the ONERA SAPIA lab.
My doctoral research focused on leveraging Reinforcement Learning (RL) to learn how to fly a Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (FW-UAV) under wind disturbances. From the skies to the road, I currently shifted my focus to the challenges of autonomous driving and I seek to transfer my experience in RL control to complex automotive environments.
My research interests are: robotics (aerial, wheeled, legged…), autonomy (through learning or classical control theory) and deep learning.
news
| Jan 05, 2026 | Started as a research scientist in the Autonomous Driving Solutions (ADS) project at Akkodis Research. |
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| Dec 17, 2025 | I have succesfully defended my PhD thesis titled “Reinforcement learning based control of a fixed-wing UAV under wind disturbances” at Paris-Saclay University. |
| Nov 26, 2025 | Together with my team “DRONERA”, we have won the 3rd Challenge of the Drone Defence Hackathon in Paris. We developed real-time fusion of thermal and 3D data to instantly identify threats and victims. |
selected publications
- Université Paris-Saclay, 2025