Software Engineer
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Dirk Thomas is the maintainer of the ROS core packages including the build system catkin, message generation, the communication layer as well as the C++ and Python client libraries. Before he joined OSRF, Dirk was at Willow Garage focused on the development of catkin and the graphical user interface framework rqt as well as enhancing the ROS infrastructure. He will apply his experience with robotics middleware and software design and engineering skills to improve the state of the art of open source robotics.
Dirk received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany in 2010. His research has been focused on robotic middleware design and efficient communication. During his studies he has been an active member of the RoboCup community and participated in numerous competitions been 2003 and 2010 in the Standard Platform League as well as the Humanoid KidSize League.