Hi, I’m Markus!

I work at the intersection of control theory, distributed AI, and physical robotics. I'm currently a Research Scientist in AI & Simulation at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) in Kjeller, developing AI architectures grounded in physics-based world models and integrated with high-fidelity simulators.

Before returning to research, I spent two decades as an R&D engineer and technical lead building autonomous systems for production - industrial manipulators and safety systems at ABB, real-time ROS 2 interfaces at Yaskawa, autonomous drilling robots at Canrig Robotics (two US patents), and deepwater control systems for Equinor and General Electric. As a postdoc at Heriot-Watt University's Ocean Systems Lab, I was lead software architect for the UNITE project, field-testing a full autonomous ROS 2 fleet - ASV, tethered AUV, and manipulator - with Fugro.

My current research spans multi-agent world models for autonomy (UROSA), whole-body model-predictive control and manipulation (AHMP), and tether-aware planning in GPS-denied environments, all validated through digital twins and hardware-in-the-loop testing before anything goes in the water.

Outside the lab, I’m usually on a bike - clearing my head and putting in the kilometers.

Explore my code, project portfolio, and research and publications. Email me to discuss collaboration or supervision.