Control
Model-based controller design, from the linearised model to the tuned controller on the robot.
// robotics · control · embedded systems
Luca Obwegs
Control Engineer at Hilti · M.Sc. Mechatronics & Robotics (TUM)
Based in Buchs SG, Switzerland
I take controllers from simulation to reliable real-time code on resource-constrained hardware.
2 patent applications filed 5 industrial prototypes at Hilti IEEE World Haptics WIP
T-01 · 2023Hydraulic Exoskeleton
P-09 · 2026tiny vario
P-07 · 20243D Printed Drone
P-06 · 2023Balancing Robot
P-03 · 2023Bilateral Teleoperation
P-02 · 20226 DOF Robotic Arm
P-08Two-Axis Robotic Platform
P-04 · 2023Torque-Sensing Actuator
P-01 · 2020Variometer
P-10MicroDuck RLComing soon
I-01 · 2023Via EurekaU-02 · KAISTAutonomous Ball Collection Robot
U-01 · TUMVision-Based Autonomous Drone
Personal project
Thesis
University course project
Select a hexagon to open or locate a project
about.md
Hey! I'm Luca Obwegs from Italy. I love robots, climbing and learning new things.
I work as a control engineer in the Mechatronics and Robotics Systems Laboratory at Hilti in Liechtenstein, where I have contributed control software to five robotic and mechatronic prototypes – from modelling and simulation to the implementation on the target hardware and testing on the real system.
In my spare time I build robots, drones and flight instruments from scratch – from the CAD model and the PCB to the embedded software and the control algorithms. What I enjoy most is the step from a controller that works in simulation to one that runs reliably on real, resource-constrained hardware.
Feel free to get in touch or take a look at my work below.
- Control theory
- Embedded systems
- Robotics
- State estimation
- 3D printing & CAD
- Climbing
languages
- Germanfluent
- Italianfluent
- Englishfluent
- Ladinfluent
- 10Engineering projects & thesis
- 5Industrial prototypes at Hilti
- 2Patent applications filed
01 // career & education
Career & Education
Earlier experience
Mechanical-engineering high school diploma, hands-on electrical assembly and soldering, plus summer internships at M2 Railtech working on mechatronic prototypes, microcontrollers and PCB design.
02 // skills
What I work with
Hands-on embedded control and hardware testing, alongside research and simulation methods. Project pages distinguish implemented features from experiments and planned work. Algorithm familiarity is not a claim that every method has been deployed on hardware.
State estimation
Fusing noisy sensors into states a controller can rely on.
Software
Control code that is readable, tested and runs on the real system.
Embedded systems
Real-time control loops on microcontrollers, close to the sensors and actuators.
Robotics & simulation
Modelling mechanisms and testing controllers before they touch the hardware.
Hardware
Building the prototypes myself, so the software has something to run on.
03 // personal projects
Personal Projects
Selected engineering work, ordered by robotics-control relevance rather than publication date. University coursework and personal interests are listed separately; confidential professional projects are not included.
Balancing Robot
A 500 Hz STM32 balancing robot: LQR with pitch and wheel-encoder Kalman filters validated on hardware; PID/LQR controller comparison studied in simulation.
View projectPhantom robot - Bilateral Teleoperation Control
Bilateral force/position control with induced communication delay, time-domain passivity and adaptive inverse-dynamics control – MATLAB/Simulink simulation and hardware experiments at KAIST.
View projectDevelopment of a Mobile Hydraulic Lower Limb Exoskeleton
My TUM master's thesis: I redesigned and built a mobile, hydraulically actuated right-leg exoskeleton, implemented joint position control and tested tracking precision and hydraulic efficiency on the prototype.
View projectTwo-Axis Robotic Platform
A two-axis tracking prototype and simulation with detailed stepper-servo modelling, sensor fusion and delayed-measurement compensation.
View project6 DOF Robotic Arm
A fully 3D-printed six-axis robot arm inspired by the ABB IRB 1100 – stepper drives, numerical inverse kinematics, a teach-in GUI and a separate ROS 2 command publisher.
View project3D Printed Drone
A custom STM32 quadrotor controller: IMU-to-PWM embedded control, plus a separate MATLAB study of PID, LQR, constrained MPC and aided navigation EKF.
View projecttiny vario
A 16 × 16 × 13 mm, 5.51 g flight instrument: custom four-layer PCB, STM32 firmware and a barometer/IMU estimator turn vertical movement into audible climb cues.
View projectVariometer
A paragliding variometer built from scratch around an ESP8266, with GPS, barometer, accelerometer and Kalman-filter sensor fusion.
View projectActuator for Torque and Position Control
A custom robot actuator designed to measure torque, position and velocity – the building block for a force-controlled 3-DOF robot.
View projectMicroDuck Reinforcement Learning
An upcoming build of the open-source MicroDuck biped, focused on learning reinforcement learning, locomotion training and the path from simulation to real hardware.
View project04 // publications & IP
Publications & Intellectual Property
Publications
S. Groß, L. Obwegs, J. Li, T. Spiegeler Castañeda, A. Ganguly, C. Piazza, and S. Haddadin, Transforming Tactile Interfaces: Tri-Axis Force Sensor for Sensory Signal Processing, work-in-progress contribution accepted at IEEE World Haptics 2023, Delft.
Intellectual Property
Stop Assist for SID – data-driven automated stopping controller for assisting operators in driving screws. Patent filed (2025P00312EP); 50% contribution. This patent resulted in an industrialization project and customer acceptance tests.
Additional Hilti patent application filed; details withheld pending clearance.
05 // university coursework
University Course Projects
Selected hands-on projects completed as part of robotics and autonomous-systems courses.
Autonomous Ball Collection Robot
A ROS-based differential-drive robot that mapped an unknown environment, found a visual goal, collected a magnetic red ball and delivered it autonomously.
Vision-Based Autonomous Drone
A simulated autonomous drone that used its camera to map a Unity environment and navigate to a goal through a ROS perception, planning and control pipeline.
06 // personal interests
Outside the Lab
Climbing in the Dolomites
In 2023, Lucas and I opened Via Eureka: an eight-pitch route on Lagazuoi. Climbing is a personal interest, separate from my engineering work.
Explore Via Eureka Climbing log & personal goals