diff --git a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.cpp b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.cpp
index 5f2f2d7d4..b808a973c 100644
--- a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.cpp
@@ -102,6 +102,18 @@ void NonlinearOptimizer::defaultOptimize() {
     cout << "Terminating because reached maximum iterations" << endl;
 }
 
+/* ************************************************************************* */
+const Values& NonlinearOptimizer::optimizeSafely() {
+	static const Values empty;
+	try {
+		defaultOptimize();
+		return values();
+	} catch (...) {
+		// uncaught exception, returning empty result
+		return empty;
+	}
+}
+
 /* ************************************************************************* */
 bool checkConvergence(double relativeErrorTreshold, double absoluteErrorTreshold,
     double errorThreshold, double currentError, double newError,
@@ -143,6 +155,7 @@ bool checkConvergence(double relativeErrorTreshold, double absoluteErrorTreshold
 	}
 	return converged;
 }
+/* ************************************************************************* */
 
 
 }
diff --git a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.h b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.h
index 8a7670f85..44b352938 100644
--- a/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.h
+++ b/gtsam/nonlinear/NonlinearOptimizer.h
@@ -175,6 +175,22 @@ Values::const_shared_ptr result = DoglegOptimizer(graph, initialValues, params).
  */
 class NonlinearOptimizer {
 
+protected:
+
+  NonlinearFactorGraph graph_;
+
+  /** A default implementation of the optimization loop, which calls iterate()
+   * until checkConvergence returns true.
+   */
+  void defaultOptimize();
+
+  virtual const NonlinearOptimizerState& _state() const = 0;
+
+  virtual const NonlinearOptimizerParams& _params() const = 0;
+
+  /** Constructor for initial construction of base classes. */
+  NonlinearOptimizer(const NonlinearFactorGraph& graph) : graph_(graph) {}
+
 public:
 
   /** A shared pointer to this class */
@@ -194,10 +210,21 @@ public:
    */
   virtual const Values& optimize() { defaultOptimize(); return values(); }
 
+	/**
+	 * Optimize, but return empty result if any uncaught exception is thrown
+	 * Intended for MATLAB. In C++, use above and catch exceptions.
+	 * No message is printed: it is up to the caller to check the result
+	 * @param optimizer a non-linear optimizer
+	 */
+	const Values& optimizeSafely();
+
+	/// return error
   double error() const { return _state().error; }
 
+  /// return number of iterations
   unsigned int iterations() const { return _state().iterations; }
 
+  /// return values
   const Values& values() const { return _state().values; }
 
   /// @}
@@ -215,23 +242,6 @@ public:
   virtual void iterate() = 0;
 
   /// @}
-
-protected:
-
-  NonlinearFactorGraph graph_;
-
-  /** A default implementation of the optimization loop, which calls iterate()
-   * until checkConvergence returns true.
-   */
-  void defaultOptimize();
-
-  virtual const NonlinearOptimizerState& _state() const = 0;
-
-  virtual const NonlinearOptimizerParams& _params() const = 0;
-
-  /** Constructor for initial construction of base classes. */
-  NonlinearOptimizer(const NonlinearFactorGraph& graph) : graph_(graph) {}
-
 };
 
 /** Check whether the relative error decrease is less than relativeErrorTreshold,