2025 - present

LLUME

Embedded Firmware Engineer

LLUME
Short summary: Leading firmware architectural design and implementation for RTOS-based, high-performance embedded electronic systems.

2022 - 2025

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY USA

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Cornell University
Short summary: Conducting cutting-edge research at the intersection of embedded sensing, control systems, electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, and materials science.

2017 - 2021

University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, USA

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (GPA 3.95)

Embedded Sensing and Control for High Speed Electro-hydraulic Soft Robots.
Soft robotics is a field of robotic system design characterized by materials and structures that exhibit large-scale deformation, high compliance, and rich multifunctionality. The incorporation of soft and deformable structures endows soft robotic systems with the compliance and resiliency that makes them well-adapted for unstructured and dynamic environments. While actuation mechanisms for soft robots vary widely, soft electrostatic transducers such as dielectric elastomer actuators and electro-hydraulic actuators have demonstrated promise due to their muscle-like performance. Despite significant leaps in design and modeling of electro-hydraulic actuators thus far, the applications based on these novel actuators are often limited to tethered systems that require bulky and high-cost external sensors and controllers. To address the mentioned shortcomings, this body of research has enabled embedded perception and intelligence to electromechanical systems driven by electro-hydraulic actuators, by (i) developing capacitive self-sensing and magnetic sensing techniques to estimate shape changes of electro-hydraulic actuators in real-time; (ii) designing, modeling, and implementing a controller for a mobile soft robot driven by electro-hydraulic actuators; and (iii) proposing a contact force estimator for the robot using an onboard inertial measurement unit and magnetic displacement sensors. This work represents a substantial step to bring soft robotics closer to practical, real-world applications.

2015 - 2017

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA

B.Sc. with highest honors in Mechanical Engineering (GPA 3.89)

Evaluation of 3D-printed soft fingertip grasping ability for variable fingertips' design parameters

Patents

• Tissue ablation for plant transformation. (Provisional Application No 63/709,087).
• Capacitive Self-sensing for Electrostatic Transducers with High Voltage Isolation. (US Patent App. 17/928,453.).
• Embedded Magnetic Sensing Method for Soft Actuators. (US Patent App. 17/746,427.).

Reviewer

• Science Robotics
• Nature Communications
• Advanced Materials
• Soft Robotics
• International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
• Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
• Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS)
• IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
• IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
• IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)

Teaching Assistant Experience

• Fall 2018 - MCEN 4043 System Dynamics
• Fall 2020 - MCEN 2063 Solid Mechanics

Research Mentoring

• 2023 - Grace Shirota (B.SC.) - Title: Laser ablation for tomato plant transformation.
• 2022 - Lizzette Corrales (B.SC.) - Title: Design and characterization of a small-scale wave tank.
• 2020 - Kyle Martinaitis (B.SC.) - Title: Characterization and Model Validation for the Electro-hydraulic Rolling Soft Robot.
• 2019 - Jatin Mayekar (M.S.) - Title: Design and Modeling of Electro-hydraulic Rolling Soft Robot.
• 2018 - Dade McMorris (B.SC.) - Title: Self-sensing of High Voltage Electrostatic Actuators .

Theoretical Knowledge:

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