About Me

I am a first year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. I am completing my PhD under Dr. Gray Thomas at the Human-Empowering Robotics and Control Laboratory. My research focuses on software and controls engineering for multi-contact robotic systems, with an emphasis on locomotion and manipulation under uncertainty. I work toward developing control frameworks that are both theoretically sound and physically grounded, accounting for robot dynamics, actuator limits, thermal behavior, and environmental interaction.

My philosophy centers on uniting model-based and data-driven approaches through structured representations of motion, such as motion primitives and phase-based planners. I view models as integral to understanding and predicting robot behavior, while learning serves as a complementary tool to adapt or tune those models in unstructured conditions. Through this perspective, I aim to create intelligent control systems that combine the rigor of dynamics and control theory with the adaptability of modern learning techniques, enabling robust and interpretable performance in complex, contact-rich environments.

Primary Research Interests

• Loco-manipulation: Developing algorithms for series elastic multi-dof robots to navigate and interact with their environment.
• Legged Locomotion: Interested in planning and control for legged robots to enable stable, efficient movement across various terrains.
• Intelligent Manipulation: Applying optimization, control theory, and machine learning to enhance robot agility.

Seconday Research Interests

• Exoskeleton Control: Investigating direct user control lower limb knee exoskeletons.
• Bayesian State Estimation: Leveraging probabilistic methods to improve robot perception and decision-making.
• Machine Learning in Robotics: Using advanced machine learning techniques for gesture recognition, intent prediction, and adaptive control.

Awards and Honors

• Aviles-Johnson University Research Fellow
  Highly competitive university wide fellowship with the aim of bringing/retaining talent to Texas A&M.
• Undergraduate Research Scholar (2024-2025)
  Recognized for contributions to robotics research.
• 2nd Place, Los Alamos National Laboratories Aggies Invent (2024)
  Designed a teleoperation automation system for nuclear waste management.
• Best Presentation, Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium
  Honored for presentation skills as they related to my contributions to human strength amplification.
• Presenter, Texas Regional Robotics Symposium (2024)
  Presented on human strength amplification and low-cost quadruped design.
• Lou & CC Burton ‘42 Scholarship
• Kyle M Richter ‘10 Endowed Scholarship
• Karen & Richard Jackson 80 II Scholarship
• TAMU Foundation Excellence Award
• William Triche & Homer Triche Scholarship

Hobbies outside of my passion for cool robots

• Hiking: If I am not in the lab I am on a hike, this world is just too big and beautiful to look at pictures of it.
• MMA/Kickboxing: Very intellectually demanding sport, I find joy in it.
• Fitness: Staying active through lifting, very good for the brain on an early morning. Cant do research in a place called the Human-Empowering Robotics and Control Lab and not be an empowered human!
• Gaming: Playing strategy and simulation games to relax. Ends up being not so relaxing.

Contact

Feel free to reach out to me via my school email, personal email or connect with me on LinkedIn.