Work in progress!
Do not worry, fellow onlooker. Soon this portfolio will be booming with all the projects I have completed or that are in progress!!
Posts by Collection
portfolio
publications
TURTLE’s Low Cost, Open-Source Quadruped
Published in Texas Regional Robotics Symposium, 2024
Recommended citation: I. Lansdowne, Z. Bucknor-Smartt, J. Foltyn, J. Kong, M. Guttman, et. al “TURTLE’s Low Cost, Open-Source Quadruped”, Texas Regional Robotics Symposium, April 30th 2024
Formulating Controllers for Human Strength Amplification
Published in Texas Regional Robotics Symposium, 2024
Recommended citation: A. Petrakian, Z. Bucknor-Smartt, G. C Thomas, “Formulating Controllers for Human Strength Amplification”, Texas Regional Robotics Symposium, April 30th 2024
Direct User Control of Knee Exoskeletons (In progress thesis)
Published in Texas A&M University Theses Repository + IEEE-RAL in works!, 2025
This project aims to advance the field of assistive lower limb exoskeletons by developing a knee exoskeleton capable of direct user control. The proposed system introduces a novel control strategy that allows the user to manually operate the exoskeleton’s actuators via a human input device (HID), enabling real-time customization of torque profiles tailored to specific movements. This approach diverges from traditional methods, which optimize exoskeleton control based on metabolic cost or pre-programmed motion profiles, and instead prioritizes user comfort, adaptability, and responsiveness.
Recommended citation: Z. Bucknor-Smartt, J. Mustafa, W. Bannick, L. Graves, M. Korwani, G. C. Thomas, “Direct User Control of Lower Limb Assistive Exoskeletons”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, June 2025 (In progress) [Journal paper + undergraduate thesis]
Amplifying Human Strength Through a Virtual Sprung Inertia (Under Review)
Published in International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2025
While better known for their ability to work autonomously in structured tasks, robots have the potential to aid human workers in unstructured tasks via force control. More specifically, cobots and exoskeletons that physically interact with human operators can amplify human strength by feeding back measurements of their interaction forces, agnostic to the task the operator is performing. However, due to limited control bandwidth and coupled human–robot dynamics, naive force-feedback can easily result in instability similar to pilot-induced oscillation in planes.
Recommended citation: A. Petrakian, Z. Bucknor-Smartt, C. Scott, G. C Thomas, “Amplifying Human Strength Through a Virtual Sprung Inertia”, IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, May 12th, 2025 (Under Review) [Conference Paper]
talks
Prospective Student Presentation
Published:
Weekly talks focused towards providing information to prospective students on resources, classes, research opportunities, and personal anecdotes to showcase what A&M Mechanical Engineering entails.
An Introduction to Computer Vision: Object and Edge Detection
Published:
After my tenure at Rani Therapautics as a Robotics R&D Intern, where my job revolved around computer vision and control, I spent this seminar giving students all they needed to start their first projects in computer vision with OpenCV in Python. This included a math background, common methods, libraries, and image detecton and segmentation techniques with help of TensorFlow.
An Introduction to SolidWorks
Published:
In depth introduction aimed at Solidworks beginners focused around developing both the skills and mindset needed for effective solid design.
Amplifying Human Strength Through a Virtual Sprung Inertia
Published:
This talk focused on explaining my research to an audience of undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors in my field about the novelty of our strength amplification approach.
teaching
Mechanical Engineering Peer Teaching Association
Undergraduate Course Repository, Texas A&M University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2014
Author notes for courses in the mechanical engineering department, specifically with relation to my research interests.
Graduate Course Grader
MEEN 408/612: Mechanics of Robotic Manipulators, Texas A&M University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2025