Organizers
Robert Griffin, IHMC/Boardwalk Robotics
Robert is a Research Scientist at IHMC and focuses on improving mobility and autonomy for legged robotics and powered exoskeletons. He is interested in system level approaches for improving the mobility and capability of these robotic platforms, including platform design, motion design and control, autonomy and manipulation, and perception.
Robert leads the robotics group at IHMC, heading a number of projects focusing on advancing humanoid robots. This includes projects from Office of Naval Research, DEVCOM, and NASA Johnson Space Center, mostly centering around the development and advancement of a next generation humanoid robot called Nadia, which has a high power-to-weight ratio and large range of motion and will enable exploration and interaction with complex, dynamic, and unknown environments such as ships and urban settings. This requires improving the state of the art in legged locomotion, shared autonomy and control, perception, and robot design.
Robert is also heavily involved in the IHMC exoskeleton team, which is currently designing a novel exoskeleton to carry loads and protect the musculoskeletal system to assist DOE workers during nuclear remediation activities. Robert led the team in the recent 2020 Cybathlon Powered Exoskeleton Race, which is a competition for paralyzed athletes assisted by technology, where they placed fourth, and as a finalist in the Toyota Mobility Foundation’s Mobility Unlimited Challenge.
Youngwoo Sim, UIUC
Youngwoo Sim and is Ph.D student in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at University of Urbana-Champaign working with Joao Ramos. Previously, he did several research internships at robotics research labs in South Korea (SNU Biorobotics Lab, Koreatech IRIM, and NAVERLABS Robotics Group).
Youngwoo’s research interest is in creating more dynamic machines including humanoids, haptic devices and hand robots. He is focusing on developing design methodology of building agile yet practical humanoid robots. His goal is to find extremely efficient ways to explore vast design space and utilizing intuitions gained from those explorations.
Personally, he is amazed at the beauty of intricate machines working in harmony such as legged robots. His work is in pursuit of such beauty which a good mix of theory and engineering work. Please contact him if you want to build robots that surpass our imagination!
Josh Farina, IHMC
Josh is a mechanical engineer and research associate at IHMC focused on leading the mechanical development of the new Nadia humanoid robot platform. He earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical and electrical engineering from the University of West Florida in May 2021 joining the robot lab full-time soon after completing an internship under Dr. Robert Griffin and Dr. Jerry Pratt. He is also a master's student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute focusing on dynamic systems and controls.
Josh's primary research interests include the development and engineering of humanoid robotic platforms, composite materials implementation, low-backlash mechanism design, hydraulic actuator design, and actuator dynamics and control. His focus and approach's goal is to refine the process of cohesive robot design decisions relating to control intent along with actuator design. During his time at IHMC, there have been several opportunities to optimize several components of Nadia's design using practical optimization techniques.
His personal goal is to continually refine his skillset and coordinate with other's ideas to build the most capable humanoid robots of the future. This includes boxing humanoid robots, so please, feel free to reach out with any interest or points of discussion to him to build more amazing robots.