Ph.D.
Robotics · University of Michigan
Selected Highlights
Lead
Control Engineer · Shift Robotics
10+
Peer-reviewed publications
50+
Journal & conference review assignments
IKEA deployment
Moonwalkers · warehouse environments
Robotic footwear deployed in warehouse operations.
Robotic footwear
Deployment / Product validation
IROS ’23
Top research award
Best Student Paper Award · powered prosthesis transitions.
Gait transition
Human trials
T-RO ’25
First-author journal paper
Intent recognition and adaptation in flagship robotics publication.
Real-time ML
ICF
About
Research → deployment
I make wearable robots less robotic.
My work sits between human movement, real-time control, and product-level reliability.
I build systems that sense how people move, infer what they are trying to do, and assist at the right moment without making the user think about the robot.
The hard part is not making a robot move. The hard part is making it understand when to help, when to stay quiet, and how to recover when the real world does not match the lab.
The goal is not just to make the robot impressive. The goal is to make the user feel more capable.
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Read the situation, not just the sensors
Human movement is noisy and context-dependent. Intent has to be inferred from motion, contact, terrain, and timing together.
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Assist only when it helps
Assistance should arrive at the right moment, and stay unobtrusive when the user is already moving well.
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Design for the full system
Control logic, embedded constraints, hardware behavior, and safety checks have to work together.
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Prove it outside the lab
Models and bench tests are starting points. The real question is whether the behavior stays reliable across users, surfaces, and use cases.
Selected Work
Industry
ShiftOS: Real-Time Control for Moonwalkers Robotic Footwear
Sensing and control behaviors that turn foot motion into smooth robotic assistance.
Contribution: Lead control and sensing development for ShiftOS, including gait detection, terrain-aware behavior, adaptive braking, safety logic, and product validation.
ShiftOS
Gait sensing
Embedded control
Product validation
Research
Phase-Variable Control for Continuous Locomotion Transitions
IEEE TNSRE 2024 · IROS 2023 Best Student Paper Award
Making wearable locomotion controllers transition smoothly between walking and stairs instead of relying on abrupt mode switching.
Contribution: Built and validated the CVT controller, including OST comparison, delay analysis, and human-subject testing.
Phase-variable control
Stairs
Human trials
Research
Interpretable Intent Recognition for Wearable Robots
IEEE T-RO 2025
Turning thigh-motion features into real-time activity recognition for walking, stairs, ramps, and transitions.
Contribution: Built ICF-based intent recognition and extended it to ambilateral sensing and continuous adaptation.
Intent recognition
ICF
Real-time ML
Research
Environment-Aware Safety Reflexes for Wearable Robots
IEEE TBME 2024 · Featured Article
A reactive safety layer that adjusts foot motion before stairs or obstacles become a trip risk.
Contribution: Built the toe-stub prediction and trajectory-reshaping safety layer for prosthesis swing control.
Safety
Toe-stub avoidance
Safety-aware control
Research
Low-Data Personalization for Wearable Robot Intent Prediction
IEEE RA-L 2024
Adapting intent-recognition models to new users without requiring large subject-specific datasets.
Contribution: We developed a CNN/FCN transfer-learning strategy for adapting intent models to new users with limited data.
Transfer learning
Intent prediction
Cross-user
Experience
Selected roles
(2025–Present)
Shift Robotics
Lead Control Engineer
- Developing balance-aware control for uneven-terrain stability
- Hybrid walking modes with seamless and low-latency transitions
- Motion-capture lab + dataset pipeline for learning-based control
(2024–2025)
Shift Robotics
Gait Control Engineer
- ShiftOS 3.0 / 3.1 firmware and embedded deployment
- EKF-based terrain estimation and low-latency user-intent recognition
(2019–2024)
University of Michigan
Ph.D. Researcher
- Multi-activity prosthesis control and activity transitions
- Interpretable ML-based intent recognition and cross-user adaptation
- Environmental sensing for obstacle-avoidance safety interventions
The Hidden Engineering in a Step
Every step is a real-time control problem. The robot must sense motion, infer intent, and assist at exactly the right moment.
Tap a phase to see what the controller is estimating.
Gait Cycle
One stride = 0% → 100%
Controller's Thinking
Understand
Evaluate
Ensure Safety
Decide
Live Signals
Real-time
At a Glance
Human Motion
Robot Senses
Controller Asks
Gait-phase terminology follows clinical convention. Wearable robotics concepts draw from real-time prosthetic and exoskeleton control research. See Projects →
Updates & Milestones
Recent launches, papers, and milestones
- 🚀 Launch April 2026 Moonwalkers Aero, powered in part by my sensing and control work, has been deployed in IKEA warehouse operations.
- 📄 Publication Apr 2026 Paper "Controlling Powered Prosthesis Joint Impedance Over Continuous Stance Transitions Between Walking and Stair Ascent/Descent" published in IEEE TNSRE. View project →
- 🎓 Milestone Sep 2025 Built a 20-camera motion-capture and Bertec treadmill lab, now leading control and sensing development using the facility.
- 📄 Publication Jul 2025 Paper "Vibrotactile Haptic and Gesture Feedback in a Smartwatch for Controlling a Multi-Activity Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis" published at IEEE EMBC 2025. View project →
- 🎓 Milestone May 2025 Appointed Lead Control Engineer at Shift Robotics, leading control and sensing for Moonwalkers' wheeled robotic footwear platform.
- 📄 Publication Feb 2025 Paper "Ambilateral Activity Recognition and Continuous Adaptation With a Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis" published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics. View project →
- 📄 Publication Oct 2024 Paper "Controlling Powered Prosthesis Kinematics Over Continuous Inter-Leg Transitions Between Walking and Stair Ascent/Descent" published in IEEE TNSRE. View project →
- 🎓 Milestone Jun 2024 Successfully defended Ph.D. dissertation: "Controlling a Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis During Continuous and Automatic Transitions Between Activities."
- 📄 Publication Mar 2024 Paper "Transfer Learning for Efficient Intent Prediction in Lower-Limb Prosthesis" published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. View project →
- 📄 Publication Dec 2023 Paper "Automatic Stub Avoidance for a Powered Prosthetic Leg Over Stairs and Obstacles" published in IEEE TBME. View project →
- 🏆 Award Oct 2023 Received the IROS 2023 Best Student Paper Award for work on continuous transition control of powered prostheses.
- 📄 Publication Oct 2023 Paper "Controlling Powered Prosthesis Kinematics over Continuous Transitions Between Walk and Stair Ascent" published at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2023. View project →
- 📄 Publication Oct 2023 Paper "Improving Amputee Endurance Over Activities of Daily Living with a Robotic Knee-Ankle Prosthesis: A Case Study" published at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2023. View project →
- 🏆 Award Apr 2023 Awarded the Rackham Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan.
- 📄 Publication Jun 2022 Paper "Modeling the Transitional Kinematics Between Variable-Incline Walking and Stair Climbing" published in IEEE T-MRB. View project →
- 📄 Publication Aug 2021 First paper Paper "Real-Time Activity Recognition With Instantaneous Characteristic Features of Thigh Kinematics" published in IEEE TNSRE. View related project →
- 🎓 Milestone May 2021 Earned dual M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics from the University of Michigan.
- 🏆 Award Dec 2018 Senior Design project received the Malott Innovation Award, Purdue University.
- 🎓 Milestone Dec 2018 Graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with Distinction, with minors in Mathematics and Economics.
Education & Awards
Education, awards, and recognition
Education & Awards
- Ph.D. Robotics, University of Michigan (2019–2024) · LocoLab, advised by Prof. Robert D. Gregg
- M.S. Mechanical Engineering & M.S. Robotics, University of Michigan (2019–2021)
- B.S. Mechanical Engineering (Distinction), Purdue University (2015–2018)
Awards & Recognition
- IROS 2023 Best Student Paper Award
- Rackham Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan
- Malott Innovation Award, Purdue University
Contact
Let's connect
Interested in wearable robotics, locomotion control, or human-centered robotic systems? Feel free to reach out.