I am a robotics engineer at Boston Dynamics, where I write realtime control software in C++ for the Atlas humanoid robot.
During my first few years at Boston Dynamics I was on the team that implemented the whole-body model-predictive controller that enabled the hydraulic Atlas to do parkour (Atlas | Partners in Parkour, Atlas Gets a Grip).
More recently, I led the team that ported our control software to the electric Atlas robot, and ran extensive hardware experiments on the prototype robot and actuators. As part of this project we did a ground-up redesign for large sections of the control software architecture, specifically focusing on using modern best-practices to produce robust and maintainable software that is easy to test. This architecture is now used by the entire Atlas controls team and runs the fully electric Atlas robot: Atlas Goes Hands On.
At Rethink Robotics I developed the software that generates whole-robot trajectories for Sawyer, focusing on minimum-time trajectories with tight kinematic constraints, enabling the robot to quickly and smoothly execute user-defined tasks.
My graduate work at Cornell focused on nonlinear controller design for robots with interesting dynamics, advised by Professor Andy Ruina. I also developed an interest in numerical methods, especially those used for simulation, control, and optimization. I enjoy writing tutorials and teaching.
I received both a M.S. (2014) and Ph.D. (2016) in mechanical engineering, with a minor in computer science.
My dissertation had two major projects. The first project was writing my own trajectory optimization software, along with a long tutorial paper on trajectory optimization. The second project was developing a robust walking controller and implementing it on the Cornell Ranger walking robot.
I completed my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University in 2011, along with a minor in music. I did my honors thesis project with professor Tom James, where I designed, built, and tested a new type of bone saw. I also did a research project in robotics, jointly advised by Chris Rogers and Gareth McKinley, developing a non-linear controller for a fluid mechanics testing robot.
I grew up in a small town near the Catskill Mountains in New York and have lived in various places around the northeast USA since then. Now I live outside of Boston with my wife and our young children.
Carpentry and woodworking has always been a hobby of mine -- I designed and built two different chicken coops (one has a full garden on the roof!) and a greenhouse from salvaged windows. On the wood lathe I've created ~100 toy tops and many bowls. I've also built many tables and bookshelves. One particularly interesting project was building a trebuchet with a one ton counterweight.
I'm also interested in gardening, hiking, cooking, and contra dancing.
Recently I've become interested in the Rust programming language, which I'm teaching myself by writing a library for rendering high-quality images of fractals. It includes an "explore mode", which renders the images live inside of a GUI that allows the user to pan and zoom with keyboard and mouse controls.