ARMLab People

Monroe Kennedy III is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and by courtesy, of Computer Science and a recipient of the NSF Faculty Early Career Award. His area of expertise is in collaborative robotics, specifically intent estimation for robot teaming and in dexterous robotic manipulation.

Matt Strong is a Computer Science PhD student in the ARMLab and a recipient of the NSF Graduate Fellowship. His interests are in building autonomy and perception for human-robot interaction through visual-tactile sensing and EEG brain interfaces. He previously worked at Microsoft as a Software Engineer, and before that was an undergraduate researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder under Professor Alessandro Roncone, where he worked on close-proximity human-robot interaction. In his free time, he likes to run, play basketball, and drive his Corolla.

Aiden is a Ph.D. student in the ARMLab in Mechanical Engineering and a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Stanford Graduate Fellowship. Broadly, his research interests are dextrous manipulation, neural object state representations, and next-generation optical touch sensors for robotics. Aiden previously conducted research on safety-critical control for high-speed quadcopters in the AMBER lab at Caltech. Outside of research, Aiden loves camping, running, and watching F1.

Jinho So is a Ph.D. student in the ARMLAB in Mechanical Engineering. He is interested in tactile sensing, dexterous manipulation, and utilizing robots in industrial areas for both safety and efficiency. He worked at Samsung Electronics on adapting robots for the automation of hazardous tasks.

Max Burns is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering and a recipient of the NSF and Stanford Graduate Research Fellowships. He is interested in developing intelligent lower limb exoskeletons to improve the mobility of people suffering from balance or gait impairments. Max’s previous research with the MIT Newman Laboratory used an instrumented walking cane to estimate postural sway velocity in older adults.

Shalika Neelaveni is a Mechanical Engineering PhD student in the ARMLab and the recipient of the Stanford Graduate Fellowship. She is interested in exploring smart materials for applications in power, sensing, and actuation to improve robot dexterity. Her previous research included developing a soft tactile sensor for soft robotic grippers as an undergraduate researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, under Professor Kevin Turner. Outside of the lab, she loves to aimlessly walk around new cities, lift at the gym, and wear her Crocs.

Maisha Khanum is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering and a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. She is interested in perception-based planning and adaptive control strategies to enhance the functionality of exoskeletons in complex, real-world terrains. She previously worked on icy surface locomotion in the Extreme Environment Robotics Group at JPL and fully actuated robotic hands in the AMBER lab at Caltech. Outside of the lab, Maisha enjoys working on art projects and building knock-off Legos.

Judith Brown is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering and a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Her background is in nonlinear dynamics and mechanics and her research interests focus on utilizing neuromorphic computing for robotic control and manipulation.

Ankush is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering. Ankush recieved is B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University specializing in Information Systems and Physical Technology. He is interested in electromechanical systems, hardware design, and robotics, and enjoys making and designing things from the ground up. With the ARMLab, he is working on advancing tactile sensing for robotic manipulation.

Yunxin Fan is a master's student in Mechanical Engineering. Her background was in robot locomotion control. Now she is interested in autonomous driving systems.

Belle is a master’s student in Electrical Engineering, specializing in software and hardware systems. She is interested in advancing prostheses and assistive technologies, particularly in the neuroengineering space.

Andrew Pasco is an M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering. He is interested in human-robot interaction, teleoperation for robot learning, and dexterous manipulation. In his free time, Andrew enjoys running, cycling, and watching the Jets.

Julien's academic interests lie mainly in dexterous robotic manipulation and he has previously researched tactile sensing for robotic hands. Outside of research, he enjoys going to the gym, running and cycling.

Ahmed is a Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate specializing in Dynamic Systems and Controls. He is interested in human-robot interactions, soft robotics, and design for accessibility and sustainability.

Angelina is a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student specializing in Robotics and Automation. She is interested in soft robotics, human-centered design, and sustainability. Within the ARMLab, she is working on using the DenseTact for dexterous manipulation tasks in agricultural robotics. During her free time, she enjoys baking, crocheting, and playing music.

Ethan is a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate specializing in Dynamic Systems and Controls. He is interested in robotics, mechatronics, and sustainability. Outside of the lab, Ethan enjoys playing sports and different instruments.

Denzel is a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate specializing in Dynamic Systems and Controls. He's interested in robotic dexterity, assistive technology, and applying engineering to solve sustainability problems. In his free time, he loves cooking, reading comic books, and collecting LEGO sets.

Ayaan is a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate specializing in Robotics and Automation and a coterminal master’s student in Computer Science. He is interested in robotic perception, teleoperation, and the application of robotics in assistive technology. In his free time, he enjoys swimming, playing pickleball, and fishing.

Benji is an Electrical Engineering undergraduate interested in robotics, embedded systems, and machine learning. He enjoys building intelligent robotic systems that combine hardware, control, and software, and is particularly interested in robot manipulation, autonomy, and real-world deployment.

Gabriel is an Electrical Engineer undergraduate interested in robotics, embedded systems, and PCB design. Within the ARMlab, he is working on a prosthetic hand system that uses computer vision to enable autonomous object interaction. In his free time, he loves playing the cello and sports.

Jacob is an undergraduate interested in robotics, mechatronics, and robot autonomy. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis, being outdoors, and reading.

Graduated in 2025, PhD. Thesis title "Improving Robotic Dexterity With Optical Tactile Sensor DenseTact".

Graduated 2026 PhD. Knight Hennessay scholar and Wu Tsai Performance Alliance fellow. Thesis title "Task Space Approaches to Simplify the Operation of Robotic Upper Limb Prostheses"

Graduated 2026 PhD. NSF GRFP recipient. Thesis title "Augmented Interfaces for Non-expert Robotic Teleoperation and Human-Robot Interaction".

Graduated 2026 PhD. Thesis title "Learning for Long-Horizon Humanoid Autonomy".

Graduated 2023, PhD. NSF GRFP reciepient. Thesis title "Long-Horizon Prediction for Human-Robot Collaboration".