Eric Kevin Wang

Eric Kevin Wang is a PhD candidate whose robotics research focuses on real-time reactive control to advance efficient and natural, autonomous manipulation. Specifically, Eric seeks to develop efficient ways for robots to transport objects through dynamic, nonprehensile movement and remove the inefficiencies of traditional quasistatic models of manipulation. This involves creating new techniques for geometric modeling of dynamic frictional interaction that are amenable to fast trajectory optimization and robust control. With the support of his second MathWorks Fellowship, Eric will continue his efforts to create a new robot arm that is more dynamic and has lower control latency than currently available hardware and develop simulations to demonstrate feedforward acceleration control from an inertial model that can enable these dynamic tasks. MATLAB tools are a core component of this research. By improving robots’ ability to successfully perform difficult dynamic transport tasks, such as throwing, catching, and inverting an object, all while keeping it safely within grasp, Eric’s research has the potential to support major advances in robotics, with broad benefits for industry and the scientific community.