Full-stack ownership of a mobile robot platform, with primary focus on developing RSL-RL policies to replace a model-based QP/IK posture controller, closing the sim-to-real gap and validating outdoors on untrained terrain.
Benchmarked reactive, recurrent and teacher-distilled architectures under one reward and observation contract; direct RL trained the recurrent policy to deployment without the two-stage distillation pipeline, cutting a stage from the standard approach.
Research
Self-Stabilizing Penguin-inspired Bipedal Robot for Low-Friction Slopes
May 2025 – Present
Research Assistant, Robomechanics Lab · PI: Prof. Aaron Johnson
Modeled and fabricated a 3D model of a 5-DOF bipedal robot in SolidWorks, implementing a crank-link leg extension system capturing macaroni penguin biological inertial properties for energy-efficient waddling.
Developed a CPG-RL framework to create stable, biomimetic walking gaits; integrated closed-chain constraints to optimize locomotion on low-friction, inclined surfaces.
Developed digital twins in MuJoCo and NVIDIA Isaac Lab to validate contact-rich dynamics and closed-loop control policies in challenging environments.
Developed an experimental testbed for evaluating locomotion; conducted motion-capture experiments on viscous and slippery substrates.
→ Target: Co-first author, ICRA 2027 (Seoul) · Co-first-author workshop, ICRA 2026 (Vienna)
Design and Control for Mugatu: A Minimally-Actuated Steerable Bipedal Robot
Dec 2023 – Present
Research Assistant, Robomechanics Lab · PI: Prof. Aaron Johnson
Engineered a PID attitude controller for the first steerable single-motor biped, enabling directional control.
Conducted 2D contact dynamics analysis in MATLAB to investigate limit cycle stability and optimize gait efficiency.
Validated non-linear dynamics and steering manifolds using Drake and MuJoCo to bridge theoretical stability, simulation, and physical execution.
Hybrid Locomotion for Unitree Go2-W in Agriculture Environments
Jan 2026 – Present
Course Project · Robotics & AI for Agriculture · Profs. George Kantor & Francisco Yandun
Implementing a PPO-based RL policy in NVIDIA Isaac Lab for adaptive wheel-leg switching on the Go2-W.
Training robust navigation in procedurally generated off-road terrains with multi-crop row constraints.
MPPI-Based Autonomous High-Speed Drone Racing
Jan 2026 – Present
Course Project · Mobile Robots · Prof. Wennie Tabib
Developed an MPPI controller for a 17-state quadrotor model to achieve real-time, aggressive gate navigation.
Optimized trajectories in PyBullet by sampling control inputs to balance high velocity and collision avoidance.
Sim-to-Real RL: Autonomous Quadrotor Landing
Aug 2025 – Jan 2026
Course Project · Robot Learning · Prof. Guanya Shi
Synthesized a PPO controller with 4096 parallel agents; designed a curriculum-learning scheme with exp reward scaling for precision landing on moving targets (<4 cm error).
Mitigated the sim-to-real gap via domain randomization — 96% success rate on Crazyflie 2.1+ hardware.
MPC-based Gait Transition for Unitree A1
Jan 2024 – May 2024
Course Project · Optimal Control and Reinforcement Learning · Prof. Zachary Manchester
Developed a RL and LQR-based controller for seamless transitions between 3 distinct gaits within 2 seconds.
Optimized multi-contact locomotion using contact-implicit trajectory optimization in MuJoCo.
Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Suspension System
Jan 2024 – May 2024
Designed suspension system in SolidWorks and fabricated prototype with integrated pneumatic actuation.
Conducted pneumatic pressure analysis in MATLAB and ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA) to evaluate damping performance and structural integrity under dynamic loading conditions.
Publications
N. Oke, A. Carter, B. Gu, et al. "Allometric Scaling Laws for Bipedal Robots."
Submitted, IROS 2026 · arXiv:2603.22560
N. Oke*, B. Gu*, et al. "Penguin-inspired Biped for Low-Friction Slopes."
Workshop, ICRA 2026 (Vienna) · Accepted
B. Gu*, et al. "Self-Stabilizing Penguin-inspired Bipedal Locomotion."
In preparation — ICRA 2027 (Seoul)
* Denotes equal contribution (co-first author).
Skills
Programming
PythonC++CMATLABJuliaAssemblyBashLaTeX
Robotics & Sim
Isaac LabMuJoCoDrakeMJPCDojoROS2PPODQNCPGLQRMPCMPPI