Robotics systems, teams, and infrastructure across space robotics, autonomous vehicles, home and assistive robotics, and agricultural automation.

I’ve spent my career working in the messy middle between robotics research and systems that have to operate reliably in the real world.

How I create leverage

Across roles, I’ve tended to create leverage in a few recurring ways:

• Turning ambiguous robotics work into executable technical direction
• Helping teams decide what to de-risk first
• Building systems that make failures easier to understand
• Connecting research ambition to production reality
• Improving how engineering teams make decisions under uncertainty

Here are a few examples of the robotics systems, teams, and infrastructure problems I’ve been trusted to help shape across space robotics, autonomous vehicles, home robotics, and agricultural automation.

NASA Robonaut 2

Space robotics under real constraints

Led robotic perception and applied vision work for a humanoid robot deployed to the ISS, where physical constraints, human-robot cooperation, and operational reality mattered as much as the algorithms.

• Robotic perception and applied vision
• Human-robot cooperation in constrained environments
• Space robotics with real operational constraints

Waymo

Autonomy in dense, dynamic environments

Led teams working on vehicle behavior in urban environments, where uncertainty, safety, and real-world interaction make "just stop" an incomplete answer.

• Vehicle behavior around complex road users
• Cross-functional autonomy execution
• Safety, uncertainty, and real-world decision making
• Conditional behavior prediction and execution

Toyota Research Institute

Shared autonomy for useful assistance

Led shared autonomy strategy and execution across manipulation, teleoperation, and human-robot interaction, with a focus on moving promising research toward useful robotic assistance.

• Shared autonomy, manipulation, and teleoperation
• Human-robot interaction
• Moving research capabilities toward useful systems

Blue River Technology

Field robotics outside clean assumptions

Led the robotics team improving agricultural autonomy in messy field environments where reliability, product constraints, and operational execution mattered as much as technical sophistication.

• Field robotics outside clean lab assumptions
• Reliability and operational performance
• Autonomy under messy real-world constraints

Robotics tooling & infrastructure

Tools that help teams find the next bottleneck

Built and advocated for robotics tools, documentation, development workflows, and infrastructure that help teams understand complex systems faster.

• ROS and open-source robotics
• Simulation, CI, observability, and documentation
• Developer leverage and engineering tooling

Talks & Women in Robotics

Robotics community and technical influence

Contributed to the robotics community through writing, speaking, open-source work, and board leadership in Women in Robotics.

• Vice President and board leader in Women in Robotics
• Robotics talks, panels, and technical writing
• Open-source and community participation

Publications & Technical Contributions

Selected publications and technical contributions from robotics, ROS, human-robot interaction, and applied autonomy work. These reflect the technical depth behind my leadership work, especially in systems where research, software, and real-world constraints meet.

• Model-Based Robotic Dynamic Motion Control for the Robonaut 2 Humanoid Robot — Publication related to Robonaut 2 control work.
• Advancing Safe Human-Robot Interactions with Robonaut 2 — Publication on human-robot interaction and safety.
• A System for Multi-step Mobile Manipulation: Architecture, Algorithms, and Experiments — Conference paper at ISER 2016 on household mobile manipulation, system design, failure recovery, and real-world task performance.
• Industry Best Practices in Robotics Software Engineering — Follow-on paper from the ROSE panel on software engineering practices for real robotics systems.
• Robot Operating System (ROS) The Complete Reference Vol 1 — ROS reference contribution.

Awards & Recognition

Selected recognition for robotics leadership, open-source contribution, technical communication, and community work across the robotics ecosystem.

• Named one of the Women In Robotics You Should Know — Community recognition in robotics.
• Featured in Silicon Valley Robotics — International Women’s Day recognition.
• ROS Contributor Spotlight — Recognition for technical community contributions.

For a full chronological work history, see my LinkedIn profile.

View LinkedIn