PEOPLE
The research group of the Unmanned Vehicles Robotarium Systems lab is mainly composed of researchers, scientific personnel and graduate (Ph.D. and M.Sc.) students. Since its creation in 2004, the Lab has trained several students working on diverse areas of unmanned vehicle systems. If you would like to know about our past projects and the students that worked on such developments please check our "Former Students" webpage.
The current team members of the lab are listed below ( R&D Fellows: 1 ; Ph.D.: 4 ; M.Sc.: 4 ; B.Sc.: 3 ):
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Alex Ramirez-Serrano, P.Eng.
Professor / Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering / Director UVS Robotarium Lab.
Office: MEB-523
Laboratory (Robotarium): EEEL-124 & EEEL-125
Certifications:
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Post-Doc, Control & Robotics - Argonne National Laboratory - U.S.A. (2002)
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Ph.D., Mechanical & Industrial Eng - University of Toronto (UofT) - Canada (2000)
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M.Sc., Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence - Monterrey Tech (ITESM) - Mexico (1996)
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M.Sc., Mechanical & Aerospace Eng - Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) - U.S.A. (1993)
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B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering - Univ. Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) - Mexico (1992)
Post-doctoral / R&D Fellows:
Hossein keshavarz
06/2026-present
Project: Perceptive whole-body planning.
Whole-body motion planning for multi-legged robots in 3D confined spaces.
In search for a student
09/2025-???
Project: Locomotion planning and control for multi-legged robots moving inside chaotic natural and disaster confined spaces.
Ph.D. Students
Mahyar Ashkvari
05/2022-present
Thesis: Full-body motion planning of hybrid robots
Modeling, control, and planning of search & rescue multi-legged robots for confined spaces.
Amir Gholami
01/2021-present
Thesis: Multi-contact control of legged robots.
Control of acrobatic biped & quadruped robots operating in unstructured spaces.
Wei Jia
01/2026-present
Thesis: Locomotion for complex confined spaces
Locomotion & manipulation of humanoid robots via advance body posture adaptation.
Mehrad Goharzay
05/2027-present
Thesis: Full-body motion planning of humanoids
Advanced whole-body multi-contact motion planning of humanoids in confined spaces.
M.Sc. Students
Melina Varguez R.
01/2020-present
Student in BIomendical Eng.
Thesis: Bio-engineering humanoid motions.
Develop bio-engineering motion adaptation approaches for humanoids maneuvers.
Stefan Van de Mosselaer
09/2023-present
Thesis: Aggressive locomotion of legged robots.
Aggressive locomotion for high-speed 14+ DOF quadruped robots to overcome large obstacles
Océane Patiny
09/2026-present
Thesis: In hand manipulation control.
Develop robotic in hand manipulation motion strategies for highly dexterous hands.
Kaye S. Nenfort
01/2027-present
Thesis: Highly maneuverable Underwater robot.
Develop advanced underwater manipulation, navigation, & control systems for effective object manipulation in confined environments.
B.Sc. Students
Florent Pralong
5/18/2026-8/14/2026
Project: ROS package for quadruped robots.
Advanced ROS and control software for Sim2Real of highly maneuverable robots.
Joschka Mayer
6/30/2026-9/18/2026
Project: Develop of perception ROS software.
Develop ROS packages for the perception & Sim2Real of high-speed quadruped robots.
Marceau Guigui
6/01/2026-9/19/2026
Project: Develop of perception ROS software.
Develop Joystick ROS functionalities for controlling humanoid robots.
“Nothing is impossible !"
In this research lab. we aim to develop technologies to ensure that unmanned vehicles can deal with unexpected situations (changes, errors, etc.) or tasks that challenge their sensing, modeling, planning, adaptation, or movement envelopes.
We are working to realize fully autonomous robots with effective human-robot interaction capabilities
for operations in unstructured hazardous confined GPS-denied spaces.
Dr. Alex Ramirez-Serrano
Director of the Unmanned Vehicles Robotarium laboratory