Andy Nguyen

I am currently working under Dr. Daniel Bruder in the Mechanical Engineering department as the only undergraduate researcher in the lab. My independent project involves developing a passive wall-climbing robot using bi-stable suction cups, which I designed using Fusion 360 and Solidworks. The robot successfully demonstrated the ability to climb a wall, marking a significant milestone in the project. Recently, we were accepted to the International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2026, which I will be presenting at in June in Veinna, Austra.

In this experience I've learned how to conduct research in a nearly independent manner. While I have done robotics in the past, the research end is different because oftentimes no one has done what you're trying to do in the specific project. It's been fun to learn how to evaluate what to focus on and design, iterate, and test new ideas.

Robotics Simulation Engineer

• Integrating actuator dynamics and RL locomotion policy into MuJoCo humanoid sim to bridge Sim to Real gap;

validating fidelity using hardware dyno data

• Developing hybrid actuator models by synthesizing analytical physics-based equations with Neural Networks to capture

complex non-linear behaviors