Physics as the Backbone of Dexterity: Scalable Contact Simulation, Contact-Aware Control, and Physics-Grounded Learning

Wanxin Jin is an Assistant Professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University. His research lies at the intersection of robotics, control, and machine learning, with a focus on contact-rich dexterous manipulation, physics-grounded robot learning, and human-centered autonomy. Prior to joining ASU in 2023, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the GRASP Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University in 2021. His work has appeared in leading robotics and machine learning venues, including T-RO, IJRR, RSS, ICRA, ICML, and NeurIPS. He is an Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)

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Motion Imitation for Adaptive and Lifelike Control of Legged Robots

Dongho Kang is a Research Scientist at the Robotics and AI Institute (RAI). His research lies at the intersection of optimal control, reinforcement learning, and data-driven character animation. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science (2025) and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (2019) from ETH Zurich. Previously, he obtained his B.S. from Seoul National University with a double major in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering (2016).

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CSL Student Conference

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Learning and Planning with Relational Dynamics Models for Robot Manipulation

Tucker Hermans is an associate professor in the Kahlert School of Computing at the University of Utah, where he is a founding member of the University of Utah Robotics Center. He is also a senior research scientist at NVIDIA. Professor Hermans’ research focuses on autonomous planning, learning, and perception for robot manipulation. His wo which they have no previous knowledge or interaction. Previously, Professor Hermans was a postdoctoral researcher in the Intelligent Autonomous Systems lab at TU Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Germany working with Jan Peters on learning from tactile sensors for manipulation. He was at Georgia Tech from 2009 to 2014 in the School of Interactive Computing where he earned his Ph.D. in Robotics under the supervision of Aaron Bobick and Jim Rehg. He has an A.B. in Computer Science and German from Bowdoin College, as well as an M.Sc. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech. 

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Designing Living Machines from Dead Matter of Crustacean Exoskeleton

Dr. Sareum Kim is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the CREATE Lab at EPFL. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on developing design methodologies for sustainable robotics by integrating life cycle thinking spanning material sourcing, fabrication, operation, and end of life strategy into robotic systems  

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Designing for Connection: Social-Physical Human–Robot Interaction and Emotionally Intelligent Technology

Dr. Alexis Block is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, where she directs the SaPHaRI Lab (Social and Physical Human–Robot Interaction).  

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Unraveling Haptic Acuity in Human-Robot Partnerships

Janelle Clark is currently an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County leading the Tactile and Robotic Assistance (TARA) Lab. 

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