People
People
Faculty
Vishesh Vikas
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Email : vvikas@ua.edu
Phone: (205)-348-1607
Post-doctoral Researchers
Harish Bezawada
Harish is from India, completed his Masters in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from the University of Missouri - Columbia; and his Ph.D. from University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in 2022. His research interests are in soft manipulators, shape reconstruction, and jamming. His hobbies include biking, racquetball, and hiking.
Research Publications: RA-L/IROS 2022, ACC 2022
Graduate Students
Arun Niddish Mahendran
Arun Niddish is from India and graduated with B.Tech (Honors) in Mechanical Engineering from SASTRA University. His current research work is under wireless communication and inertial sensors. He prefers playing outdoor sports rather than indoor gaming and likes to play Football and Table tennis.
Research Publications: IROS 2023, IROS 2021
Caitlin Freeman
Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Caitlin Freeman is a PhD student studying mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama. Her research interests include fabrication and locomotion of soft robots, bio-inspired dynamics and controls, and engineering curricula. Outside of the lab, Caitlin enjoys reading and going on walks with her dogs.
Research Publications: IROS 2023, ASME JCND-JMR 2023, Soft Robotics 2022, IROS 2021
Chase Fortin
Chase Fortin is originally from Orland Park, Illinois. His research interests include tensegrity robots and he looks forward to the new challenges research brings each day. He enjoys swimming, frisbee, and going on bike rides in his free time.
Cole Woods
Cole Woods is from Fairhope, Alabama and completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Alabama. Currently, he is pursuing his Masters of Business Administration (MBA). His research is in bio-inspired mechatronics with the goal to balance an inverted pendulum on variable surfaces by using non-contact sensors. His hobbies are woodworking and lawn maintainince - he has made signs, clocks, tables, and chairs.
Research Publications: ASME-JMR 2023, RA-L/IROS 2022, ACC 2022, IEEE Sensors Journal 2021, ASME DSC-Letters 2021
Justin Conzola
Justin Conzola is from Raleigh, North Carolina. He completed his undergraduate mechanical engineering work at the University of Alabama in 2022. He is currently enrolled in the PhD program at UA with a concentration in Dynamic Systems and Controls. His research interests include actuation and locomotion of soft robots. In his free time, he enjoys working out and playing disc golf.
Research Publications: ASME JCND-JMR 2023
Justin Conzola is from Raleigh, North Carolina. He completed his undergraduate mechanical engineering work at the University of Alabama in 2022. He is currently enrolled in the PhD program at UA with a concentration in Dynamic Systems and Controls. His research interests include actuation and locomotion of soft robots. In his free time, he enjoys working out and playing disc golf.
Research Publications: ASME JCND-JMR 2023
Lauren Faris (co-advising with Kenneth Ricks)
Lauren Faris is from Irmo, South Carolina and completed her Bachelor’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics from the University of Alabama. She is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with a focus on designing and controlling terrestrial exploratory robots utilizing tensegrity structures. She is an avid cook that has written several family cookbooks and enjoys reading and being in nature as much as possible.
Oluwasegun (Segun) Akinniyi
Segun is from Lagos, Nigeria. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electronic and electrical engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. He is interested in human-centered robotics, with a focus on rehabilitation robotics. He loves traveling, reading, and playing football.
Undergraduate Students
Kyle Scott
Kyle Scott is from Memphis, TN and is currently a junior majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Kyle is a member of the Randall Research Scholars Program with which he has a job as Lab Manager and System Administrator. He enjoys camping and playing video games in his free time.
Matthew Grosman
Matthew Grosman is from Memphis, Tennessee and is a senior in a mechanical engineering. His research interests include biomechanics and how robotic systems can affect the human body and improve quality of life. Outside of the lab, he enjoys backpacking, fishing, and 3D printing trinkets for him and his friends.
Lab Alumni
Graduate
- Harish Bezawada (2022)
PhD dissertation - "Reconstructing Soft Manipulator Shape Modeled as Multi-Segment Pythogorean Hodograph Curves with Visual and Slope Feedback" - Clayton Gotberg (2021)
- MS Thesis - "Synthesis and Analysis of Tensegrity Mechanisms"
- Michael Maynard (2021)
- Miranda Tanouye (2018), Honeybee Robotics
MS Thesis - "A Kinematic Analysis of a Stacked Planar Compliant Tensegrity Mechanism" - David Leech
- Joshua Wong
- Chloe Flack, NVIDIA
- Emma Scott, Michelin North America
- Dalton Stacks
- Georgia Patterson
- Tyler Rhodes
- Will Conlin
- Matthew Pilus
