Mostafa Bagheri  

Mostafa Bagheri currently holds the position of Senior Robotics & Control Engineer at Johnson & Johnson since July 2022, where his primary focus lies in the development of the Ottava surgical robotic system. In addition to this role, he has previously served as the Chief Technology Officer at NXT Robotics Corporation and worked as a Roboticist at Vicarious AI. In addition, Mostafa has provided his expertise as a robotics consultant for Glidewell Dental Lab in Irvine, CA.

He completed his Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC San Diego in 2019 and worked on 14-DOF Baxter Robot under the supervision of Professors Miroslav Krstic and Peiman Naseradinmousavi. Currently, Mostafa also serves as an instructor at California State University, East Bay. Mostafa has extensive academic experience, having worked as both an instructor and a research assistant at the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University (SDSU). Moreover, he engaged in research activities as a graduate researcher in the Department of Advanced Robotics at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), explicitly contributing to the WALK-MAN humanoid robot project in 2014. His remarkable accomplishments have been recognized with the prestigious 2011 Best B.Sc. thesis annual award in mechanical engineering presented by ISME.

Mostafa's research interests encompass a broad range of subjects, including robotics, control theory, delay systems, adaptive control & identification, and extremum seeking.

Honors and awards

  • Awarded Elsevier Outstanding Reviewer status (Aug. 2018)

  • Awarded full Scholarship for PhD Program (Sept. 2015 - May 2019)

  • Graduate fellowship, Iran's National Elites Foundation (INEF) (Mar. 2013 - May 2015)

  • Honored with the annual award for the Best B.Sc. Thesis in Mechanical Engineering

    Iranian Society of Mechanical Engineers (ISME)

  • Exempted from M.Sc. Entrance Exam as an Exceptionally Talented student (2010)

  • Ranked in top 3 among Mechanical Engineering Students (B.Sc. and M.Sc.)

  • Awarded University Fellowship as an Exceptionally Talented Student (Sept. 2006 - Dec. 2012)

    Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic)

  • Dual Degree Student (Mechanical and Chemical Engineering)

Professional Experiences

  • Senior Robotics and Controls Engineer (July 2022 – present)

    Johnson & Johnson, Santa Clara, CA, USA

  • Roboticist (March 2021 – May 2022)

    Vicarious, Union City, CA, USA

  • Chief Technology Officer (CTO) (July 2019 – March 2021)

    NXT Robotics Corp., San Diego, CA, USA

    Company Goal: Fully Autonomous and Intelligent Security Robots

  • Robotics Consultant (Aug. – Nov. 2019)

    Research and Development Department, Glidewell Dental Lab, Irvine, USA

    Company Goal: Automation of Dental Crown Finishing Process

  • Instructor (Summer 2019)

    Control Systems Laboratory (ENG10), University of California, San Diego

  • Lecturer (Summer 2017)

    Control Systems Laboratory (ME330), San Diego State University

  • Graduate Researcher (Apr. 2014 – Dec. 2014)

    Advanced Robotics Department, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT)

    Project title: “Design of Mechanical Systems and Controllers for Humanoid Walk-Man”, European project WALK-MAN (FP7-ICT-611832-2013)

  • Graduate Research Assistant

  • Second advisor of B.Sc. thesis (2012)

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic)

  • Teaching Assistant

    • ╴ University of California, San Diego (Winter 2019)

    • ╴ San Diego State University (Sept. 2016 - Jan. 2017)

    • ╴ Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) (Sept. 2010 - June 2012)

Education

  • University of California, San Diego (JDP with SDSU) (Sept. 2015 - May 2019)

    ╴ Ph.D. in Robotics, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering   GPA: 4.0/4.0

    Dissertation Title: Adaptive and Delay-Compensating Robot Controllers

    ╴ Technology Management and Entrepreneurism Program

      Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, Rady School of Management

  • Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) (Sept. 2006 - Sept. 2012)

    ╴ M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering (Dynamic Systems & Control)   GPA: 3.9/4.0

    ╴ B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering   GPA: 3.95/4.0

    Awarded Best B.Sc. thesis by Iranian Society of Mechanical Engineers (ISME)

    ╴ B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (Second Major)   GPA: 3.63/4.0

Research and Publications

Research Projects

Publications

Research Interests:

  • Nonlinear Dynamics & Control

  • Control of Time-Delay Systems

  • Robotics & Mechatronics

  • Extremum Seeking

  • Game Theory

  • System Identification

  • Dynamic Programming & Optimization

  • Finite Element Methods & Engineering Mathematics



Expertise and Skills

  • Programming Skills: Proficient: Python, C++, MATLAB, Simulink

    Python Packages: NLTK, Keras, OpenCV, NumPy, Matplotlib, scikit-learn

  • Design Tools: SolidWorks, Fusion 360, ADAMS, Autodesk Inventor

  • Misc.: ROS, Gazebo, Rviz, Git/GitHub, Docker, LATEX