He received a Ph.D. from Stanford University and was a La Caixa Foundation Fellow. He worked in Silicon Valley in the high-tech sector leading R&D projects in clean room automation. In Austin, he leads the Human Centered Robotics Laboratory and the new Cognitive Ubiquitous Robotics Group. He writes extensively in areas related to realtime optimal control of human-centered robots, control of humanoid robots, safety protocols in robotics, and design of humanoid robots. He has over a 100 publications in top-tier scientific journals and proceedings. He was awarded the NASA Elite Team Award for his contributions to NASA’s Johnson Space Center Software Robotics and Simulation Division. He recently became a member of the UT System National Security Advisory Committee.