Justin Huang
Robotics Systems Engineer @NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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WORK HISTORY
Robotics Systems Engineer @NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, CA, US
I am a group lead for the Robot Operations group at JPL. I lead the engineering for multiple key software products that JPL uses every time we operate the Perseverance rover\'s robotic arm.My main responsibilities include:ArmSketch lead- ArmSketch is JPL\'s software for planning and sequencing Perseverance\'s robotic arm. I wrote and maintain lines of Python that translates high-level plans from scientists into thousands of low-level arm commands, including safety maneuvers- Manage complexity through static analysis, unit tests, and automated system tests- Developed a novel algorithm for arm motion planning that guarantees safety margins while maintaining interpretability. Published in the International Conference on Space Robotics 2024.TargetWizard lead- A new automated safety analysis tool for Perseverance and Curiosity arm activities. TargetWizard solves a major pain point by automating safety analyses that used to take multiple hours down to seconds- The Mars 2020 mission used this tool to reduce staffing and speed up abrasion science campaigns by 50%, saving weeks of mission time so far- Lead a small team of developers a designer from initial idea to minimum viable product in 6 months- Designed a multi-process C++ architecture that interfaces with a modern Electron GUI.Other roles- Developed Perseverance\'s onboard collision model, which has saved the $2.8 billion rover from harming itself multiple times. I now maintain the collision model flight software- One of few trained operators at JPL who can use JPL\'s engineering copy of the Perseverance rover- Verification and validation of new vision capabilities on Perseverance- Member of the Perseverance downlink operations team- Developer for a ROS2-based tool for the Mars Sample Return Lander testing- Built a transformer-based model with PyTorch to predict rover slip during drives based on orbital imagery.
EDUCATION
University of Washington
Master of Science (MS), Computer Science
University of Washington
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Computer Science
UC San Diego
Bachelor of Science, Computer Science
ABOUT JUSTIN HUANG
I am a roboticist working on advancing science through robotics and AI.At JPL, my software is used by rover planners daily to plan every arm motion on the Perseverance Mars Rover. My code helps to find science targets we can safely examine, generate optimal plans, and maintain safety through collision avoidance and the onboard collision model.I earned my Ph.D. in the field of human-robot interaction in 2018, focusing on how humans can easily program and command mobile manipulator robots. In my research, I connected advanced perception and manipulation capabilities with intuitive and modern user interfaces, and I backed it up with human subjects research. With recent advances in robot foundation models, this field is being supercharged and is ripe for continued exploration.
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