About me

Hi! I have been a Professor of Mechanical & Robotics Engineering at the Université de Sherbrooke since 2013. I specialize in the modelling, control and design of novel aerial robotics systems, as well as the measurement and design of sports equipment. I received my PhD from Stanford in 2012, where I developed bio-inspired aerial vehicles and worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab to develop the Robobee, an insect-size flying robot. I previously worked at the Canadian Space Agency and German Aerospace Center (DLR) on the dynamical modelling and hardware-in-the-loop simulation of satellite capture, and as a vehicle dynamicist & race car test engineer with Multimatic.

At Sherbrooke, I am a member of the Createk Design lab at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation, and my research follows two main tracks, one in novel dynamical robotic systems and the other in sport equipment research applied to skiing, hockey and footwear. My research in novel dynamical robotic systems, including aerial vehicles for long-duration aquatic-aerial operations, autonomous underground exploration with a tethered drone, cliff sampling from suspended payloads, high-precision autonomous UAV landing on high-voltage transmission lines in windy conditions, and robust landing on fast-moving platforms (boat in rough sea conditions, offroad land vehicles), as well as safe high precision and high bandwidth robotic arms. My research in sports equipment research focuses on the measurements of the equipment’s mechanical properties, the understanding and prediction of in-use feedback, the measurement of in-use response (e.g., footwear slip), the optimization of the equipment’s dynamical response (e.g., vibration response, edge grip), the design of novel eco-friendly products and the design of intelligent sports equipment.

So far, I have managed and led the scientific direction of multiple large R&D projects in collaboration with 20+ industry players. I co-founded two NSERC CREATE training programs in robotics and led four NSERC Idea to Innovation Grants related to sports technologies. I am a National Geographic Explorer, have 50+ publications in high-level journals and peer-reviewed conferences, hold six patents, have received several international design awards and best paper awards, and have co-founded two start-ups. One of these start-ups, SoothSki has built the most advanced and extensive ski comparator in existence, with measurements on more than 6500 skis that are freely available online to everyone, while the other, Outreach Robotics, was part of the team that won the $10M XPrize Rainforest.