About Me

Summary

Robotics Systems & Simulation Infrastructure Engineer specializing in asset pipelines (CAD/real-world scans to robot/scene) and multi-modal synchronized data collection & analysis, with a controls/dynamics backbone. Also, a software engineer with a background in computer vision and machine learning.

Final-year PhD candidate (Expected to graduate in May 2026) in Robotics Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, specializing in robotics platform infrastructure, simulation, multi-modal dataset pipelines and AI-driven advanced perception & automation for surgical robotics (dVRK, the da Vinci Research Kit), including robot hardware repair/maintenance/development, camera integration, video pipeline construction, synchronized logging, dataset packaging with data-quality post-processing, simulation environment construction, instrument tracking and automation via learning from demonstration (in simulation). Strong foundation in model-based robotics (kinematics/dynamics/control), including dynamic system identification and gravity compensation. Have driven cross-institution collaborations on shared dataset and system identification deliverables.

I am a practical robotic problem solver for both hardware and software, open to relocation inside the U.S., and targeting Full-Time positions starting May/June 2026.

Feel free to check out and investigate my projects in Research, Projects and Build pages!

Experience

2023 - Present Baltimore, MD

Visiting Graduate Scholar in Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR) at Johns Hopkin University, working on the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) infrastructure, simultion, multi-modal data collection and AI solutions with Prof. Peter Kazanzides.

2020 - 2026 Worcester, MA

Ph.D. in Robotics Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with Prof. Gregory S. Fischer. Research focus: surgical robotics, dynamic identification, robot infrastructure development, simulation, multi-modal data collection & analysis, AI for advanced perception and automation.

2022 Summer Cambridge, MA

Image-Guided Therapy Robotics Intern at Philips Research North America.

2020 - 2023 Worcester, MA

Support the dVRK systems at WPI (one in PracticePoint), reactivating the dVRK, developing the dVRK infrastructure solutions and conducting & leading dVRK-related research projects.

2018 - 2020 Boston, MA

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Boston University. Advisor: Prof. Calin Belta and my Master's Thesis: Imitation Learning with Dynamic Movement Primitives.

2017 - 2018 Berkeley, CA

Senior-year exchange undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, Mechanical Engineering.

News

2025 Oct: Dataset owner in the NVIDIA Open-H-Embodiment effort, building and delivering a multi-modal time-synchronized dataset (1000+ ex-vivo trajectories). Stay tuned!
2025 Jun: Our Gravity Compensation work has been accepted to 2025 Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics (HSMR) and selected for oral presentation! Upcoming journal paper is on the way, stay tuned!
2025 Jun: Successfully defended my PhD proposal!
2025 Mar: Our SurgPose paper has been accepted to ICRA 2025! Also see it on JHU CS News.
2024 Dec: Our SurgicAI paper has been accepted to 2024 NeurIPS Datasets and Benchmarks Track! Also see it on JHU CS News.
2024 Jun: Led live demonstrations at the 2024 International Symposium on Medical Robotics (ISMR) Workshop.
2023 Jun: Started visiting scholar position at Johns Hopkins University

Technical Skills

Programming Languages

Python MATLAB C/C++ Bash/Shell

Robotics

ROS/ROS2 model-based robotics (kinematics/dynamics/control) system identification teleoperation calibration

Simulation & Visualization

AMBF (Bullet Physics) Blender Gazebo/RViz CoppeliaSim (V-REP) NVIDIA Isaac Sim 3D Slicer Simulink Ansys FEA

Machine Learning & AI

PyTorch OpenCV Computer Vision Deep Learning Imitation Learning TensorFlow

Platform & Infrastructure

dVRK Classic/Si Linux Git Image pipeline (v4l2, udev) PyQt CMake/catkin/colcon Docker

Design & Manufacturing

Rapid Prototyping 3D Printing Machine Shop SolidWorks AutoCAD

Training Certificates

CITI Program Training - Social & Behavioral Research - Johns Hopkins University
CITI Program Training - Human Subjects in Biomedical Research - Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Radiation Safety Training - Johns Hopkins University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
MRI Safety Training - Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Download Resume

Download My Resume (PDF)

Contact

Feel free to reach out to me at haoyingzhoujack@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Jack (Haoying) Zhou