AIAA HRS Young Professionals Committee Presents
Thriving in the Wild: Adventures in Mobility and Adaptation from Robotics to Survivor
with Dr. Christian Hubicki
DATE: Monday, August 3, 2026
TIME: 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
LOCATION: NASA Langley Research Center*, B2102, Pearl Young Theater
VIRTUAL MEETING LINK: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/22210827719497?p=f6vpsWq8xMNLQ4scK3
Click to follow link." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teams Meeting Link
Meeting ID: 222 108 277 194 97
Passcode: FW3dY2VA
ABSTRACT:
From all-terrain robots to the islands of Survivor, operating in the wild requires improvising in the face of unforeseen obstacles. This talk introduces our laboratory's latest research into adaptive control algorithms and mobile robot designs, and highlights parallels from lessons learned on the CBS television series, Survivor. Our goal is to enable robots to quickly traverse any terrain with vastly improved reliability, endurance, and payload capacity. The technical component of this talk presents our recent advances toward this goal. These results span control algorithms across humanoids, quadrupeds, and novel hybrid morphologies. Our mobile robots show physical and computational adaptation within milliseconds, exhibiting robustness to changing terrains, tasks, and robot wear. Uniquely, this talk intermixes a technical seminar with personal stories of prime-time island survival, illustrating how robustness and strategic improvisation are key to thriving in any wild environment.
BIOGRAPHY:
Christian Hubicki is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Joint FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and Florida State University, where he specializes in making robots highly mobile and adaptive in unpredictable environments. He holds a dual-degree PhD in Robotics and Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University and completed postdoctoral work at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Christian's robot mobility research has earned technical awards including from the Toyota Research Institute and the National Academy of Engineering, while his real-world endurance was tested across two seasons of CBS's Survivor, including its milestone 50th season. A recipient of multiple technical paper awards at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, his work has been featured by the Science Channel, TEDx, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Across all platforms, from academia to social media to prime-time television, he is dedicated to promoting a love of science and engineering to the public.
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Tausif Jamal
Aerospace Research
NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton VA
(757)864-1299
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