My name is Bee Vang. I am a Mechanical Engineer with a B.S. from MIT. After graduating from MIT, I wanted to get more hands-on experience in implementing controls and working with robots. With that in mind, I joined Symbotic and worked on the Embedded Controls team. There, I learned how to implement advance algorithms on real robots and the inner workings of the various components (perception, sensing, estimation, control, hardware, coding, etc) that makes the robot work. After working for three years, I realized I wanted to learn more about controls and thus pursued graduate studies at Boston University (BU).

At BU, I enrolled in the M.S./Ph.D. program in Mechanical Engineering under the guidance of Professor Roberto Tron. My research focus is at the intersection of nonlinear controls, Riemannian geometry, and optimization with applications to quadrotors. The projects and materials that I've studied since are displayed in the Projects section. While my research has been more on the theoretical side, the underlying principle has always been about ease of implementation on real systems. Now, I plan to graduate with my Ph.D. from BU in May 2021 and then pursue a career in industry with a focus on robotics.

I want to make robots that are capable of interacting and assisting people in uncontrolled environments such as the home and office. Some projects that I would like to work on are: drone and quadrotor applications, robotic manipulators, human assistive walking robots, autonomous humanoids, in-home personal use robots, robotic exoskeletons, and mobile robotics.

Outside of robotics and academics, I enjoy wrestling and tinkering with emerging technologies. Wrestling is my stress reliever, and it helps me balance my mental and physical health. Wrestling is a big part of my life, because it has taught me a lot about myself and how I can approach life with a can-do attitude.