Space Systems and Robotics

MIAE researchers are continuously pushing the boundaries of space-based research, including fundamental and applied research in space robotic manipulators, space debris removal systems, and extra-terrestrial rover operations. New emerging fields within the MIAE includes directed energy propulsion systems for interstellar travel, such as lightsails and laser-thermal propulsion technologies, as well as responsible design, and ethics, of autonomous intelligent space robotic systems which interact with humans.

Associated Academic Faculty


AJung Moon • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Recent Research Publications

  • Lixiao Zhu and AJung Moon. 2024. Investigating Robot Influence on Human Behaviour By Leveraging Entrainment Effects. In Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 169–171. link to article
  • Lixiao Zhu and AJung Moon. 2024. Investigating Robot Influence on Human Behaviour By Leveraging Entrainment Effects. In Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 169–171. link to article
  • Szilagyi, K., Millar, J., Moon, A. et al. Driving into the Loop: Mapping Automation Bias and Liability Issues for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. DISO 2, 41 (2023). link to article
  • Renee Shelby, Shalaleh Rismani, Kathryn Henne, AJung Moon, Negar Rostamzadeh, Paul Nicholas, N'Mah Yilla-Akbari, Jess Gallegos, Andrew Smart, Emilio Garcia, and Gurleen Virk. 2023. Sociotechnical Harms of Algorithmic Systems: Scoping a Taxonomy for Harm Reduction. In Proceedings of the 2023 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 723–741. link to article

Alfred Ng • Canadian Space Agency

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Andrew Higgins • Department of Mechanical Engineering

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Recent Research Publications

  • Savu, Dan-Cornelius and Andrew Higgins. Structural Stability of a Lightsail for Laser-Driven Interstellar Flight. Acta Astronautica (2022). link to article.
  • Larrouturou, Mathias, Andrew Higgins and Jeffrey Greason. Dynamic soaring as a means to exceed the solar wind speed. Frontiers in Space Technologies (2022). link to article.
  • Greason, Jeffrey, Dmytro Yakymenko, Mathias Larrouturou and Andrew Higgins. Wind–pellet shear sailing. Acta Astronautica (2022). link to article.
  • Duplay, Emmanuel, Zhuo Fan Bao, Sebastian Rodriguez Rosero, Arnab Sinha and Andrew Higgins. Design of a rapid-transit to Mars mission using laser-thermal propulsion. Acta Astronautica (2022). link to article.
  • Higgins, Andrew. Experimental Simulation of Dust Impacts at Starflight Velocities. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (2018). link to article.

Arun Misra • Department of Mechanical Engineering

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Recent Research Publications

  • Dutta, Shrouti & Misra, A.. (2023). Effect of the nature of uncertainty on the optimization of collision avoidance maneuvers. Advances in Space Research. 72. link to article.
  • Chehreghani, Mahdi & Gholami, Iman & Misra, A. & Païdoussis, Michael. (2022). Fluid-elastic instability of inverted cantilevered cylinders in axial flow. Journal of Fluids and Structures. 115. 103778. link to article.
  • Liqiang, Hou & Misra, A. & Wu, Shufan. (2022). Optimal Debris Removal Sequence with Multiple Spacecraft Using Non-Population Gradient Search. link to article.
  • Marchi, Luis & Sanchez, Diogo & Venditti, Flaviane & Prado, Antonio & Misra, A.. (2021). On the effects of solar radiation pressure on the deviation of asteroids. Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica. 57. 279-295. link to article.

Hsiu-Chin Lin • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Recent Research Publications

  • Coulombe, Alexandre & Lin, Hsiu-Chin. (2023). Generating Stable and Collision-Free Policies through Lyapunov Function Learning. 3037-3043. link to article.
  • Hsiu-Chin Lin and Michael Mistry. "Contact Surface Estimation via Haptic Perception", in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2020. link to article.
  • Guiyang Xin, Joshua Smith, David Rytz, Wouter Wolfslag, Hsiu-Chin Lin, and Michael Mistry. "Bounded haptic teleoperation of a quadruped robot's foot posture for sensing and manipulation", in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2020
  • Dominik Belter, Jakub Bednarek, Hsiu-Chin Lin, Guiyang Xin, Michael Mistry. "Single-shot foothold selection and constraint evaluation for quadruped locomotion", in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2019. link to article.
  • Seyed Sina Mirrazavi Salehian, Hsiu-Chin Lin, Nadia Barbara Figueroa Fernandez, Joshua Smith, Michael Mistry, Aude Billard. "Transitioning with confidence during contact/non-contact scenarios", In Proceedings of the Workshop on Towards Robots that Exhibit Manipulation Intelligence, 2018. link to article.

Jorge Angeles • Department of Mechanical Engineering

McGill Profile Lab Website

Recent Research Publications

  • Toz, M., Han, H., and Angeles, J. (2023). "Workspace, Singularity, and Dexterity Analyses of a Six-Degrees-of-Freedom SDelta Robot With an Orthogonal Base Platform." ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. July 2024; 16(7): 071010. link to article
  • Liu, S., Angeles, J., Chen, C. (2023). A Novel Adaptive Prosthetic Finger Design with Scalability. In: Okada, M. (eds) Advances in Mechanism and Machine Science. IFToMM WC 2023. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 148. Springer, Cham. link to article
  • Z. Zhang et al., "Bioinspired Rigid-Soft Hybrid Origami Actuator With Controllable Versatile Motion and Variable Stiffness," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 4768-4784, Dec. 2023. link to article
  • [book] Kinematics of mechanical systems: fundamentals, analysis and synthesis: Jorge Angeles, Shaoping Bai (2022)
  • Qi Sun, Jorge Angeles, Genliang Chen, The Cartesian elastodynamics linear model of mechanical systems with flexible links, Mechanism and Machine Theory, Volume 167,2022,104559, ISSN 0094-114X, link to article.

Jozsef Kovecses • Department of Mechanical Engineering

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Recent Research Publications

  • A. Raoofian, X. Dai and J. Kövecses, "Contact Representation in Robotic Mechanical Systems Employing Reduced Models," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1556-1563, Feb. 2024. link to article.
  • X. Dai, A. Raoofian, J. Kövecses and M. Teichmann, "Model-Based Co-Simulation of Flexible Mechanical Systems With Contacts Using Reduced Interface Models," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 239-246, Jan. 2024. link to article.
  • L. Kerr and J. Kövecses, "Reduced Interface Models for Haptic Interfacing With Virtual Environments," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 8683-8690, Oct. 2022. link to article.
  • J. Kovecses, "Simulation Aspects and Challenges for Space Robotic Systems," 2021 IEEE 21st International Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Informatics (CINTI), Budapest, Hungary, 2021, pp. 000011-000012. link to article.

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