Research Field Guide
How to Get a Robotics Research Position
To get a Robotics research position, find professors who are actively publishing in Robotics, read what they actually work on, and email one of them a short, specific note. The work mixes in-person and computational tasks, so there is a way to help either on-site or remotely.
Below are 12 professors publishing in Robotics right now, what each is working on, and how to reach out. Every name and topic is pulled from real, recent publication data, not a generic list.
Robotics professors who are actively publishing
| Professor | Institution | Recent research focus |
|---|---|---|
| Metin Sitti | Koç University | Advanced Materials and Mechanics |
| John A. Rogers | Northwestern University | Advanced Materials and Mechanics |
| Pascal Fua | École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne | Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization |
| Luc Van Gool | Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" | Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization |
| Yonggang Huang | Northwestern University | Advanced Materials and Mechanics |
| Zhigang Suo | Harvard University | Advanced Materials and Mechanics |
| Wolfram Burgard | Lutheran University of Applied Sciences Nuremberg | Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization |
| Roland Siegwart | ETH Zurich | Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization |
| Daniela Rus | Dominica State College | Robotic Path Planning Algorithms |
| Jennifer A. Lewis | Harvard University | Advanced Materials and Mechanics |
| Sebastian Thrun | Stanford University | Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization |
| Pieter Abbeel | Berkeley College | Robot Manipulation and Learning |
Sourced from OpenAlex publication records. Click a name to see their full profile and recent papers.
What Robotics research involves
Robotics builds machines that sense, plan, and act in the physical world, and studies the algorithms that make them work. Labs split across a few camps: perception and learning groups that teach robots to see and improve from data; planning and control groups that work on motion, manipulation, and stability; and hardware groups that design the mechanisms, actuators, and soft or bio-inspired robots themselves. The work is genuinely mixed. Simulation, learning, and algorithm development live in code and can be done partly remotely, while running experiments on real hardware needs you in the lab with the robot. Many projects move between the two. Read a professor's recent papers first to tell whether they focus on learning, control, or hardware, because that decides how you can contribute.
How to email a Robotics professor
Before you email, figure out whether the lab is learning-focused, control-focused, or hardware-focused, because your offer should match. For a perception or learning group, say you can help with code and name real skills: Python, C++, ROS, PyTorch, or simulation experience. For a hardware group, offer to help build and test in the lab and mention any CAD, electronics, or mechanical experience. Point to one specific recent paper, name the robot or task it studied, manipulation, locomotion, a control method, and ask one concrete question about how it worked. Note any programming or hands-on project experience you have. Keep it under 150 words and never call the work groundbreaking.
Robotics overlaps with nearby fields. If you are casting a wider net, look at research positions in Machine Learning, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science, and Cognitive Science.