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Turning embodied AI and multi-agent robotics research into systems that get deployed in the real world.

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01 // Who I am

About

Commercial Lead – AI and RoboticsNYUAD Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR)

Robotics, AI, and automation engineer with 15+ years of hands-on experience building advanced research infrastructure, developing autonomous systems, and delivering technology for real-world use across the UAE. Deep technical expertise in embodied and physical AI, multimodal perception, lab automation, and complex robotic systems, combined with a practical understanding of the operational, administrative, and stakeholder requirements needed to turn advanced technology into deployable projects. Currently focused on scalable multi-agent robotic systems for inspection and real-world deployment, combining technical depth with research translation, external engagement, and implementation across government, industry, and research environments.

FIELD LOGTELEOPERATING A KUKA LBR — NYUAD CTP LABS

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Years experience

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Researchers supported

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Annual purchasing influence

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Proposals authored

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First-prize awards

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Publications

02 // Career & education

Experience

New York University Abu Dhabi

2012–Present · 4 roles

2025–Present

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Commercial Lead – AI and Robotics

Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR)

  • Lead commercialization and external engagement for CAIR, positioning NYUAD's AI, robotics, and autonomous systems research for industry-facing translation and strategic collaboration.
  • Authored 15+ project proposals in the first year in role, spanning embodied and physical AI, industrial inspection, logistics, infrastructure, digital twins, and autonomous systems.
  • Completed 5 NDAs with external stakeholders, advancing discussions toward next-stage collaboration.
  • Represented NYUAD and CAIR at Dubai AI Festival, Make it in the Emirates, Global Rail, Future Digital Twin & AI, DriftX, and ADIPEC, and in meetings with stakeholders including AD Ports Group, Etihad Rail, GCAA, Kent, Mubadala, MGX, Analog, CycloTech, and Mimik.
  • Built a structured engagement model averaging roughly two external visits per week in 2025, generating proposal requests, technical workshops, lab and site visits, pilot discussions, and executive follow-ups.

2017–2025

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Research Instrumentation Specialist – Robotics & Automation

Core Technology Platforms (CTP)

  • Established, expanded, and ran key NYUAD laboratories across robotics, photonics, high-throughput screening, electronics, and advanced manufacturing.
  • Owned end-to-end technical decision-making across multiple labs: equipment strategy, vendor selection, system architecture, workflow design, safety procedures, and repair-versus-replacement planning.
  • Supported 100+ users — faculty, researchers, students, and technical staff — across multidisciplinary research communities.
  • Influenced approximately $800K in annual purchasing, peaking near $3M, and generated major institutional savings through strategic procurement and in-house repair of high-value systems.
  • Ran roughly four student workshops per semester and co-supervised about two capstone projects annually, while operating within demanding safety and regulatory environments involving drones, lasers, and RF systems.

2013–2017

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Electronics Engineer, Laboratories

  • Fully established the Electronics Workshop and co-established the Advanced Manufacturing Workshop, expanding NYUAD's internal prototyping and scientific instrumentation capabilities.
  • Played a key role in planning and relocating research laboratories from the Center for Science and Engineering to the Saadiyat campus.
  • Supported faculty, researchers, and students across electronics, automation, robotics, and scientific instrumentation, including the High Throughput Screening Platform (HTS).
  • Delivered in-house troubleshooting, maintenance, and repair of scientific equipment, improving operational continuity and cost efficiency.
  • Conducted demonstrations for industry and government delegations to showcase research capabilities.

2012–2013

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Research Assistant

Interactive Robots and Media Laboratory (IRML)

  • Supported the setup and early development of NYUAD's first robotics laboratory.
  • Contributed to robotics research projects and day-to-day laboratory operations in IRML.
  • Served as teaching assistant for engineering courses and supported international robotics workshop activities.

Hellenic Armed Forces

2011–2012

2011–2012

Greece

R&D Engineer

Dept. of Advanced Defense Systems

  • Conducted R&D on small unmanned aerial systems, including fixed-wing and multirotor platforms.
  • Completed during mandatory National Service in Greece.

Experimental Primary School of Athens

2010–2011

2010–2011

Athens, Greece

Teacher of Robotics

  • Delivered robotics instruction to school students using LEGO Mindstorms.
  • Supported early STEM engagement for young learners.

United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain

2009–2010

2009–2010

Al Ain, UAE

Research Intern

Interactive Robots and Media Lab

  • Supported robotics research activities in the Interactive Robots and Media Lab.
  • Contributed to project execution across lab research efforts.

G&D Goumas SA, Athens

2003–2009

2003–2009

Athens, Greece

Manager of Industrial and Automotive Equipment

  • Managed technical support and training for industrial and automotive diagnostic equipment.
  • Worked across Launch diagnostic tools and troubleshooting systems.

Education

2023–Present

PhD Candidate

University of the Aegean — Greece

PhD research focused on autonomous cooperative robotic systems, embodied AI, and deep reinforcement learning.

2012

BSc, Automation Engineering

University of West Attica — Greece

03 // What I work on

Skills

  • [01]

    Embodied & Physical AI

    Bringing learning-based intelligence onto real hardware, from deep reinforcement learning policies to LLM- and VLM-driven robot behaviour.

    Embodied AIPhysical AIDeep reinforcement learningLLM/VLM workflowsPyTorchDockerized microservices
    View related work →

  • [02]

    Multi-Agent Robotic Systems

    Designing cooperative teams of aerial and ground robots that explore, map, and inspect environments together.

    Multi-agent systemsExploration algorithmsIndustrial inspectionPath planningConstruction robotics
    View related work →

  • [03]

    Perception & Sensing

    Building multimodal perception stacks that fuse vision, LiDAR, radar, and spatial tracking into reliable localization and mapping.

    Multimodal perceptionComputer visionLiDAR & radarThermal & multispectralMotion captureLocalization & mapping
    View related work →

  • [04]

    Sim2Real & Digital Twins

    Developing and validating robotic systems in simulation with synthetic data, then transferring them to physical deployment.

    Isaac SimIsaac LabGazeboMATLAB SimulinkSynthetic dataSim-to-real

  • [05]

    Lab Automation & Instrumentation

    Establishing and running research laboratories — from equipment strategy and custom instrumentation to platforms like NYUAD's High-Throughput Screening system — with safety and regulatory compliance built in.

    Lab automationScientific instrumentationLabVIEWHigh-throughput screeningAdvanced manufacturingSafety systems
    View related work →

  • [06]

    Aerial · Ground · Underwater Robotics

    Hands-on mechatronic design, control, and field operation of drones, quadrupeds, humanoids, and amphibious platforms.

    Drone systemsPX4 & ArduPilotQuadruped & humanoidAmphibious platformsTeleoperationControl & navigation
    View related work →

  • [07]

    Photonics & Telecommunications

    Helped establish and operate NYU Abu Dhabi's Photonics Core Technology Platform — from capital planning and vendor benchmarking with faculty through commissioning, calibration, expansion, and seven years of shared-lab stewardship. Built a high-speed optical and RF characterization stack spanning tunable lasers, BER testing, arbitrary waveform generation, coherent and vector signal analysis, and lightwave component analysis to 67 GHz, enabling silicon photonics research acknowledged in peer-reviewed papers with 60–64 Gbit/s system demonstrations.

    Silicon photonicsHigh-speed optical testKeysight BERT & AWGLightwave analysisRF & fiber characterizationResearch infrastructure
    View related work →

04 // Built & Operated

Labs

  • FIG.01CAIR FLEET — PLATFORMS WORKED ON OR SUPPORTED
    FIG.02KINESIS ARENA — ROBOT FLEET ON DECK
    FIG.03WORKSPACE — KUKA ARMS & RESEARCH BAYS

    [Research Infrastructure]2018–2025

    Kinesis Core Technology Platform Laboratory

    NYU Abu Dhabi · Core Technology Platforms

    Led the end-to-end creation of Kinesis, NYU Abu Dhabi's shared robotics and motion research platform — from user requirements and multidisciplinary design through procurement, construction supervision, hands-on systems integration, commissioning, and operation. A 17 × 6.4 × 8 m reconfigurable arena of adaptable trusses and safety nets, paired with a researcher workspace, built to serve drones, industrial robots, motion capture, AI, and immersive-systems research across the university.

    • Owned the full delivery chain: gathered faculty and user requirements, produced truss, electrical, network, furniture, and safety designs, directed procurement, supervised installations, and personally integrated networking, automated lighting, sound, and compute — reported 100% operational by May 2019.
    • Arena engineered for reconfigurable motion experiments: Vicon motion-capture tracking, color- and intensity-controllable lighting, removable protective flooring, 2 kW sound and projection, and high-speed wired and wireless networking.
    • Workspace for eight researchers with GPU compute for simulation and machine learning, a dedicated safe LiPo charging station, and an equipment ecosystem spanning Vicon V16 cameras, a KUKA LBR iiwa collaborative arm, Aerotech stages, VR gear, and custom UAV platforms.
    • Became an institutional showcase: hosted external delegations, NYUAD media productions, the "Dreamers Who Do" filming for the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020, and Vice Chancellor's Office demonstrations still running in 2025.
    Research infrastructureRobotics laboratoryMotion captureFacility designSystems integration
    Official lab page →
  • FIG.01OPTICAL BENCH — MICROSCOPY & FIBER SETUP
    FIG.02HIGH-SPEED BENCH — AWG & EYE DIAGRAM

    [Photonics & Telecommunications]2017–2024

    Photonics Core Technology Platform Laboratory

    NYU Abu Dhabi · Core Technology Platforms

    Helped establish NYU Abu Dhabi's Photonics Core Technology Platform from faculty concept to sustained shared operation — translating high-speed optical and RF research requirements into an integrated characterization facility spanning tunable lasers, BER testing, arbitrary waveform generation, coherent and vector signal analysis, lightwave component analysis to 67 GHz, microscopy, and polarization and spectral measurement, then stewarding its procurement, commissioning, expansion, and lifecycle.

    • Developed the equipment architecture with Prof. Mahmoud Rasras: model-level capital plans and staged priority scenarios for a photonics/RF option set evaluated at ~AED 12.77M, backed by vendor benchmarking visits to research laboratories in France and Germany.
    • Coordinated installation and commissioning end to end — optical tables and Leica M205A microscopy, UPS-backed power, networked TCP/IP instrument control, Keysight BERT/AWG vendor training, Lightwave Component Analyzer calibration, and VSA software integration.
    • Managed lifecycle stewardship across seven years: troubleshooting, calibration, instrument restoration, laser safety and EHS responsibility, access governance, and a 2022–2023 expansion adding three optical tables — sequenced around critical PhD-defense measurements and praised by faculty as "meticulous and thorough".
    • Explicitly named in the acknowledgements of at least six peer-reviewed photonics journal papers (2021–2024) from Prof. Rasras’s group — Optics Express, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Advanced Photonics Research, and npj 2D Materials and Applications — for optical testing, instrumentation support, technical discussions, and experimental characterization in the Photonics Lab.
    • Broader research enablement: CTP characterization acknowledged in a 2019 Journal of Applied Physics paper, capstone projects faculty said "could not have been completed" without CTP support, and demonstrations for the NYUAD Provost and the UAE Space Agency.
    contribution
    Research infrastructurePhotonics laboratoryOptical characterizationCapital equipment planningSystems integration
    Photonics Research Lab page →
  • FIG.01PLATE-HANDLING RAIL ROBOT — HTS ENCLOSURE

    [Lab Automation]2013–2025

    High-Throughput Screening Platform

    NYU Abu Dhabi · Center for Genomics and Systems Biology

    Automated laboratory platform for high-throughput biological screening at NYUAD CGSB — integrating robotic liquid handling, scientific instrumentation, and LabVIEW-driven workflows so researchers can run large-scale assays with consistent, reproducible throughput.

    • Supported end-to-end setup, expansion, and day-to-day operation of the NYUAD High-Throughput Screening (HTS) Platform across electronics, automation, and Core Technology Platforms roles.
    • Worked across equipment strategy, custom instrumentation, workflow design, and repair-versus-replacement decisions for screening hardware used by faculty, researchers, and students.
    • Tied into broader lab automation efforts spanning robotics, photonics, electronics, and advanced manufacturing laboratories at NYUAD.
    High-throughput screeningLab automationScientific instrumentationLabVIEWRobotic liquid handling
    Open on YouTube →

05 // Selected Work

Projects

  • OPEN ↗Instagram

    [Industry Engagement]2024

    Etihad Rail × NYUAD AI & Robotics Collaboration

    NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR with Etihad Rail

    Industry engagement with Etihad Rail to explore integrating artificial intelligence and robotics into rail operations — translating NYUAD research capabilities into collaborative experiments aimed at efficiency, sustainability, and next-generation rail transport standards.

    • Featured in Etihad Rail's public announcement of the collaboration with New York University Abu Dhabi on AI and robotics for rail operations.
    • Aligns with CAIR's commercialization track: stakeholder engagement, lab and site visits, and industry-facing translation of autonomous systems research.
    • Part of a broader external engagement model spanning infrastructure partners across the UAE transport and logistics ecosystem.
    Industry engagementRail infrastructureAI & roboticsResearch translationStrategic collaboration
    Watch on Instagram →

  • [Multi-Agent Systems]2024

    Multi-Agent Exploration for Construction Data Collection

    NYU Abu Dhabi · SMART Lab

    Cooperative multi-agent robotic system for 3D digitization and data collection in construction environments — one agent explores and maps the space while coordinating with another to clear obstacles, with a human operator in the loop via remote access when needed.

    • Demonstrates autonomous exploration paired with agent-to-agent coordination so the team can keep mapping after an obstacle blocks the path.
    • Human-in-the-loop teleoperation backs the autonomous stack when remote support is required to finish the mission.
    • Published in the Journal of Field Robotics as an application of multiagent robotic systems and exploration algorithms to construction-site data collection.

    Paper

    Multiagent robotic systems and exploration algorithms: Applications for data collection in construction sites

    Journal of Field Robotics 41 (4), 1187–1203· 2024

    Multi-agent systemsExploration algorithmsConstruction robotics3D digitizationHuman-in-the-loop
    Open on YouTube →Read paper →
  • FIG.01INSTRUMENTED CHAIR — SENSOR & GAZE RIG

    [Assistive Robotics]2013–2016

    Eye-Gaze-Controlled Wheelchair

    NYU Abu Dhabi · with University of Ottawa

    A wheelchair navigation system driven entirely by eye gaze, built for people who have lost voluntary motor control — combining gaze tracking, obstacle sensing, and shared autonomy so the chair can navigate unknown environments safely. Validated in a real-world case study with a person living with ALS.

    • Gaze input is fused with onboard sensing and assisted-control logic, so a single modality — where the user looks — becomes a safe, complete driving interface.
    • Field-tested beyond the lab: the system was deployed and evaluated in the home of a person with ALS, navigating environments it had never seen.
    • Published in IEEE Access; the most-cited work in my publication record (170+ citations).

    Paper

    A novel eye-gaze-controlled wheelchair system for navigating unknown environments: case study with a person with ALS

    IEEE Access 4, 558–573· 2016

    Assistive roboticsEye-gaze trackingShared autonomyObstacle avoidanceHuman-robot interaction
    Watch demo →Read paper →
  • FIG.01SOP-28 SOCKET — LOCKED PROCESSOR UNDER TEST

    [Advanced Manufacturing Support]2017

    Hardware-Security ASIC Validation Platform

    NYU Abu Dhabi · with Ozgur Sinanoglu's hardware-security group

    Led PCB development and hardware bring-up of a custom test platform for a 65 nm ARM Cortex-M0 logic-locked ASIC — UART programming, key activation, and silicon validation for ACM CCS 2017.

    • Eagle schematic, two-layer layout, and in-house fabrication on NYUAD Core Technology Platform equipment — two revisions to a reliable UART/DIP-switch test rig.
    • Validated locked processor silicon: correct execution with the valid key, failure with an incorrect one.

    Paper

    Provably-Secure Logic Locking: From Theory to Practice

    Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS)· 2017

    Hardware securityASIC validationPCB designLogic locking
    Read paper →

  • [Aerial Robotics]2019

    Drone Inspection of Abu Dhabi International Airport

    NYU Abu Dhabi · with Abu Dhabi Airports (ADAC)

    Collaboration between NYU Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Airports to protect infrastructure and keep workers safe at the city's new international airport — engineering a drone equipped with robotic arms to inspect the terminal's aerodynamic roof, which is not safe for humans to access.

    • Aerial manipulation for infrastructure inspection: the drone's robotic arms take over contact inspection of the roof structure, "minimizing the risks and hazards of using humans in difficult tasks" (Prof. Anthony Tzes, NYUAD).
    • Targets the aerodynamic roof design of the airport terminal, whose geometry makes conventional human inspection hazardous.
    • Featured by NYU Abu Dhabi as part of its industry collaboration with Abu Dhabi Airports on maintaining safety standards at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
    Aerial manipulationDrone inspectionInfrastructure safetyUAV robotic armsIndustry collaboration
    Open on YouTube →

  • [Perception & Sensing]2020–2022

    RGB-T UAV Detection & Tracking

    NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR

    Ground-based perception stack for detecting and tracking small unmanned aerial vehicles in real time — fusing visible and thermal (RGB-t) imagery through a pan-tilt-zoom camera so a target drone stays locked even as it moves across the Kinesis arena.

    • Computationally efficient RGB-t pipeline: thermal cues help pick out UAVs against cluttered backgrounds while RGB keeps box refinement and tracking precise at frame rate.
    • Integrated detection and tracking in one system, validated on live flights inside NYUAD's netted drone arena with PTZ camera coverage.
    • Research thread spans six peer-reviewed papers — from PTZ visual tracking and deep-learning evader pursuit to Siamese aerial trackers and cooperative visual localization.

    Paper

    Computationally efficient RGB-t UAV detection and tracking system

    2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), 1410–1415· 2021

    Named in 5 papers
    UAV detectionThermal imagingVisual trackingPan-tilt-zoom cameraCounter-UAS
    Watch demo →Read paper →
  • FIG.01DATE PLANTATION — FIELD CORRIDOR
    FIG.02DATA COLLECTOR — THERMAL · RGB · AUDIO
    FIG.03TRUNK SENSING — ACOUSTIC RPW PROBE

    [Field Robotics]2020

    PalmSpector — Robotic Monitoring for Date Palm Health

    NYU Abu Dhabi · with Imperial College London IDE

    Integrated robotic monitoring system for early Red Palm Weevil detection at the scale of UAE date plantations — fusing acoustic, thermal, and RGB sensing so hidden larval infestations can be flagged before trunk collapse, then handing farmers targeted trees for inspection rather than blanket pesticide treatment.

    • Built a sensor-fusion field data collector around a single-board computer: thermal and RGB cameras, contact microphone, GPS-RTK, storage, and a Healthy/Infested UI so every tree sample follows the same acquisition protocol for supervised deep learning.
    • Field-validated acoustic trunk probing and multimodal capture across date plantations, addressing the core challenge that RPW larvae feed internally and leave almost no external symptoms until it is too late to save the tree.
    • Automated the inspection path on a Clearpath Husky UGV platform — SLAM with RGB-D sensing under palm canopy, plus Gazebo/RViz simulation of row navigation — so the same sensing stack can scale from handheld surveys to thousands of trees.
    Field roboticsSensor fusionRed Palm WeevilSLAMDate palm inspection

  • [Multi-Agent Systems]2012

    UAV-UGV Hybrid with Air-Based Path Planning

    NYU Abu Dhabi · Interactive Robots and Media Lab (IRML)

    Heterogeneous symbiotic robot pair treated as one entity with separable bodies: the ground vehicle carries and recharges a lightweight quad-rotor, while the quad-rotor acts as the pair's detachable long-range vision system, turning top-down aerial views into the maps that plan the ground vehicle's route.

    • Aerial frames are stitched into a single overhead map, obstacles are segmented from it, and a slowness map yields a collision-free minimum-time trajectory for the ground robot.
    • Built as a small-scale indoor pilot standing in for a much larger outdoor system, which made the concept testable and iterable at low cost and risk.
    • First-author paper at the 10th International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology; still cited in later aerial terrain mapping work for ground robot navigation.

    Paper

    Pilot-scale development of a UAV-UGV hybrid with air-based UGV path planning

    2012 10th International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology, 204–208· 2012

    UAV-UGV hybridAir-based path planningAerial mappingHeterogeneous multi-robotQuad-rotor
    Open on YouTube →Read paper →
  • FIG.01MARKER SUIT — OPERATOR CALIBRATION
    FIG.02ARM TEST FIELD — REACH TARGETS

    [Teleoperation]2010–2012

    Industrial Arm Teleoperation by Motion Capture

    Interactive Robots and Media Lab (IRML)

    Real-time teleoperation of an industrial robotic arm through natural human arm imitation: the operator wears a motion-capture marker suit, and the arm reproduces their movement live. The work grew into a general evaluation framework for teleoperation quality, published in the International Journal of Social Robotics.

    • Full pipeline from optical motion capture through kinematic retargeting to live control of an industrial manipulator.
    • Operator trials measured how naturally human arm movement transfers to a machine with very different kinematics.
    • Presented at IRIS 2010; the follow-up evaluation framework appeared in the International Journal of Social Robotics (2012).

    Paper

    Real-time teleoperation of an industrial robotic arm through human arm movement imitation

    Proceedings of the International Symposium on Robotics and Intelligent Sensors (IRIS)· 2010

    TeleoperationMotion captureIndustrial manipulatorKinematic retargetingHuman-robot interaction
    Read paper →
  • FIG.01ANDROID HEAD — ACTUATION & WIRING

    [Humanoid Robotics]2010–2011

    Android Telepresence Robot Hardware

    Interactive Robots and Media Lab (IRML)

    Hands-on electromechanical work on IRML's android telepresence platform — servicing the actuation, wiring, and control hardware behind a human-like robot head and torso, in pursuit of android telepresence at an affordable price point.

    • Maintained and upgraded the dense servo actuation and wiring loom driving the android's facial expressions and head movement.
    • Bench-level rebuild work spanning skin, servo, and controller maintenance kept the platform running for HRI research.
    • Contributed to 'Steps towards affordable android telepresence', presented at the HRI 2011 workshop.

    Paper

    Steps towards affordable android telepresence

    HRI 2011 Workshop· 2011

    Humanoid roboticsAndroid hardwareServo actuationElectromechanical designTelepresence
    Read paper →

06 // Tools & platforms

Stack

45 Items

PythonC++CJavaMATLABLabVIEWPyTorchTensorFlowKerasCUDATensorRTHugging FaceOllamaLangChainRAG pipelinesFastAPIFlowisen8nOpenWebUIDockerIsaac SimIsaac LabGazeboSimulinkPX4ArduPilotDJIdigital twinssynthetic datasim-to-realBoston Dynamics SpotClearpath HuskyUnitree H1/G1KUKAFanucKinovaST RoboticsLiDARradarthermal camerasmultispectral camerasmotion captureGNSSIMUs3D scanners

07 // Publications & IP

Research

30 Publications

~484 Citations

Patent

US 2015/0054633 A1

An Interactive Tangible Interface for Hand Motion

Additional IP development in AI and robotics is ongoing.

Full list → Google Scholar

08 // External engagement

Exhibitions

09 // From labs & deployments

Photos

  • LOG.01ARENA OVERWATCH — MIXED FLEET STAGED — KINESIS · NYUAD · 2021
  • LOG.02MODULAR TRICOPTER — FLIGHT TEST RIG — DUBAI WORLD CHALLENGE · 2021
  • LOG.03DELIVERY OCTAROTOR — TOP VIEW — RTA DUBAI WORLD CHALLENGE · 2021
  • LOG.04TEAM & DRONE — RTA TEST VENUE — RTA DUBAI WORLD CHALLENGE · 2021
  • LOG.05FLIGHT TEST — RTA CHALLENGE VENUE — RTA DUBAI WORLD CHALLENGE · 2021
  • LOG.06FLEET LINEUP — DRONES & QUADRUPEDS — CAIR · NYUAD · 2023
  • LOG.07HUMANOID DEMO — FLEET ON STAGE — EXHIBITION FLOOR · ABU DHABI · 2024
  • LOG.08H1 AT THE INNOVATION HUB — GLOBAL RAIL · 2024
  • LOG.09SPOT FLEET — RAIL ROBOTICS BOOTH — ETIHAD RAIL × NYUAD

10 // Recognition

Awards

  • AWD.01FIRST PRIZE — RTA AWARD CEREMONY

    ▲ First Prize

    RTA Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport

    Delivery Drone · USD 100,000

    Dubai, UAE

    • RTA winners letter

    • Certificate of recognition

    Read paper →

    2021

  • ▲ First Prize

    Design EmbedIT Competition

    Soft Body Robot · ShanghAI Lectures

    Shanghai, China

    2012

  • ▲ First Prize

    World Robot Olympiad

    LEGO Mindstorms NXT · Greek national round, TEI of Piraeus

    2009

  • ▲ First Prize

    Digital Week Robotics Competition

    Athens, Greece

    2008

Certifications

  • Professional RPAS Certificate

    Dubai Civil Aviation Authority

    Multirotor & Fixed Wing

    2023

  • Deep Learning for Robotics

    NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute

    2019

  • KUKA LBR iiwa Commissioning and Programming

    KUKA College

    2019

  • Deep Reinforcement Learning Nanodegree

    Udacity

    2019

11 // Updates & writing

Posts

  • CAIR on the floor at Make it in the Emirates

    NYU Abu Dhabi is showcasing some of its most impactful research at Make it in the Emirates. At the heart of our presence is the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, featuring advanced AI-driven robotic systems developed for real-world applications. My mission is to drive the commercialization of research by building strong industry partnerships, identifying real-world challenges, and transforming innovative ideas into scalable solutions.

    #MIITEUAE#ADNEC#Innovation#UAE
    Read on LinkedIn →

  • OmniOcta: an airborne synthesizer

    The OmniOcta UAV is not just another drone — it is a bold step forward in aerial robotics, achieving full omnidirectional flight with fixed unidirectional propellers. During development I witnessed test flights where the modulation of motor sound frequencies during aggressive rotations resembled that of an airborne synthesizer: an engineering symphony in motion.

    #CAIR#UAV#OmnidirectionalFlight#ICRA2025
    Read on LinkedIn →

  • Starting as Commercial Lead for AI & Robotics

    Working alongside exceptional faculty and researchers at CAIR, I focus on translating pioneering academic work into applied innovation — bridging the gap between breakthrough research and industry needs. The UAE's bold vision for AI and robotics offers fertile ground for turning academic research into real solutions that serve society and industry.

    #TechTransfer#AppliedResearch#NYUAD#CAIR
    Read on LinkedIn →

  • Humanoids 2024, Nancy

    Presentations, panels, and live robot demonstrations at the cutting edge of humanoid robotics and AI. We are entering an era that transforms our world in ways we could not have imagined a decade ago, and with that comes great responsibility: it is up to us, as researchers, engineers, and innovators, to steer this disruptive technology toward the greater good.

    #Humanoids2024#Robotics#TechnologyForGood
    Read on LinkedIn →

  • Summit robot inspecting a construction site

    Testing our Summit robot during autonomous data collection and monitoring of construction sites. The work is partly based on our ISARC 2021 paper, AutoCIS: An Automated Construction Inspection System for Quality Inspection of Buildings.

    #ISARC#ConstructionAutomation#ConstructionRobots
    Read on LinkedIn →

  • Failure is part of the process

    Failure is part of the process, but recovery is what matters — a beautifully articulated maneuver from our Spot.

    #NYUAD#BostonDynamics#Spot
    Read on LinkedIn →
All activity → LinkedIn

13 // Get in touch

Contact

nikolaos@portfolio: ~

whoami

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