Kinesis Core Technology Platform Laboratory

Challenge, contribution, and outcome

Facility overview

Kinesis is NYU Abu Dhabi’s shared platform for robotics and motion research. I led its creation from faculty requirements and facility design through procurement, construction supervision, systems integration, commissioning, and operation. Its reconfigurable arena and researcher workspace bring drones, industrial arms, motion capture, and immersive systems into one experimental facility.

Facility Highlights

• 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.
• Supported Dr. Merritt Moore's January 2023 robot fashion show: students costumed Boston Dynamics Spot platforms in the Kinesis arena on 20 January, and the performance ran in Dubai the next day.

Platforms & Systems

Equipment and platforms established or operated in this laboratory — not a claim that every connected project used each system.

Projects enabled here

• Tested here

  UAV Visual Tracking & Localization

  Integrated sensing and arena instrumentation and supported flight validation across six papers on UAV perception and cooperative localization.

• Tested here

  ISAC Radar Cross-Section Campaign

  Co-authored the RF electronics study and supported the 25–28 GHz measurement campaign in Kinesis, including the arena and the robotic targets.

• Developed here

  Hybrid Ground–Air–Water Autonomous Vehicle

  Co-built the original hybrid platform, supported its technical integration through Kinesis, and co-authored both IEEE papers on its design and validation.

Publications & media

• institutional page

  Official Kinesis CTP page

Photos

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