Aaron Becker has always been interested in robots. It’s just that, up until he decided to pursue postgraduate studies, he could never quite get his hands on one.
He asked Santa Claus for a robot when he was 6, but it never came. As an undergrad at Iowa State University, he figured a degree in computer science might be the ticket. No such luck.
“I said, ‘Man, I’ve got to go back to grad school. I want to make sure this time,’” Becker says. “I want to understand [robotics] and figure out how to make things move and change their environment.”
A program in control systems at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign finally introduced him to the world of robotics. Since earning a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering in 2012, Becker hasn’t looked back.
He joined the faculty at the University of Houston in 2014, where he runs a swarm robotics lab and works as an associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the Cullen College of Engineering. He also manages a YouTube channel (youtube.com/@AaronBecker), where his videos have garnered tens of thousands of views.
Solving problems within the energy industry has become a major area of focus. Becker has spent the last decade researching and developing processes that keep workers safer, improve productivity and optimize systems within the industry. The trick, he says, is to get your hands dirty, identify a pain point and use robotics to solve the issue.
“We’re pushed by novelty,” Becker says. “As a professor, writing the third paper about a topic is no good. But finding some ideas that haven’t been applied and where you can show a benefit — that’s a happy spot to be.”
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