Organizers

Neal Y. Lii is the Domain Head of Space Robotic Assistance, and co-founding head of the Modular Dexterous (Modex) Robotics Laboratory, at the Institute of Robotic and Mechatronics, German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Prior to joining DLR, he worked in the Automotive sector in the Silicon Valley, and at BMW in Germany, where he studied drive-by-wire systems. Neal received his BS from Purdue University, MS from Stanford University, and PhD from University of Cambridge.

Neal works on telerobotics and the different modalities of user interface (UI) for space and terrestrial applications. His hope is to enable people to effectively and effortlessly command complex robots and robotic teams. Aside from diving into hand-arm and other multi-modal UI systems that can give users an immersive experience down to the fingertips, he has also served as the principal investigator of two space telerobotic experiments, METERON SUPVIS Justin, and Surface Avatar. These experiments look at how astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) can command different robots on Earth with different UI designs and command modalities, and by extension, how we can command teams of robots in future space missions.

Dr Adrian Stoica had 40 years in the engineering profession.  His 1995 PhD thesis was among the first in learning motor skills by humanoid robots. Between 1996 and 2024 he was with NASA JPL, becoming Senior Research Scientist in 2008. Between 2008 and 2018 he was Group Supervisor of a group that developed Autonomy for Mars Rovers. He is a NIAC Fellow. Adrian was founding chair of the IEEE Initiative in Telepresence and cochaired the first IEEE Conference in Telepresence. He currently serves as IEEE SMC Society President for 2024-2025 term.