Aaron Johnson
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Courtesy Appointments, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Robotics Institute
Aaron Johnson researches how to design intelligent interactions between a robot and its environment with a focus on taking robots out of the lab and factory and into the real world. His interests include novel robot design, behavior design, controller design, platform design, as well as dynamic transitions, contact, physics-based planning, bio-inspired robotics, robot vision, actuator modeling, and robot ethics. He has tested his robots in the Mojave desert, power plants, a coal mine, and on various military bases.
Johnson received his B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon (2008). He received his Ph.D. in electrical and systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (2014), and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Personal Robotics Lab, the Robotics Institute, at CMU. He was formerly a visiting researcher with Boston Dynamics, an electrical engineering Intern at iRobot, and a research assistant with the Biorobotics Lab (Snake Robot Lab) at CMU.
Johnson’s work has been featured in many news stories, including interviews with the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal, and in articles on technology news sites, including IEEE Spectrum, Gizmodo, Wired, and Engadget. He received an NSF CAREER Award in 2020 and a Young Investigator Award from the Army Research Office in 2019. He was a Best Student Paper Finalist at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in 2013, and at the Climbing and Walking Robots Conference in 2012. He received the David Thuma Laboratory Project Award in 2008 from CMU and an honorable mention for the Computing Research Association’s Outstanding Undergraduate Award in 2008.
Soil sensing autonomous robotics
The Simplest Walking Robot
Robots That Can Go Anywhere in the World
24-775 Robot Design and Experimentation: Student Projects
Education
2014 Ph.D., Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
2008 BS, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Media mentions
CMU Engineering
Robotics for environmental innovation
A team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers is seeking to understand how robotics can help engineers address environmental challenges, such as monitoring affected soils.
Mechanical Engineering
Paleobionics: Dinosaurs are back
Carmel Majidi, Aaron Johnson, and Aja Mia Carter explain the intersection of paleontology, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
CMU Engineering
Embracing play: alumna uses toys to teach kids about engineering
By leaning into her interdisciplinary mindset and following her passions, Natha Singhasaneh, MechE ’18, has found her place designing toys to teach kids about science and engineering at CrunchLabs.
CMU Engineering
It’s an ant… it’s a robot… it’s Picotaur! The unrivaled micro robot
Researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University have created the first legged robot of its size to run, turn, push loads and climb miniature stairs.
CMU Engineering
Big picture, small robot
A team of mechanical engineering researchers create “Mugatu,” the first steerable bipedal robot with only one motor.
CMU Engineering
Tricky tangles: Robots learn to navigate vine-like vegetation
CMU researchers develop technology that enables four-legged robots to walk through vine-like vegetation.
Carnegie Bosch Institute
Meet CBI Faculty Host: Aaron Johnson
In the Robomechanics Lab, Aaron Johnson and his team work on how to get robots to adapt and operate in challenging, real-world environments. This research thrust has direct applications in areas like environmental monitoring and agriculture, which are at the center of CBI Fellow Vivek Thangavelu’s project.
CMU Engineering
Gwen’s Girls partnership fosters children’s interest in robomechanics
A student-driven partnership between Aaron Johnson’s RoboMechanics lab and Gwen’s Girls has introduced nearly 100 grade school girls to engineering design and robotics.
CMU Engineering
Big steps for mini robots
Aaron Johnson’s Robomechanics Lab tested spherical foot designs to find the best fit so their biped robot with 15-cm legs could walk steadily.
Reuters
Johnson quoted in Reuters
MechE’s Aaron Johnson talked about the challenges of autonomous robotics in an article on Tesla’s new Optimus robot. Johnson explains why handling soft, unpredictable material is harder for a robot than for a human.
CMU Engineering
Dean’s Early Career Fellows announced
Five College of Engineering faculty members have been awarded the Dean’s Early Career Fellowship in recognition of their exemplary contributions to their respective fields.
CMU Engineering
Open-source software gives a leg up to robot research
Aaron Johnson’s Robomechanics Lab has developed an open-source software that enables more agile movement in legged robots.