Matthew Shekels
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Papers
4
Total Citations
122
H-Index
4
About
Matthew Shekels is a leading roboticist specializing in semi-autonomous mobile manipulation and space-based capture technologies. His most impactful work centers on the DARPA Robotics Challenge, where he was instrumental in developing Team RoboSimian’s adaptable hardware and software architecture. This system, detailed in his highly cited 2016 paper (86 citations), enabled the robot to achieve a 5th-place finish in the 2015 Finals by scoring 7 points in under 48 minutes—a testament to robust, real-world disaster-response design. Shekels also made pioneering contributions to NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, designing a microspine tool for grabbing and anchoring to boulders on asteroids (25 citations). His research further includes a testbed for capturing small, free-flying asteroids in space, addressing challenges of tumbling and spinning targets. With a portfolio that bridges terrestrial emergency robotics and extraterrestrial resource extraction, Shekels demonstrates how adaptive manipulation systems can operate in the most extreme environments. His work continues to influence the next generation of autonomous robots for both planetary defense and industrial applications.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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