Brandon Araki

About

Brandon Araki is a robotics researcher whose work bridges the gap between aerial and ground mobility, soft actuation, and intelligent manufacturing. He is best known for pioneering the "flying monkey," a mesoscale robot capable of running, flying, and grasping—a platform that has garnered 76 citations for its potential in swarm robotics and multi-modal locomotion. His research on multi-robot path planning for vehicles that can both fly and drive (also 76 citations) addresses a previously unexplored problem, offering new strategies for energy-efficient, versatile robot teams. Araki has also made significant contributions to soft robotics through simple passive valves for addressable pneumatic actuation (36 citations), enabling complex control with minimal hardware. In manufacturing, he developed methods for printing three-dimensional electrical traces directly into additive manufactured parts (30 citations), allowing concurrent fabrication of mechanical structures and circuits. His later work extends into learning from demonstration, using logical automata to create interpretable and manipulable policies for robots. With over 250 total citations across his top papers, Araki’s work exemplifies a systems-level approach to robotics, combining mechanical design, control theory, and machine learning to create more capable and practical autonomous systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   The flying monkey: A mesoscale robot that can run, fly, and grasp

   76 citations · 2016
2. 2
   Multi-robot path planning for a swarm of robots that can both fly and drive

   76 citations · 2017
3. 3
   Simple passive valves for addressable pneumatic actuation

   36 citations · 2014
4. 4
   Printing Three-Dimensional Electrical Traces in Additive Manufactured Parts for Injection of Low Melting Temperature Metals

   30 citations · 2014
5. 5
   Range-based Cooperative Localization with Nonlinear Observability Analysis

   12 citations · 2019
6. 6
   Injected 3D electrical traces in additive manufactured parts with low melting temperature metals

   10 citations · 2015
7. 7
   A Modular Folded Laminate Robot Capable of Multi Modal Locomotion

   9 citations · 2017
8. 8
   Functional co-optimization of articulated robots

   7 citations · 2017
9. 9
   Deep Bayesian Nonparametric Learning of Rules and Plans from Demonstrations with a Learned Automaton Prior

   6 citations · 2020
10. 10
    Learning and planning with logical automata

    2 citations · 2021

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links