William Lehman

Catholic University of America, Michigan Technological University, Robotic Technology (United States)

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About

William Lehman is a robotics researcher whose work bridges accessible engineering education and socially impactful human-robot interaction. His primary research areas include kinematics for robotic operating systems, low-cost robotic hardware design, and emotionally expressive robots for therapeutic applications. Lehman’s most cited work, “Introducing Kinematics with Robot Operating System (ROS)” (2015, 19 citations), provides a foundational framework for teaching coordinate transformations and reference frame management—a critical skill for students and engineers working with multi-sensor robotic systems. He extended this educational focus with “Low-Cost Robot Arms for ROS and MoveIt” (2016, 6 citations), which details an undergraduate project using accelerometer-based controllers to democratize robotics experimentation. Beyond technical pedagogy, Lehman has explored the intersection of robotics and psychology in “Development and Evaluation of Emotional Robots for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders” (2015, 9 citations), contributing to assistive technologies that use animatronic facial displays to support social communication. His earlier work, “Animatronics and Emotional Face Displays of Robots” (2006, 4 citations), anticipated the growing industry demand for emotionally intelligent machines. Through these contributions, Lehman has helped lower barriers to robotics education while advancing the use of robots in therapeutic contexts.