Andrew Bylard

Andrew Bylard received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2022. He received his B.Eng. with a dual concentration of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Walla Walla University in 2014 and a M.Sc. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2016.

Andrew’s research interests include hardware-accelerated ray tracing for collision-avoidance of complex triangle meshes in trajectory optimization and geometric methods for reactive control and structured robot task planning. He has also done work in unconventional space robotics, including gecko-inspired controllable dry adhesives for space grasping and manipulation and multi-limbed extendable-boom robots for long-reach mobile manipulation in reduced gravity or climbing applications. He has been a lead developer at the Stanford Space Robotics Facility, which houses test beds used to perform spacecraft contact dynamics experiments and demonstrate autonomous spacecraft robotics and proximity operations under simulated frictionless, microgravity conditions.

Outside work, Andrew enjoys photography, piano, drums, philosophy, history, and learning languages.

Awards:

• NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship, 2015