Daniel Lofaro
Electrical and Computer Engineering in Robotics and Control Systems PhD, 2012
Daniel Lofaro is a 5th year BS/MS student at Drexel studying Electrical Engineering in Control Systems. Daniel’s interest in the sciences and engineering began when he saw a racket ball shatter after being dipped in liquid nitrogen for the first time in second grade.
Daniel was awarded the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) Fellowship for academic year 2007-2008. He worked last summer as an NSF Fellow in Daejeon, South Korea at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Daniel worked side by side with the robot researchers that make the HUBO humanoid robot. The HUBO is a 4.5 foot tall humanoid robot that can walk, run and even climb stairs. Daniel is interested specifically in biped locomotion as it relates to animals that use tails as a method of balancing. He learned how to assemble, disassemble and maintain the HUBO while incorporating his own communications and control system into the existing HUBO design. In fall 2008, the Drexel Autonomous Systems lab procured a HUBO as a part of a NSF biped robotic research grant.