Joshua Spisak

I am a pittsburgh based roboticist performing research at Carnegie Mellon University's biorobotics lab. I will be pursuing a Masters of Science in Robotics at CMU in the fall.

There are many areas of research I find interesting- walking robots and gaits, multi-agent interaction, distributed systems, embedded systems and tightly integrated robots. During the course of my masters program I hope to deepen my theoretical understanding of all these topics with research and design efficient robots utilizing these ideas for practical applications.

I earned a bachelors in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020, and have worked in robotics since 2018. For more details check out the Education and Experience pages.

Education

I recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelors in Computer Science. I am currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University. My current academic achievements include:

Bachelors Degree in Computer Science - University of Pittsburgh

Associates Degree in Math and Science - Community College of Allegheny County

2017 - 2018 Outstanding Male Student - An Award from CCAC for both outstanding academic performance as well as contributions to the community.

Associates Degree in Software Development - Community College of Allegheny County

High School Diploma - Cheswick Christian Academy

Level II Technology Certification - McDonald's (listed because I think it's interesting, email me if you're curious about it).

Publications

Commissioning of Robotic Inspection and Automated Analysis System for Assay of Gas Diffusion Piping

This paper discusses the challenged with commissioning a robotic NDA system, and reflects much of the work done on the RadPiper project. See the RadPiper publications page for other publications from that project.

Work Experience

Near Earth Autonomy - Intern: May 2019 - April 2020 In the summer of 2019 I joined Near Earth Autonomy to expand my knowledge of robotics problems and algorithms from a 2D problem to a 3D. I developed a post-processing system for flight data, debugged system issues to improve flight reliability, and worked on several flight architectures.

Carnegie Mellon University: - Research Assistant: June 2018 - May 2019 Starting in the summer of 2018 I began working at the Field Robotics Center in CMU as a Research Assistant. My tasks include developing software for robotics and data processing as well as debugging, troubleshooting issues, and documenting methodology in V&V reports. For more on the project see RadPiper website.

Once that program ended I joined team Explorer for the DARPA subterranean challenge. On this team I did primarily hardware tasks, maintaining drivers and expanding functionality to support safe operation. I participated heavily in the depelopment of our node dropper and designed a power distribution PCB for the second ground vehicle. Team Explorer won the tunnel circuit in 2019, and came in second place in the Urban circuit.

Best Buy - Sales Associate/Apple Master: Sept 2017 - July 2018 After the school semester started, I took a position as Sales Associate at best buy, and was then offered the position of Apple Master, to be an expert in all computing solutions an to be able to fit any customers needs in a stylish and functional way.

McDonald's - Manager/Operations Technology Person: Aug 2015 - Aug 2017 I worked several positions at McDonald's over the span of two years while earning my associates in software development. I started as a crew member but eventually became a manager. I eventually started assisting the Department Managers and became a Co-Department Manager in 2016. I also became Operations Technology Person in 2016 and supported several restaurants within our franchise for any of their technology needs spanning from Networking to Hardware and Software. I left late 2017 to refocus on school.

Laurel Mountain Christian Camp - Crew Member. I worked here the summer of 2012 directly before the organization that currently runs it (CitiKidz) started their program. I left to continue school.

I am proud of the work I have done and am doing at all of these locations, for any further questions about myself or my work experience feel free to contact me at my e-mail joshs333@live.com.

Other Skills (Hobbies)

Web development and music are both hobbies of mine. I started web development when I was in 7th grade and have loved it ever since. I am proficient in databasing as well and have run minecraft servers, debugging and troubleshooting are both favorite tasks of mine. I also enjoy music and play with varying degrees of skill the following:

Piano
Guitar
Ukulele.

Contact Information

You can probably find me somewhere roaming the illustrious City of Pittsburgh (this is a lie, I'm probably in a basement somewhere writing code), but for the meantime if you need to contact me please use the following contact information.