Taskin Padir

Taskin Padir is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University and concurrently serves as an Amazon Scholar. He holds a PhD and MS from Purdue University and a BS from Middle East Technical University. His research focuses on experiential robotics, human-robot teaming, and embodied AI, with leadership roles in the Robotics and Intelligent Vehicles Research Laboratory (RIVeR Lab) and the Institute for Experiential Robotics. Padir has led projects for DARPA, NASA, and industry partners, advancing autonomous systems for extreme environments and human-robot collaboration.

Education:

• PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University (2004)
• MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University (1997)
• BS, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Middle East Technical University (1993)

Research Interests:

• Shared autonomy and human-in-the-loop robotics
• Embodied artificial intelligence
• Human-robot teaming in extreme environments (e.g., space, disaster zones)
• Collaborative robotics for industrial applications

His work bridges robotics, AI, and real-world challenges, with recent projects addressing seafood processing automation, robotic navigation in unstructured terrains, and spectroscopy-based environmental monitoring.

Awards: Recipient of the 2024 Faculty Research Team Award, 2023 Impact Award, and 2022 Amazon Scholar distinction. His research has been funded by NSF, DARPA, NASA, and industry collaborators like Amazon Robotics and Intel.

Labs: Director of the RIVeR Lab and Institute for Experiential Robotics, fostering interdisciplinary research in autonomous systems and intelligent vehicles. Current projects include CRISP (Co-worker Robots for Seafood Processing) and PROSPECT (robotic spectroscopy tools).