Michael Rubenstein

Michael Rubenstein is an Associate Professor with joint appointments in the Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering departments at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering. He holds the Lisa Wissner-Slivka and Benjamin Slivka Professorship. His research focuses on multi-robot systems, swarm robotics, and bio-inspired robotics, emphasizing scalable control and design for large robotic collectives.

• Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Southern California (2009)
• M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California (2005)
• B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (2003)

Research interests include swarm intelligence, self-assembly, and fault-tolerant systems. He has pioneered platforms like Kilobot and FireAnt, enabling affordable, large-scale robotic swarms. His work bridges robotics with biology, addressing challenges in distributed control and collective behavior.

Key publications highlight advancements in swarm formation control, self-healing algorithms, and modular robotics. Recent trends emphasize environmental adaptation and decentralized systems. He has received awards such as the Sloan Fellowship and holds patents in robotic connectivity and sensing.

• Advises PhD students including Hanlin Wang and Petras Swissler
• Recipient of grants from DARPA and NSF
• Develops courses like 'Applied Mechatronics' and 'Special Topics in Swarms'

Labs/Teams: Lead researcher in the Self-Organizing Systems Group, contributing to open-source robotics tools and educational platforms.