Director – Aerospace Mechatronics Group
Prof. M. Reza Emami, Ph.D., P. Eng.
reza.emami[AT]utoronto.ca
Prof. M. Reza Emami is the Director of the Aerospace Mechatronics Group and Coordinator of the Aerospace and Design Laboratories at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies. He was also the Founding Chaired Professor of Onboard Space Systems and Director of Asteroid Engineering Centre at the Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, in 2015-2020. He obtained his Ph.D. and postdoctoral fellowship in Robotics and Mechatronics from University of Toronto, and M.A.Sc. and B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, and worked in the industry as a licensed Professional Engineer and Project Manager before joining the academia. His research focuses on concurrent engineering of multidisciplinary systems, such as spacecraft, robot manipulators and rovers. Some of his current research includes: space systems miniaturization, space debris mitigation and remediation, concurrent base-arm control of free-flying space manipulators, satellite formation flying, asteroid redirection for exploration and mining, intelligent heterogeneous rover/satellite teams, and reconfigurable manipulators. Prof. Emami is the Associate Editor of Frontiers in Space Technologies and International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, Guest Editor of MDPI’s Journal of Aerospace, and Honorary Rosalind Member of London Journals Press. He has been nominated for several awards, including National Innovation for Technology Award and OPAS Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was also recognized by MathWorks as a Featured Professor in 2013 and 2003, and was in the list of University of Toronto’s Miracle Workers in 2000.
PhD Students
Jun Yang Li
junyang.li[AT]mail.utoronto.ca
Jun Yang Li received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, in 2018 and 2019, respectively. From September 2018 to May 2019, he was a Research Assistant with the Robomechanics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University. From 2019 to 2020, he was a Mechanical Designer Intern with the HG Tech, Wuhan, China. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in aerospace studies and engineering at University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, supervised by Prof. Reza Emami. His research interests include cooperative control, robot manipulation, and trajectory planning.
Sean Wolfe
sean.wolfe[AT]mail.utoronto.ca
Sean Wolfe received his B. Eng. in Electrical Engineering from McGill University in 2017. He then completed a MASc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada, with a research focus on teams of autonomous aerial vehicles. In 2022, Mr. Wolfe graduated from the University of Tokyo with a M. Eng. in Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, centered on the fabrication of Doppler LiDARs for aerospace. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in Aerospace Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto, focusing on surveillance and rendezvous with temporarily captured asteroids in the Earth-Moon system.
MASc Students
Ketan Vasudeva
ketan.vasudeva[AT]mail.utoronto.ca
Ketan Vasudeva is an M.A.Sc. researcher working towards developing the necessary technology for the establishment of a sustainable lunar base. He is actively working with MDA Space and Professor Reza Emami to develop robotics technologies for the filling and manipulation of regolith containment units (lunar sandbags). Ketan graduated from the Robotics specialization of the Engineering Science program at the University of Toronto, with a minor in business. Born to a French mother and Indian father, his journey has taken him across Europe before arriving in Canada. This has provided him with a proud multicultural heritage, motivating his work to contribute to advancement in both social advocacy and engineering.
Funan Shi
funan.shi[AT]mail.utoronto.ca
Frank graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering and Management from McMaster University in 2022 and is working towards his Master of Applied Science degree at the Aerospace Mechatronics Laboratory. He is currently working on robotic Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation and Active Debris Removal in a joint cooperative research program between the University of Toronto and the Canadian space company MDA. His work will develop a platform that tests the performance of spacecraft in an emulated microgravity environment through the use of robotic manipulators, and to use this platform to continue the development of the Deorbiter Cubesat. He is also a founding member of the Autonomous Drone Racing group at the University of Toronto Aerospace Team and leads development on the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithm.
Joseph Tran
joseph.tran[AT]mail.utoronto.ca
Joseph Tran obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the Division of Engineering Science at the University of Toronto. His M.A.Sc. research aims to design a control scheme for close-range spacecraft formation flying. Specifically, for spacecraft with only single-axis continuous thrust, and limitations on thrust and moments. As a result, the orbit and attitude dynamics of the spacecraft are coupled and must be considered concurrently. The developed control scheme will maintain a formation size of less than 1 km and be rigorously analyzed to ensure robustness against uncertainties and perturbations. The control scheme will be compared with the existing schemes to assess performance and suitability. The research would be useful in several applications such as space-based surveillance, space debris removal, in-orbit servicing, and asteroid redirection.
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Alumni
The Aerospace Mechatronics Group is home to some notable alumni.
PhD
- Houman Hakima
- Michael Bazzocchi
- Victor Ragusila
- Jason Kereluk
- Robin Chhabra
- Adrian Martin
- Tobias Roos (LTU)
- Kanika Garg (LTU)
- Sumeet Satpute (LTU)
- Chris Nieto (LTU)
- Niklas Anthony (LTU)
- Moses Browne (LTU)
MASc
- Liam Horrigan
- Steven Daniluk
- Michael Bazzocchi
- Murtaza Bohra
- Larry Ng
- Peter Martin
- Ken Zhong
- Justin Girard
- Michael-Anthony Tedesco
- Jason Kereluk
- Victor Ragusila
- Robin Chhabra
- Adrian Martin
- Ansyar Putra (LTU)
- Guillermo Lopez (LTU)
- Niklas Anthony (LTU)
- Indra Muthuvijayan (LTU)
PostDoc & Research Fellow
- Amin Alandihallaj
- Michael Bazzocchi
- Amir Shakouri
- Linsen Xu
- Soheil Sadeghi (LTU)
- Leonard Felicetti (LTU)
- Vijay Muralidharan (LTU)
- Srinivasan Munisamy (LTU)