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Aerospace Engineering,
Computational Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

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Education:
Ph.D., Stanford University in Electrical Engineering

Research Interests:

  • Design of humanoid and exoskeleton robots
  • Task and motion planning for agile mobile manipulation
  • Human autonomy teaming
  • Autonomous robots

Luis Sentis is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a General Dynamics Endowed Faculty Fellow, and a member of UT Austin's Good Systems. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He was a La Caixa Foundation Fellow while at Stanford. He holds a B.S. degree in Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Before Stanford, he worked in Silicon Valley as a Control Systems Engineer for clean room automation.

In Austin, he leads the Human Centered Robotics Laboratory, a laboratory focusing on control, task and motion planning, human factors, and experimentation with humanoid robots, mobile manipulation robots, exoskeletons and autonomous systems. He is also a founding member of the UT Robotics Portfolio Program and the UT Ethics of AI Portfolio Program. He was the UT Austin's Lead for DARPA's Robotics Challenge with NASA Johnson Space Center where he helped to design and test the Valkyrie humanoid robot. His research has been funded by ONR, NASA, NSF, ARL, AFC, DARPA and private companies.

He has been awarded the NASA Elite Team Award for his contributions to NASA’s Johnson Space Center Software Robotics and Simulation Division. He is also a founding member and innovation advisor for Apptronik Systems, a company focusing on human-centered robotic products.

News

EERC building

Nanshu Lu and Karen Willcox are among a group of nine Texas Engineering faculty members named to Clarivate's Highly Cited Researchers list for 2025.

Published by the Cockrell School of Engineering

Apptronik robot doing hook 'em horns

Countdown to Commercialization

Our faculty and students are working hard across the department to change the world by transferring their research to tangible, commercialized products.

Hum Mandell

Distinguished alumnus Humboldt “Hum” Mandell is featured in this UT News story that highlights his work in NASA's mission control when astronauts walked on the Moon, the great loves of his life and UT Austin where it all began, and where his philanthropy continues to make an impact. 

Published by The University of Texas at Austin

Pilot flying new VR flight simulator

New virtual reality flight simulators give aerospace engineering students hands-on flight experience.

Published by the Cockrell School of Engineering

Research

From land and water on Earth to the stars and beyond, our research is not only changing the world and the lives of people who live here – it is transforming the future of air travel and space exploration, creating opportunities for future discoveries outside our world. At UT Aerospace, the sky is not the limit.

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Earthrise over Moon
 

Research Areas

$23.2M

In Research Expenditures

#9

Graduate Aerospace Engineering Program in the Nation

U.S. News & World Report

#8

Undergraduate Aerospace Engineering Program in the Nation

U.S. News & World Report

Spotlights

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Faculty Openings

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Research Seminars

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