University of Waterloo
Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechatronics Engineering with AI Option, with Distinction
Hi, I am Ji Yuan 'Steven' Feng
I am a _
I am a robotics systems engineer passionate about bringing autonomous and biomimetic robots to life.
Education
Active Robotics Interaction Lab
Researched human perception of robot behaviors under Dr. Yue Hu, paper published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Stanford University
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (In Progress)
Publications
ACM
Simulating a Dextrous Hand For Robotics With OpenUSD
ACM SIGGRAPH, 2026
ROScon
From URDF to USD: A Complete Pipeline for High-Fidelity ROS 2 Simulation in NVIDIA Isaac Sim
ROScon 2026
NVIDIA
Configure and Tune Robot Assets With OpenUSD and PhysX
NVIDIA GTC 2026
IEEE
Quantifying Human Mental State in Interactive pHRI: Maintaining Balancing
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2025
ACM
Learn OpenUSD: Robotics Best Practices
ACM SIGGRAPH, 2025
ACM
Digital Twin Robotics: Immersive Software-in-the-Loop Testing with OpenUSD, Isaac Sim, and ROS
ACM SIGGRAPH, 2025
NVIDIA
Isaac Lab: A GPU-Accelerated Simulation Framework for Multi-Modal Robot Learning
NVIDIA White Paper, 2025
NVIDIA
Software-in-the-Loop Testing for Robots With OpenUSD, Isaac Sim, and ROS I
NVIDIA GTC 2025
NVIDIA
Learn OpenUSD: Robotics Best Practices I
NVIDIA GTC 2025
NVIDIA
2023 to Present
GR1 humanoid robot imitation learning policy
H1 humanoid robot tries to front flip
Teach H1 humanoids how to walk
Robotics arm pick and place example
Dextrah manipulation task
Franka robot moveit integration
Reinforcement learning based drawer manipulation
High fidelity claw simulation
Ackermann steering simulation for RC car
Outdoor robot simulation
Agility humanoid robot locomotion policy
Giving a presentation on building robot digital twins at GTC 2025
ROS software-in-the-loop simulation lab at GTC 2025
Presenting the next generation physics engine Newton at GTC 2025
Giving a talk on reinforcement learning for humanoids at SIGGRAPH 2025
Presentation on tuning dexterous hands at GTC 2026
At NVIDIA, I worked on both Isaac Lab and Isaac Sim, focusing on distinct facets of robotic simulation. In Isaac Lab, I developed scalable humanoid and legged robot models and designed reinforcement learning-based locomotion policies. In Isaac Sim, I concentrated on high-fidelity simulation, building realistic digital twins, synthetic sensor models, and inference pipelines for deploying trained policies through ROS and Isaac Sim. I also presented several talks at NVIDIA GTC on robot composition and software-in-the-loop simulation pipelines.
Internships
Tesla
Developed lighting apps for new Model S/X and Tesla Semi, including Tesla Light Test.
NVIDIA
Built realistic sensors and simulated quadruped robots in NVIDIA Isaac Sim's robotics platform.
ecobee
Built production test fixtures and CV/ML algorithms for smart thermostat display testing.
University of Waterloo, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering
TA for intro C++ course; led tutorials, graded, designed exams.
Khazanah National Americas
Explored drone, CV, and AR/VR tech to support investor understanding and decision-making.
Ford Motor Company
Supported F150 Lightning development and testing using Jenkins, TestStand, C#, Python.
Projects
Airplane Project (2020)
The sky is calling!
In this project, I built a remote controlled airplane from scratch using raspberry pi and esp8266 modules, and designed software and mechanical architectures from scratch in a team of two.
Watonomous
Bolty!
Watonomous is a University of Waterloo design team that turns a chevy bolt to a level 4 autonomous vehicle. At Watonomous, I worked on local planning for the vehicle, particularly with the MPC controller and gained valuable experience with ROS.
Capstone Project (2023)
Multi-robot exploration and SLAM in a simulated warehouse
Multi-robot SLAM system for exploring and mapping a 80000 sqft virtual warehouse.
Webapp Hackathon Projects
Best Use of Google Cloud Award (Purrtector, NWHacks 2021)
Intelibatch (left) is a webapp for displaying and predicting COVID19 cases across North America using React (front end), Flask (back end), and Tensorflow (prediction) to compute the optimal batch size for repeated testing. Purrtector (right) is a chrome extension for encouraging planet positive behaviors by rewarding users with digital pets using React and Flask.
Wearable Hackathon Projects
1st Place (VisionSense, MakeUofT 2019)
VisionSense (left) is an IoT outfit to haptically guide users with visual impairments/obstructions while monitoring their environment. Nightlight (right) is a wearable that allows bike users to signal turns at night via motion-sensing technologies which will activate turn lights.
BOFA, the Line Follower Robot
2nd highest competition mark
Lead the mechanical design for a line following robot using SolidWorks, drafted Bill of Material, and oversee software, mechanical, and electrical developments as project manager
HiSecurity!
Hack the north, 2019
This camera system which utilizes machine vision (OpenCV and Sktlearn) to physically track and identify faces using the stepper motors onboard. The handy ui also enables users to track the system remotely and in real time.
VEX Robotics
Finalists, Alberta Provincial Championship 2017 and 2018
Over the three years, we explored various robotics systems such as holonomic drives, reverse double four bar lifts, and even learned C programming and programed PID controllers from scratch in a team of three.
Pilot
"Oh! I slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on bright yellow wings."
I finally touched the sky when I earned my Transport Canada glider pilot license in 2016 and my private pilot license in 2017. I am also a licensed drone operator in both Canada and the United States. It remains a breathtaking experience, and it is what inspires me to build robotic aircraft to this day.
Skills
C, C++, C#, CUDA
Python, MATLAB, R
Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP8266
OpenCV, Tensorflow, Pytorch
Solidworks, AutoCAD, Blender
ROS, ROS2, Gazebo
Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab
Private Pilot, Glider Pilot, Drone Operator (CA + US)
Contact
Let's chat about robots!
Outside of work, I play clarinet with the San Jose Metropolitan Band, keep up with my accordion, and am back in the classroom taking courses at Stanford. The rest of the time I am out on a hiking trail, scouting good spots to fly my drone, or wandering around the city.
Made by 🦆 Ji Yuan 'Steven' Feng