Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Selected Publications
Languages
Timeline
Generic

ALBERTO RIGO

Redondo Beach,CA

Summary

Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering with a focus on robotics and advanced control systems for quadruped platforms. Developed real-time MPC frameworks, designed lightweight robotic arms, and led research on multi-robot collaboration for mobile manipulation. Passionate about bringing cutting-edge research into real-world robotics applications.

Overview

8
8
years of professional experience

Work History

Graduate Researcher

Dynamic Robotics and Control Laboratory
Los Angeles, CA
06.2021 - Current
  • Developed hierarchical Model Predictive Control (MPC) frameworks enabling quadruped robots to perform nonprehensile loco-manipulation tasks, such as pushing and transporting large objects with both position and orientation control.
  • Designed and integrated a custom 1-DOF robotic arm to increase payload capacity on quadruped platforms. Demonstrated superior performance compared to industry-standard 6-DOF arms, enabling payloads up to 8 kg.
  • Created collaborative multi-robot loco-manipulation strategies, combining centralized object-level planning with decentralized execution to transport bulky, heavy payloads over uneven terrain and through obstacle-laden environments.
  • Validated control frameworks through extensive hardware experiments using Unitree Aliengo and A1 robots, demonstrating real-world viability of high-performance mobile manipulation in dynamic settings.

Graduate Researcher

USC Autonomous Microrobotic Systems Lab
Los Angeles, CA
08.2019 - 05.2021
  • Developed expertise in designing and building sub-1gram microrobots using advanced micro-fabrication technologies.
  • Engineered the lightest autonomous micro-crawler within a collection of bio-mimetic robots.

Graduate Researcher

Politecnico di Milano
Milano, Italy
04.2017 - 06.2019
  • Studied effects of wind gusts and drive-train modeling in the aeroelastic structure of the Leonardo Tiltrotor
  • Won VFS Robert L. Lichten Award for best publication from a first-time presenting author at the VFS 2018 Annual Forum

Education

Ph.D. - Aerospace Engineering

University of Southern California (USC)
Los Angeles, CA
04-2025

M.S. - Aeronautical Engineering - Rotary-Wing Aircraft

Politecnico Di Milano
Italy
12-2017

Skills

Control & Optimization: Model Predictive Control (MPC), Whole-Body Control (WBC), Robust Control, Trajectory Optimization, Controller Design

Programming: C, Python, MATLAB, Simulink
Robotics Frameworks: ROS, URDF/Xacro, RViz, Gazebo, MoveIt
Modeling & Prototyping: SolidWorks, 3D CAD, FEA, 3D Printing
Tools & Libraries: Git, CasADi, OpenCV (basic)

Selected Publications

  • Rigo, A., Muqun. H., Ma J. Gupta S.K., Nguyen Q., Design and Control Co-Optimization for Dynamic Locomanipulation with Robotic Arm on Quadruped Robot, ASME JMR, 2024,
  • Rigo, A., Chen Y., Gupta S.K., Nguyen Q., Contact Optimization for Non-Prehensile Loco-Manipulation via Hierarchical Model Predictive Control, IEEE ICRA, 2023,
  • Bena, R.M., Calderón, A.A., Nguyen, X.T., Rigo, A., and Pérez-Arancibia, N.O., SMARTI: A 60-mg Steerable Robot Driven by High-Frequency Shape Memory Alloy Actuation, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2021,

Languages

English
Native/ Bilingual
Italian
Native/ Bilingual

Timeline

Graduate Researcher

Dynamic Robotics and Control Laboratory
06.2021 - Current

Graduate Researcher

USC Autonomous Microrobotic Systems Lab
08.2019 - 05.2021

Graduate Researcher

Politecnico di Milano
04.2017 - 06.2019

Ph.D. - Aerospace Engineering

University of Southern California (USC)

M.S. - Aeronautical Engineering - Rotary-Wing Aircraft

Politecnico Di Milano

Similar Profiles

CREATE PROFILE
ALBERTO RIGO