Faranak Davoodi
University of Southern California, California Institute of Technology
Papers
3
Total Citations
22
H-Index
2
About
Faranak Davoodi is a visionary aerospace engineer and roboticist whose research focuses on energy harvesting, exploration robotics, and planetary mission architectures. Her most impactful work centers on the **Moball**, a novel wind-driven spherical exploration robot designed for in-situ observation of extreme environments—from Earth’s polar regions to Mars and Saturn’s moon Titan. Davoodi’s key contributions include the design of a coreless tubular linear generator that enables Moball to harvest wind energy while simultaneously providing steering control, a breakthrough detailed in her most-cited paper (14 citations). She further advanced this technology by investigating energy harvesting circuits using capacitor-sourced buck converters (6 citations), optimizing power management for autonomous long-duration missions. Beyond Moball, Davoodi conceptualized the **REARM-Mars** mission architecture (2 citations), a re-entry hopper system intended to enable sophisticated lander, hopper, or rover operations for future Mars exploration, including human missions and sample return. Her work uniquely bridges robotics, electromagnetic energy conversion, and planetary science, offering practical solutions for sustainable exploration in the harshest known environments. Davoodi’s research continues to inspire new approaches to self-powered robotic systems for space and terrestrial applications.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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