Nolan Smithwick

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About

Nolan Smithwick is a robotics researcher whose work centers on rough-terrain locomotion and novel mobility systems for extreme environments. His most-cited paper, “How Strong a Kick Should be to Topple Northeastern’s Tumbling Robot?” (2024, 8 citations), tackles one of the most persistent challenges in field robotics: maintaining stability on uneven, unpredictable surfaces. This research emerged from his participation in NASA’s prestigious Breakthrough, Innovative & Game-changing (BIG) Idea Competition, where he was invited to propose a novel mobility system for the agency’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program. Smithwick’s contributions are notable for their direct application to planetary exploration—his work helps define the physical limits of tumbling robots designed to traverse rocky, cratered terrain where wheeled rovers fail. By quantifying the forces required to destabilize such robots, he provides critical design parameters for future NASA missions. Though early in his career, Smithwick’s integration of theoretical mechanics with practical robotics, combined with his involvement in a NASA-sponsored competition, marks him as a rising innovator in extreme-terrain mobility. His research offers a foundation for students and engineers seeking to build more resilient autonomous explorers.