About Jonathan Hurst
Jonathan Hurst is the Co-Founder and Chief Robot Officer at Agility Robotics, a company specializing in human-centric, multi-purpose robots like Digit, designed to operate in human environments. He is also a Professor and Co-Founder of the Robotics Program at Oregon State University, where his research focused on dynamic legged locomotion. Hurst holds a Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and is a pioneer in merging machine learning with engineered systems for highly dynamic robotic behavior.
Career
Co-Founder and Chief Robot Officer
Same role - new title! My focus is on the future. Co-Founder and Chief Robot Officer
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
At Agility Robotics, I lead the strategic vision for our robot, working with exceptional leaders at the company to build the industrial design and brand, the technical roadmap, conduct R&D, and protect our intellectual property.
Our product, Digit, is a human-centric, multi-purpose robot: designed to operate where people do, use infrastructure designed around people, do human workflows, and interact with people. It is the first such commercially available robot, looking somewhat humanoid in form, made for real-world logistics work.
Our vision is to enable humans to be more human. Digit is a robot partner to augment the human workforce. Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Professor, Robotics
I started the first Robotics lab at OSU, the Dynamic Robotics Lab, and after a few years of hiring trusted colleagues in Robotics, Co-Founded the Robotics Program at Oregon State University. We became only the third institution in the USA to offer Ph.D.'s and M.S. degrees in Robotics, and have grown to over a hundred students, our own building, and quite a few faculty (12-30, depending on how you count).
My research focused on understanding the fundamental science and engineering best practices for robotic legged locomotion and physical interaction.
Specific research topics have shifted over the years, identifying the current blockers to highly dynamic legged locomotion - beginning with hardware dynamics, ensuring it would be possible to control a robot for walking and running. The culmination of this work is the bipedal robot ATRIAS, the first robot to reproduce human walking gait dynamics. With simple control ATRIAS walks and runs over outdoor terrain, with no perception.
After gaining an understanding of hardware for dynamic locomotion, our focus shifted to control, and recently we have pioneered reinforcement learning approaches to highly dynamic behavior. The success of this approach is demonstrated on Cassie, where we implemented a learned policy for running, and achieved the world record for the fastest 100 meter dash by a bipedal robot.
When I interviewed for the role at OSU, I said I would start a company when we solved some of the core science problems and understood enough about how to implement walking and running robots that we could achieve biomechanically-comparable dynamic legged locomotion. The university leadership was fully in support, and has been a great partner. It has taken about ten years to get there, find the right time, the right co-founders, and solve enough of the science that a startup company would be the best path forward.
Graduate Student
The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon was the place to be for Robotics as a grad student, most especially in the 2000's. Robotics was a very young field, yet more than 300 people were at the Robotics Institute, across professors, staff, and students! I came to build legged robots, and had the support and freedom to do so, as well as advising from some of the best and most experienced people in this field in the world. During this time, I built and supported the CMU RHex robot, designed and built the Actuator with Mechanically Adjustable Series Compliance (AMASC), and designed and built MABEL, a large bipedal robot, entirely using cable drive transmissions, and delivered to collaborators at the University of Michigan. A great experience, a great kickoff to a career.
Summer Intern
I joined the Leg Lab for a summer internship with the hope of joining for graduate school. Unfortunately, my internship was the last year that the Leg Lab existed - and I am grateful for the experience, for getting in while it was there. I still have the lab key, though the building has since been demolished!
Summer Intern
Summer Intern
Education
Ph.D.
Ph.D. - Robotics
M.S.
M.S. - Robotics
B.S.
B.S. - Mechanical Engineering
Summer Intern
Summer Intern - Robotics
High School Diploma
High School Diploma
Skills
Core technical and professional competencies inferred from his pioneering work in dynamic legged robotics and company leadership.
Robotics Engineering
Dynamic Legged Locomotion
Reinforcement Learning
Control Systems
Hardware Design
Mechanical Engineering
System Integration
Strategic Vision
Technology Roadmap
R&D Leadership
Intellectual Property Protection
Team Building
Academic Program Development
Academic Research
Curriculum Development
Public Speaking
Technical Writing (LaTeX)
Mentorship
Domains
Human-Centric Robotics, Bipedal Locomotion, Logistics Automation
Academic Research, Higher Education, AI/Machine Learning
Tags
Pioneer, Visionary, Deep Technical Expert, Educator, Entrepreneurial
Future of Work, Physical AI, Dynamic Systems, Human-Robot Interaction
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Frequently Asked Questions
Jonathan Hurst's profile is defined by his dual role as a robotics entrepreneur and an academic, pioneering dynamic legged locomotion.
What is Jonathan Hurst's role at Agility Robotics?
Is Jonathan Hurst still a professor at OSU?
Yes, he has been a Professor and Co-Founder of the Robotics Program at Oregon State University since September 2008.
What robot did Hurst's team develop at Agility?
His team developed Digit, a human-centric, multi-purpose robot designed to operate in human environments.
Where did Jonathan Hurst earn his Ph.D.?
He holds a Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied from 2001 to August 2008.
What was Hurst's research focus at Oregon State?
His research at Oregon State University focused on dynamic legged locomotion and merging machine learning with engineered systems.