Stelian Coros, an assistant professor of robotics, is one of just six recipients of the 2015 Intel Early Career Faculty Award, which honors faculty members who show great promise as future academic leaders in disruptive computing technologies.

The program is designed to foster long-term collaborative relationships with senior Intel technical leaders and includes $25,000 to cover travel and other costs.

Coros was a research scientist at Disney Research Zurich before joining the Robotics Institute. His research focuses on motor control, motion planning algorithms, physics-based simulation tools and computational design methods that leverage digital fabrication technologies.

His goal is to enable the general public, with the aid of 3-D printing, to create physical devices to improve their own lives, such as robots that help with kitchen tasks, housekeeping and gardening; devices to assist people with disabilities, and even lovable characters for entertainment.