Barkan Uğurlu
Associate Professor (ME)
Education
- B.E. (2004) – Electrical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Türkiye (High Honors)
- M.E. (2006) – Mechatronics Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Türkiye
- Ph.D. (2010) – Electrical and Computer Engineering (Humanoid Robotics), Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan
- Awarded Monbukagakusho (MEXT) Scholarship by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan
Research & Academic Career
- 2010–2013: Postdoctoral Researcher
- Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genoa, Italy
- Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya, Japan
- 2013–2015: Research Scientist
- Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International), Kyoto, Japan
- 2015 – present: Özyeğin University, Department of Mechanical Engineering — Associate Professor
Research Interests
- Humanoid and quadruped locomotion control
- Physical human–robot interaction
- Active orthoses and exoskeletons
- Applied nonlinear control
AI Research:
- Enabling robots to follow open-vocabulary instructions via Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models for natural integration into human environments.
- Developing continual learning locomotion controllers that adapt online to new terrains and conditions.
- Designing human-robot symbiosis frameworks where shared objectives allow seamless collaboration within heterogeneous teams.
- Advancing reinforcement learning–driven autonomy that unifies perception, control, and interaction for robots to operate robustly in unstructured, real-world settings.
