PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Abhishek Gupta

Also known as Abhishek K. Gupta

Abhishek Gupta is a computer scientist whose reinforcement-learning research helps robots learn complex tasks in real-world settings. He coauthored Soft Actor-Critic in 2018 and studied robot learning from real-world data in a 2020 paper, before completing a PhD in machine learning and robotics at UC Berkeley in 2021. He joined the University of Washington’s Allen School faculty in 2022 and received research honours from Toyota in 2023, Amazon in 2024, and IEEE’s Robotics & Automation Society in 2025. As of October 2026, he is an assistant professor at UW and leads the WEIRD Lab, where his research develops robot-learning algorithms for complex tasks in homes and offices.

Now at
Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
Works
176
Links
Website, Google Scholar and GitHub

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 2018

    Soft Actor-Critic for robotics

    He coauthors Soft Actor-Critic Algorithms and Applications in 2018, presenting an off-policy actor-critic algorithm based on maximum-entropy reinforcement learning. The paper evaluates the method on a quadrupedal robot and dexterous-hand manipulation.

  2. 2020

    Real-world robot learning

    In 2020, he coauthors The Ingredients of Real-World Robotic Reinforcement Learning. The paper proposes a system that continually improves from real-world data and demonstrates vision-based skills with a three-fingered hand.

  3. 2021

    A Berkeley robotics PhD

    He completes a PhD in machine learning and robotics at UC Berkeley’s BAIR in 2021 with the dissertation How to Train Your Robot: Techniques for Enabling Robotic Learning in the Real World. Sergey Levine and Pieter Abbeel advise him; he also completes a bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley before his PhD.

  4. 2022

    Joining the Allen School

    In 2022, he joins the Allen School faculty at the University of Washington.

  5. 2023

    A Toyota research award

    He becomes a Toyota Research Institute Young Faculty Investigator in 2023.

  6. 2024

    An Amazon research award

    He receives a 2024 Amazon Science Hub Research Award.

  7. 2025

    An IEEE robotics award

    In 2025, he receives the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation for contributions to real-world robotic reinforcement learning.

  8. As of October 2026

    Assistant professor at UW

    As of October 2026, he is an assistant professor in computer science and engineering at the Paul G. Allen School and leads the WEIRD Lab. His research develops deep reinforcement-learning algorithms to help robots learn complex tasks in unstructured environments such as offices and homes. His interests include dexterous manipulation with robotic hands.

Career

  1. Since 2022University of WashingtonAssistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering
  2. NowPaul G. Allen School of Computer Science & EngineeringDirector

Education

  1. 2021University of California, BerkeleyBachelor's

From the biography.

Videos

YouTube videos in which Abhishek Gupta speaks or appears, newest first. A model chose them from YouTube search results. List updated 21 October 2026.

  1. Applying RL to Real-World Robotics with Abhishek Gupta - #466The TWIML AI Podcast with Sam Charrington · 25 March 2021 · 38 min

Video data from YouTube API Services. By watching you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. How we use YouTube data.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Washington. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Washington. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes University of Washington. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes University of Washington. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Abhishek Gupta yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Soft Actor-Critic Algorithms and Applications arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. The Ingredients of Real-World Robotic Reinforcement Learning arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. How to Train Your Robot: Techniques for Enabling Robotic Learning in the Real World | EECS at UC Berkeley www2.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Abhishek Gupta, Assistant Professor - Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering cs.washington.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. ‘Laying the foundation for the next generation of robotic learning’: Allen School professor Abhishek Gupta receives RAS Early Academic Career Award news.cs.washington.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Abhishek Gupta homes.cs.washington.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.