PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Nic Radford

Also known as Nicolaus Radford

Nic Radford is a roboticist whose work carries humanoid robots from NASA's Johnson Space Center into subsea and industrial settings. He earned electrical engineering degrees at Purdue in 2000 and 2012, then served as deputy project manager and chief engineer for Robonaut 2 and helped lead Valkyrie. With Matt Ondler and Reg Berka, he co-founded Houston Mechatronics in 2014; by 2019, its Aquanaut shifted from an autonomous cruising submarine to a half-humanoid robot for underwater manipulation, and he led Nauticus Robotics as CEO in 2023 before leaving in January 2024. He co-founded Persona AI with Jerry Pratt in 2024 and is its CEO as of October 2026, developing embodied-AI humanoids for industrial work in shipbuilding and manufacturing.

Now at
Persona AI
Born
1977
Works
27
Citations
1,430
h-index
8
Badges

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2012

    Purdue engineering degrees

    He earns bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering at Purdue University in 2000 and 2012, respectively.

  2. By 2014

    Robonaut 2 and Valkyrie

    During his 14 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center, he serves as deputy project manager and chief engineer for Robonaut 2. In 2014, the Valkyrie humanoid robot is built at Johnson under his and Rob Ambrose's leadership.

  3. 2014

    Co-founding Houston Mechatronics

    In 2014, he co-founds Houston Mechatronics with Matt Ondler and Reg Berka and serves as its chief technology officer.

  4. 2019

    Aquanaut's subsea transformation

    In 2019, Aquanaut, built by the company he co-founds, transforms from an autonomous submarine designed for long-distance cruising into a half-humanoid robot capable of complex underwater manipulation.

  5. 2023

    Nauticus Robotics CEO

    In 2023, he serves as founder and CEO of Nauticus Robotics, whose autonomous ocean robots use artificial intelligence for data collection and intervention services.

  6. 2024

    Leaving Nauticus for Persona AI

    In January 2024, he leaves Nauticus Robotics as CEO and resigns from its board. In 2024, he co-founds Persona AI with Jerry Pratt, a humanoid-robotics startup.

  7. May 2025

    A shipyard welding agreement

    In May 2025, he attends the signing ceremony as Persona AI's CEO for an agreement with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotics, and VAZIL Company to develop shipyard welding humanoids. Persona AI leads work on humanoid hardware and AI-based control and learning algorithms.

  8. As of October 2026

    CEO of Persona AI

    As of October 2026, he is CEO of Persona AI, which develops humanoid robots powered by embodied AI for industrial work in shipbuilding and manufacturing.

Career

  1. Since 2024Persona AICEO
  2. Until 2024Nauticus RoboticsCEO, Board member
  3. From 2014Houston MechatronicsChief Technology Officer
  4. 2011–2014NASADeputy project manager and chief engineer

Education

  1. 2012Purdue UniversityMaster's degree in electrical engineering
  2. 2000Purdue UniversityBachelor's degree in electrical engineering

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Robonaut 2 - The first humanoid robot in space2011 · IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation · 449 citations
  2. Valkyrie: NASA's First Bipedal Humanoid Robot2015 · Journal of Field Robotics · 300 citationsWith Eric Cousineau
  3. Actuator Control for the NASA‐JSC Valkyrie Humanoid Robot: A Decoupled Dynamics Approach for Torque Control of Series Elastic Robots2015 · Journal of Field Robotics · 263 citations
  4. The Robonaut 2 hand - designed to do work with tools2012 · IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation · 179 citations
  5. Mobile manipulation using NASA's Robonaut2004 · IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation · 107 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. 19% of people shaping AI who founded a dated organization have founded two or more, waiting a median of 7 years before a secondIncludes Nic Radford. Across 1,136 people shaping AI who founded or co-founded a dated company, standalone lab or nonprofit, 221 (19%) founded at least two organizations, accounting for 36% of all 1,421 founding events.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes NASA. 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.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Purdue University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Purdue University. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Nicolaus Radford - Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Purdue University engineering.purdue.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. NASA Space Robotics Dive into Deep-Sea Work - NASA nasa.gov. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. NASA Valkyrie Mechatronic Development – UT Austin Contributions on Design and Embedded Controls sites.utexas.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Meet Aquanaut, the Underwater Transformer - IEEE Spectrum spectrum.ieee.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Houston robotics company founder plans to take his startup global - InnovationMap houston.innovationmap.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Nauticus Robotics CEO to Deliver Keynote at Robotics Summit & Expo 2023 :: Nauticus Robotics, Inc. (KITT) ir.nauticusrobotics.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Departure of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer ir.nauticusrobotics.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Persona’s founders are certain the world can use another humanoid robot | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. HD Hyundai to Drive “Shipbuilding Automation Innovation” with Humanoid Welders esg.hd.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Nicolaus Radford, Persona AI investmentreports.co. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Industrial Humanoid Robots For Heavy Industry | Persona AI persona.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.