PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Roberto Horowitz

Roberto Horowitz is a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley whose work covers adaptive control, robot learning and intelligent vehicles. He joined Berkeley's Mechanical Engineering faculty in 1982 and completed his mechanical engineering PhD in 1983. His publications include “Control Design of an Automated Highway System” in 2000 and a 2026 reinforcement learning method that uses spatial symmetries selectively. He directed California PATH from 2011 to 2015 and became chair of Berkeley's Department of Mechanical Engineering in December 2015. In 2018, he received ASME's Rufus Oldenburger Medal for lifetime achievements in automatic control.

Works
470
Citations
11,868
h-index
56
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 28 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1975–1983

    Berkeley studies and teaching

    Born and raised in Venezuela, he enters UC Berkeley as a mechanical engineering undergraduate in 1975. He becomes an acting assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1982 and completes his mechanical engineering PhD in 1983, specializing in dynamic systems and control. His thesis on adaptive control of mechanical manipulators is the department's first robotics PhD thesis.

  2. 1986–1991

    Adaptive control and robot learning

    In 1986, he coauthors a control scheme for robot manipulators that addresses nonlinearity and decoupling. His 1991 papers include “A New Adaptive Learning Rule” and “Exponential Convergence of a Learning Controller for Robot Manipulators.”

  3. 2000

    Control of automated highways

    He coauthors “Control Design of an Automated Highway System” in 2000 in the Proceedings of the IEEE. The work forms part of his Transportation Systems Control Laboratory research on automated highways and traffic management.

  4. 2010

    The Paynter investigator award

    In 2010, he receives the Henry M. Paynter Outstanding Investigator Award from the Dynamic Systems and Control Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

  5. 2011–2015

    Directing California PATH

    From January 2011 to June 2015, he directs California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technologies (PATH) at UC Berkeley. He manages a research center with nearly 70 employees and an average annual budget of about $9 million.

  6. December 2015

    Chair of mechanical engineering

    In December 2015, he becomes chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, succeeding David Dornfeld.

  7. 2018

    The Rufus Oldenburger Medal

    ASME awards him the Rufus Oldenburger Medal in 2018 for lifetime achievements in automatic control.

  8. 2025

    A survey of robot learning

    In 2025, he coauthors “SE(3)-Equivariant Robot Learning and Control: A Tutorial Survey.” It reviews neural networks and control methods that use three-dimensional rotation and translation symmetries, including applications to imitation learning and reinforcement learning.

  9. 2026

    Partially equivariant reinforcement learning

    At ICLR 2026, he coauthors “Partially Equivariant Reinforcement Learning in Symmetry-Breaking Environments.” The team develops PE-DQN and PE-SAC, which use symmetry where it holds and handle local changes caused by factors such as actuation limits and reward design.

  10. As of October 2026

    Distinguished Professor at Berkeley

    As of October 2026, he is Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley and holds the James Fife Endowed Chair in the College of Engineering. His research includes adaptive and learning control, robot manipulators, and intelligent vehicle and highway systems.

Career

  1. Since 2008University of California, BerkeleyJames Fife Endowed Chair
  2. NowUniversity of California, BerkeleyDistinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering
  3. From 2015University of California, BerkeleyChair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
  4. 2011–2015University of California, BerkeleyDirector of California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technologies (PATH)
  5. 2000–2003University of California, BerkeleyVice Chair of Graduate Study, Department of Mechanical Engineering
  6. 2000–2002Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
  7. From 1994University of California, BerkeleyProfessor of Mechanical Engineering
  8. 1989–1994University of California, BerkeleyAssociate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
  9. 1983–1989University of California, BerkeleyAssistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
  10. 1982–1983University of California, BerkeleyActing Assistant Professor

Education

  1. 1983University of California, BerkeleyPhD in mechanical engineering
  2. From 1975University of California, BerkeleyBS in mechanical engineering

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

Checked career sources: horowitz.me.berkeley.edu, me.berkeley.edu, engineering.berkeley.edu.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Roberto Horowitz named mechanical engineering chair - Berkeley Engineering engineering.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  2. Roberto Horowitz — Biography horowitz.me.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  3. Roberto Horowitz — Bibliography horowitz.me.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  4. Horowitz Group: Research horowitz.me.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  5. Roberto Horowitz - UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering me.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  6. Rufus Oldenburger Medal - ASME asme.org. Checked 28 October 2026.
  7. SE(3)-Equivariant Robot Learning and Control: A Tutorial Survey arxiv.org. Checked 28 October 2026.
  8. Partially Equivariant Reinforcement Learning pranaboy72.github.io. Checked 28 October 2026.