PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Sunil K. Agrawal

Sunil Agrawal is a roboticist at Columbia University whose research covers intelligent machines, planning and optimization algorithms, and cable-driven robots that retrain human movement after stroke and in cerebral palsy. He earned a Stanford PhD in mechanical engineering in 1990 and joined Columbia in 2013, after faculty posts at Ohio University and the University of Delaware. In Columbia's Robotics and Rehabilitation (ROAR) Laboratory, his group invented the Tethered Pelvic Assist Device, the subject of a 2017 Science Robotics pilot study on crouch gait in children, and he received two ASME awards in 2016. He is a professor of mechanical engineering and of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine at Columbia and a founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Wearable Technologies.

Works
679
Citations
15,732
h-index
61

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1990

    A Stanford doctorate in robotics

    He earns a PhD in mechanical engineering at Stanford in 1990, with emphasis on robotics, dynamics and control. Bernard Roth is his doctoral advisor.

  2. 1994–2007

    Presidential fellowship and Humboldt award

    He receives an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship from the White House in 1994, becomes a Fellow of the ASME in 2004 and wins a Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award in 2007.

  3. 2013

    Professor at Columbia

    He joins Columbia as a professor in 2013, after serving on the faculty of Ohio University and the University of Delaware. His research covers intelligent machines built on nonlinear system theory, planning and optimization algorithms, and novel rehabilitation machines. He directs the Robotics and Rehabilitation (ROAR) Laboratory and the Robotic Systems Engineering (ROSE) Laboratory.

  4. 2015

    TPAD, CAREX and C-ALEX

    In October 2015, he presents the ROAR group's light-weight cable-driven training devices at a University of Maryland seminar: TPAD for the pelvis, and CAREX and C-ALEX for the arms and legs. The experiments cover movement retraining of young healthy adults, fall prevention in the elderly and gait retraining of stroke patients.

  5. 2016

    Two ASME awards

    ASME gives him its Machine Design Award in 2016 for contributions to robotic exoskeletons for gait training of stroke patients, and its Mechanisms and Robotics Award for cumulative contributions to mechanical design and robotics. In January 2016, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering announces that he will be inducted into its College of Fellows.

  6. 2017

    Robot therapy for crouch gait

    In 2017, he publishes a pilot study in Science Robotics on the Tethered Pelvic Assist Device (TPAD), a wearable cable-driven robot invented in his ROAR Laboratory. Six children with cerebral palsy and crouch gait train with it for six weeks, and their posture and walking improve. He is also a member of Columbia's Data Science Institute.

  7. 2023–2024

    A Paintal Chair and ICRA plenary

    He receives a Paintal Chair from the Indian National Science Academy in 2023. In 2024, he is a plenary speaker at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Yokohama.

  8. As of October 2026

    Armstrong Professor at Columbia

    He is the Edwin H. Armstrong Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a Professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at Columbia University, where he directs the ROAR Laboratory across the engineering and medical campuses. He is also founding Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge University Press journal Wearable Technologies. The University of Canberra schedules his guest lecture "Rehabilitation Robotics: Improving Everyday Human Functions" for August 2026.

Career

  1. Since 2013Columbia UniversityEdwin H. Armstrong Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine
  2. 2002–2003Stanford University
  3. 1996–2013University of DelawareFaculty
  4. 1991–1996Ohio UniversityFaculty

Education

  1. 1990Stanford UniversityPhD

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

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Columbia University. 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.
  2. Nonprofit roles are 2.3 times as common in AI safetyIncludes Columbia University. We estimate where people focused on safety, alignment and evaluation work. Nonprofit roles appear for 25.1% of safety people with known affiliations, compared with 11.0% in other areas.
  3. Universities had a net outflow of 2,068 moves in AI careersIncludes Columbia University. Our estimates of career flows and median h-index across universities and companies in AI, including the role of joint appointments and earlier academic jobs.
  4. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes Columbia University. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Sunil K. Agrawal - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Lockheed Martin Robotics Seminar: Sunil Agrawal, "Tethered Pelvic Assist Device" | Maryland Robotics Center robotics.umd.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Rehabilitation Robotics: Improving Everyday Human Functions - Mechanical Engineering - Purdue University engineering.purdue.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Robot-driven Device Improves Crouch Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy | Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center weinberg.cuimc.columbia.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Guest lecture by Prof. Sunil Agrawal - University of Canberra canberra.edu.au. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Editorial board - Wearable Technologies - Cambridge Core cambridge.org. Checked 20 October 2026.