Dan O. Popa has over 30 years of research experience in robotics and automation. His early research work included adaptive force control and motion planning for nonholonomic robots. In 1998, he joined the Center for Automation Technologies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as a Research Scientist, where he focused on precision robotics and micromanufacturing. In 2004, he became an Assistant and then an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. Since 2016, he has been the Vogt Endowed Chair in Advanced Manufacturing and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Louisville. He is currently the Associate Dean for Research for Speed School of Engineering, the Director of the Louisville Automation and Robotics Research Institute (LARRI), and the Head of the Next Generation Research Group (NGS).