Robotics
Engineer.
Building robots that learn from people. Boats, arms, gaze. Currently at Acumino and the University of Glasgow.
AeroBuoy
Drone-deployable, 3D printed autonomous buoy for environmental inspection in remote and hazardous river systems.
Research Paper →
Autonomous Trimaran
3D printed, waterjet-powered autonomous boat for environmental inspection. Open-source. Muddy ponds, creeks, and the Manukau Harbour.
Research Paper →
Waterjet-Powered Robotic Speedboats
Open-source, low-cost waterjet-powered robotic speedboats. Honours project that kicked off the whole aquatic robotics line.
Research Paper →
Formula SAE Electric Racing
Race Engineer for the University of Auckland Formula SAE team. 5th overall in the electric division at FSAE Australasia in Melbourne.
FSAE NZ →
Vision-to-Action Manipulation
Vision-to-action models across UR, Mitsubishi, ABB, and Open ARM. Bimanual configs, 6-DoF pose estimation, imitation learning pipelines. Deployed across Europe, USA, Japan.
Acumino →Reuben O'Brien et al. · IEEE/RSJ IROS
An Autonomous, 3D Printed, Waterjet-Powered, Open-Source Robotic Trimaran for Environmental Inspection and Monitoring Best Application Finalist
Reuben O'Brien et al. · IEEE/RSJ IROS
On the Development of Waterjet-Powered Robotic Speedboats
Reuben O'Brien et al. · IEEE SSRR
Full list on Google Scholar.
Started off as a wannabe Race Engineer in Formula SAE at the University of Auckland, then camera specialist with Toyota GAZOO Racing (Formula Regional Oceania). That led to the NZ Rally series, first event alongside the World Rally Championship, letting me work on series 2 cars. Formula racing is crazy, but rally is another whole level of insanity.
Realizing that motorsports is for entertainment, I tried Fisher & Paykel Healthcare as an intern working on medical devices. Cool to see Auckland on the global stage, but this still didn't do it for me.
Final year at uni I found robotics. Crown Equipment Corporation let me work on autonomous lift trucks as a Systems Engineer: industrial hardware, PLCs, real-time C++. First overseas work trip, based in New Bremen, Ohio for a few months. Beer league baseball, golf, and ten-pin bowling.
Picked up a Master's thesis to finish what I started with my Honours project. A year of madness: evenings, weekends, and remaining sanity in the labs, muddy ponds, creeks, and the Manukau Harbour. Transitioned to Acumino mid-thesis. Two IROS papers, first class. Then a Partnership PhD with Acumino and the University of Glasgow in Biomedical Engineering. This thesis will let me close a book within my family, and be the creator of many more adventures and chaos...
Acumino
Robotics Development Engineer, May 2024 to present
University of Glasgow
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering, 2025 to present
AraraLab
University of Glasgow robotics lab, PhD supervision
New Dexterity
University of Auckland robotics lab, where the boats were built
University of Auckland
MEng Mechatronics, Nov 2023 to Nov 2024. BE Mechatronics, Feb 2018 to Nov 2021.
UoA Snowsports Club
President, 2021 to 2023. 650+ members. Managed a $1.65M club-owned lodge on Mt Ruapehu.
Best reached via LinkedIn. For research or collaboration enquiries, find me through the AraraLab or Acumino.