Kimberly Hambuchen

Dr. Kimberly Hambuchen is the Deputy Manager for the Human Robotic Systems project, funded through NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Since 2004, she has been a robotics engineer in the Software, Robotics and Simulation division at NASA Johnson Space Center. In 2004, she received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. She is a former NASA Graduate Student Research Program fellow and previously held a postdoctoral position at NASA through the National Research Council. Dr. Hambuchen is an expert in developing novel methods for remote supervision of space robots over intermediate time delays. She has proven the validity of these methods through multiple NASA analog field tests with varying NASA robots, including the JSC Space Exploration Vehicles, Centaur platforms and Robonaut 2, the ATHLETE rovers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Ames Research Center K-10s. She was the User Interface Lead for JSC’s entry into the DARPA Robotics Challenge, using her expertise in remote supervision of robots to guide operator interface development for the bipedal humanoid robot, Valkyrie. She currently manages development of telerobotic interfaces for operating robots in deep-space missions, both from ground and from spacecraft.