TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A new Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU / FSU College of Engineering has gone from starring on the reality show Survivor to teaching the world about robots.
Christian Hubicki, you may remember him from season 37 of Survivor David Versus Goliath Fiji. He was the friendly robotic scientist on the island.
After getting voted off Hubicki went back to his first love robotics , taking a job as assistant professor at FAMU / FSU College of Engineering. Originally from Baltimore, Hubicki said he has been obsessed with robots since he was a child.
"I became obsessed with robots starting with Legos as a kid. You put legos together, put little motors on them make them run around and everything just blossomed from there," said Hubicki.
His work with robots at the college is complicated. "I study the science and engineering of how to make machines walk around on legs like people," said Hubicki.
His bio on the college's website says "Hubicki aims to control legged robots to be as fast, maneuverable, and stable as animals in the wild." A scary thought for some that conjures up images of the Terminator not so says Hubicki these futuristic agile robots can actually help keep people safe.
"If we can get robots to be as fast, stable and efficient as people we can send them wherever we send people but perhaps don't want to such as burning buildings, malfunctioning power plants," said Hubicki.
Later in the month Hubicki will receive an exciting delivery a new four foot tall robot named Cassie that walks on two legs. It is designed for the purpose of studying how to make robots walk better and to better understand how people walk.
"My hope is that when people really understand what is going on under the hood of these machines it's actually quite understandable and nothing to be afraid of," said Hubicki.
