Barnabas Cangan is a robotics researcher and engineer with 11 years of experience specializing in dexterous manipulation and soft robotics, currently driving product-level manipulation work at Flexion Robotics. He completed a PhD trajectory at ETH Zürich and served as a doctoral candidate and founding researcher on high-impact projects bridging academic research and startup productization. His background spans automotive software at Bosch, applied robotics engineering at Dexai, and coordination-at-scale research at Virginia Tech, giving him strong systems thinking across hardware, controls, and ML. Barnabas combines hands-on systems leadership (mimic) with deep academic rigor, focusing on tactile and soft-actuated solutions for real-world manipulation. Based in Zurich, he self-describes as a humanist-roboticist, signaling an interdisciplinary approach that balances technical depth with human-centered design. Colleagues would note his uncommon blend of lab-to-market experience and an ability to translate complex research into deployable robotic systems.
11 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
Master of Science - MS Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Master of Science - MS Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Virginia Tech
Bachelor of Engineering Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Government College of Technology, Coimbatore
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Robotics, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Robotics at ETH Zürich
Higher Secondary School Mathematics Physics Chemistry & Computer Science, Higher Secondary School Mathematics Physics Chemistry & Computer Science at Carmel Higher Secondary School
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