Summary
Xiao-bao Bao is a controls and robotics engineer with 8 years of experience applying embedded systems, computer vision, and machine learning to space and aerospace platforms. Currently at NASA Ames, he develops automation and control systems for large wind tunnel facilities and previously advanced an autonomy stack for free-flying spacecraft from TRL 3 to TRL 6. His hands-on background spans cubesat structural design and flight software, on-orbit vision experiments running CNNs on ARM edge hardware, and practical FEA and manufacturing for satellite payloads. Proficient in C, MATLAB, TensorFlow/Keras, and reinforcement learning, he bridges research prototypes to flight-ready systems while teaching and mentoring younger engineers. An often-overlooked strength is his mix of hardware manufacturing experience and embedded ML deployment—enabling models to run reliably in constrained space environments.
8 years of coding experience