Ph.D. · 2022–present
Robotics, Georgia Tech
4.0 GPA · Summa Cum Laude · Doctoral minor in Optimization Methods · Deploying novel safe autonomy algorithms on hardware
#2 public ECE program in the U.S.
- Advisor
- Dr. Samuel CooganEckman Award winner
Evanns Morales-Cuadrado
@evannsmc is the personal research website of Evanns Morales, a Robotics Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech.
Robotics Ph.D. student · Georgia Tech · Fulbright Specialist
Evanns Morales-Cuadrado
I work on safe autonomy for hardware systems with a focus on uncertainty-aware safe trajectory planning, aggressive low-level control, and lightweight algorithms for computationally constrained platforms. My more recent work has brought me into the worlds of formal methods and deep reinforcement learning for real-world quadrotors. As part of my work, I have also had the pleasure of breaking many quadrotors and putting them back together.
Education & honors
Honors B.S.
Electrical Engineering, University of Texas
Summa Cum Laude · Minors in Math & Physics · Certificate in Unmanned Vehicle Systems
- Mentors
- Dr. Frank LewisWorld #1 in Optimal Control & Reinforcement Learning · Top 1% cited researcher in the world
- Dr. Yan WanDistinguished Professor · NSF CAREER & IEEE Outstanding Contribution Awards
Honors
Fellowships & recognition
Inside the Lab
I am a Robotics/ECE Ph.D. student in the Formal Methods & Autonomous Control of Transportation Systems (FACTS) Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Samuel Coogan.
My robotics work centers around hardware applications of safe autonomous control algorithms. In particular, I work on safe and efficient path planning and control synthesis in the face of onboard computational constraints. Much of my work involves hardware demonstrations of novel methods on quadrotor UAVs and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). As a result, I've accumulated some cool videos of things flying autonomously and a lot of terrible videos of them crashing.
- Lab
- FACTS Lab, Georgia Tech
- Focus
- Safe, efficient path planning and control synthesis under onboard computational constraints
- Platforms
- Quadrotor UAVs and unmanned ground vehicles
My Latest Projects
LIRRA
LIRRA tackles a core problem in safe autonomy: satisfying complex temporal specifications such as deadlines, restricted regions, and recurring obligations when both the robot's dynamics and the specification's predicates are uncertain, while still pursuing the nominal mission. It does this through runtime assurance: a learned policy pursues the mission by proposing trajectories, and LIRRA certifies each one against the interval signal temporal logic (STL) synthesis constraints before it is flown. Only a rejected proposal triggers an expensive mixed-integer solve, delay-compensated so that a verified plan is always in force. Guarantees hold no matter what the network does: on a Skydio X2 quadrotor in MuJoCo, planning is 50–83x faster and uses 39–135x less CPU energy than standard MILP-based runtime assurance. Submitted to L4DC 2027.
Open LIRRARTD-RAX
My Runtime-Assurance eXtension (RAX) of the Reachability-based Trajectory Design (RTD) framework for fast candidate trajectory generation paired with an online, disturbance-aware verification layer to produce trajectories that avoid obstacles and achieve mission objectives while facing uncertain dynamics and real-world disturbances. RTD-RAX extends traditional RTD by separating fast candidate generation from online safety certification. The planner stays agile, while a fast online verifier utilizing Mixed Monotone Reachability (MMR) certifies each trajectory under the actual measured conditions and repairs unsafe candidates before execution.
Open RTD-RAXBeyond the Lab
Roots
Boricua de pura cepa
At Georgia Tech I helped co-found "BORI" to provide a welcoming place for Puerto Rican students and promote our culture across campus.
Research
When at work
From undergraduate research at UT Arlington to my Ph.D. at Georgia Tech. After a summer in Albuquerque, NM at Sandia National Laboratories, I'm continuing there year-round as an AI for Autonomy research intern.
Recreation
Life
I spend whole days outside playing basketball when I'm able to. These days, you can catch me at salsa & bachata socials.