DITTO: Dexterous Interface for Transparent TeleOperation
*joint first authorship
arXiv preprint, 2026
Robotics · Columbia University · ROAM Lab
Joaquin Palacios
Hi there! I'm Joaquin, a Robotics Engineer from Quito, Ecuador.
I'm currently a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University. I work at the ROAM Lab, advised by Matei Ciocarlie.
I am passionate about the full stack of robotics: mechanical design, electronics, controls, and robot learning. My research interests are in autonomous robotic manipulation and medical assistive robotics.
Highlights
Featured work in dexterous manipulation, assistive robotics, and agricultural robotics.
DITTO
Co-designed dexterous hand and kinematically equivalent motorized exoskeleton for both handheld data collection and bilateral teleoperation with joint-level force feedback.
Visit project site →
ROAM Hand 3
Robot hand with 6-axis F/T sensorized fingertips and novel kinematics validated via RL policies.
View project →
MyHand SCI
Wearable robot to assist grasping for individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries.
View project →
Plan Bee
Robotic crop pollination for Vertical Farming.
View project →Publications
Dexterous manipulation, tactile sensing, and assistive robotics.
SpikeATac: A Multimodal Tactile Finger with Taxelized Dynamic Sensing for Dexterous Manipulation
*joint first authorship
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2026
Reciprocal Learning of Intent Inferral with Augmented Visual Feedback for Stroke
*equal contribution
IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), 2025
Train Robots in a JIF: Joint Inverse and Forward Dynamics with Human and Robot Demonstrations
*joint first authorship
arXiv preprint, 2025
Grasp Force Assistance via Throttle-based Wrist Angle Control on a Robotic Hand Orthosis for C6–C7 Spinal Cord Injury
*equal contribution
IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics (T-MRB), 2024
Towards Tenodesis-Modulated Control of an Assistive Hand Exoskeleton for SCI
*equal contribution
IROS 2023 Workshop on Assistive Robots for Citizens
All Projects
Selected research and projects across dexterous manipulation, assistive robotics, and mechatronics.
DITTO
Co-designed dexterous hand and kinematically equivalent motorized exoskeleton for both handheld data collection and bilateral teleoperation with joint-level force feedback.
ROAM Hand 3
Robot hand with 6-axis F/T sensorized fingertips and novel kinematics validated via RL policies.
Plan Bee
Robotic crop pollination for Vertical Farming.
MyHand SCI
Wearable robot to assist grasping for individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries.
ROAM Hand 1
Developing a robot hand to explore proprioception in dexterous manipulation.
Crab.io
A quadruped robot known for being cute and fast!
Button-Pressing Machine
An exploration of mechatronics, machine design, controls, and machining.
Digital Manufacturing
A collection of projects exploring generative design, topology optimization, additive manufacturing, and more.
Applied Robotics
Projects in applied robotics, leveraging ROS 2 to implement (from scratch) cartesian control, inverse kinematics, path planning (using RRT algorithm), and more.
Robots used: UR5e, Franka Emika.
