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General Information
| Full Name | Kota Kondo |
| Languages | Japanese, English |
Current Position
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2026 - Present Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanford University, Stanford, CA - Multi-Robot Systems Lab (MSL), advised by Prof. Mac Schwager
Education
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2023 - 2026 PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA - Aerospace Controls Laboratory, advised by Prof. Jonathan How
- GPA: 4.8/5.0
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2021 - 2023 SM in Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA - Aerospace Controls Laboratory, advised by Prof. Jonathan How
- GPA: 4.8/5.0
- Thesis: Decentralized Multiagent Trajectory Planning in Real-World Environments
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2020 Summer Session
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA - DWARF Satellite Project at the Space Rendezvous Laboratory
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2019 - 2020 Exchange Program in Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI - GPA: 4.0/4.0
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2016 - 2020 BS in Aerospace Engineering
Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan - Major GPA: 3.80/4.0, Overall GPA: 3.82/4.0
Research Experience
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2026 - Present Postdoctoral Research
Stanford Multi-Robot Systems Lab (MSL), Prof. Mac Schwager - Vision-language models (VLMs), vision-language-action models (VLAs), and world models for long-horizon manipulation and humanoid tasks
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2021 - 2026 Graduate Research Assistant
MIT Aerospace Controls Laboratory, Prof. Jonathan How - Trajectory planning and robot learning, funded by Boeing Research & Technology
- Developed real-time trajectory planners for unknown, dynamic environments (SANDO, DYNUS, MIGHTY) and deployed them on quadrotors and ground robots with onboard perception (T-RO, RA-L)
- Built learning-based planners: imitation-learned trajectory generation (PRIMER), constraint-guided diffusion policies for UAV planning (CGD), and LLM-based adaptation on aerial robots (REAL)
- Designed decentralized multiagent planners robust to communication delay (Robust MADER, PUMA), demonstrated on multi-UAV hardware
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2020 - 2021 Research Assistant
University of Michigan & Kyushu University, Prof. Kolmanovsky & Prof. Hanada - Detumbling of under-actuated satellites with Model Predictive Control (MPC)
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2020 - 2021 Research Assistant
University of Michigan, Prof. Ella Atkins - Explicit Model Predictive Control applied to keep-in geofencing in low altitude
Honors and Awards
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2024 - MIT MathWorks Fellowship
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2023 - Best Poster Award at ICRA 2023 CAMRS Workshop
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2022 - Recruit Scholarship
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2020 - Funai Overseas Scholarship
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2019 - James H.M. Sprayregen Scholarship
- TOMODACHI Sumitomo Corporation Scholarship
- ISTAT Foundation Scholarship
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2018 - Chiyoda Foundation Scholarship
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2017 - Yamakawa Prize (President's Award), Kyushu University
- Dean's Award (Top 2% freshman GPA), Kyushu University
Invited Talks
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2026 - University of Pennsylvania, Vijay Kumar's Group: Safe and Fast Trajectory Planning in Unknown Dynamic Environments: From Multi-Agent Optimization to Learned World Models
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2025 - Brown University Robotics Seminar: Fast and Safe Real-time Trajectory Optimization
Academic Service
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Primary Reviewer (29 manuscripts)
- IEEE ICRA: 7, IEEE RAL: 6, IEEE TRO: 2, IEEE IROS: 12, IEEE OJCSYS: 2
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Assisted PI with manuscript reviews
- IEEE TRO, Journal of Field Robotics, Science Robotics
Skills
- Proficient: Python, C++, PyTorch, ROS/ROS2, Gazebo, MATLAB, LaTeX, CAD
- Experience: Julia, FORTRAN