By Jennifer Chu<\/strong><\/p>\n Rising up within the suburban city of Spring, Texas, simply outdoors of Houston, Erik Ballesteros couldn\u2019t assist however be drawn in by the chances for people in area.<\/p>\n It was the early 2000s, and NASA\u2019s area shuttle program was the primary transport for astronauts to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS). Ballesteros\u2019 hometown was lower than an hour from Johnson Area Heart (JSC), the place NASA\u2019s mission management middle and astronaut coaching facility are based mostly. And as usually as they might, he and his household would drive to JSC to take a look at the middle\u2019s public displays and displays on human area exploration.<\/p>\n For Ballesteros, the spotlight of those visits was all the time the tram tour, which brings guests to JSC\u2019s Astronaut Coaching Facility. There, the general public can watch astronauts check out spaceflight prototypes and follow varied operations in preparation for residing and dealing on the Worldwide Area Station.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very inspiring place to be, and typically we might meet astronauts after they had been doing signings,\u201d he recollects. \u201cI\u2019d all the time see the gates the place the astronauts would return into the coaching facility, and I might assume: Sooner or later I\u2019ll be on the opposite facet of that gate.\u201d<\/p>\n As we speak, Ballesteros is a PhD pupil in mechanical engineering at MIT, and has already made good on his childhood objective. Earlier than coming to MIT, he interned on a number of tasks at JSC, working within the coaching facility to assist check new spacesuit supplies, transportable life help programs, and a propulsion system for a prototype Mars rocket. He additionally helped prepare astronauts to function the ISS\u2019 emergency response programs.<\/p>\n These early experiences steered him to MIT, the place he hopes to make a extra direct affect on human spaceflight. He and his advisor, Harry Asada, are constructing a system that can fairly actually present serving to palms to future astronauts. The system, dubbed\u00a0SuperLimbs<\/a>, consists of a pair of wearable robotic arms that stretch out from a backpack, just like the fictional Inspector Gadget, or Physician Octopus (\u201cDoc Ock,\u201d to comedian e-book followers). Ballesteros and Asada are designing the robotic arms to be sturdy sufficient to elevate an astronaut again up in the event that they fall. The arms may additionally crab-walk round a spacecraft\u2019s exterior as an astronaut inspects or makes repairs.<\/p>\n Ballesteros is collaborating with engineers on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to refine the design, which he plans to introduce to astronauts at JSC within the subsequent 12 months or two, for sensible testing and consumer suggestions. He says his time at MIT has helped him make connections throughout academia and in trade which have fueled his life and work.<\/p>\n \u201cSuccess isn\u2019t constructed by the actions of 1, however relatively it\u2019s constructed on the shoulders of many,\u201d Ballesteros says. \u201cConnections \u2014 ones that you just not simply have, however preserve \u2014 are so important to with the ability to open new doorways and maintain nice ones open.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting a jumpstart<\/strong><\/p>\n Ballesteros didn\u2019t all the time search out these connections. As a child, he counted down the minutes till the tip of faculty, when he may go dwelling to play video video games and watch films, \u201cStar Wars\u201d being a favourite. He additionally liked to create and had a expertise for cosplay, tailoring intricate, life-like costumes impressed by cartoon and film characters.<\/p>\n In highschool, he took an introductory class in engineering that challenged college students to construct robots from kits, that they’d then pit towards one another, BattleBots-style. Ballesteros constructed a robotic ball that moved by shifting an inside weight, just like Star Wars\u2019 fictional, sphere-shaped BB-8.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a superb introduction, and I bear in mind pondering, this engineering factor might be enjoyable,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n After graduating highschool, Ballesteros attended the College of Texas at Austin, the place he pursued a bachelor\u2019s diploma in aerospace engineering. What would usually be a four-year diploma stretched into an eight-year interval throughout which Ballesteros mixed school with a number of work experiences, taking over internships at NASA and elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2013, he interned at Lockheed Martin, the place he contributed to numerous points of jet engine growth. That have unlocked various different aerospace alternatives. After a stint at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Area Heart, he went on to Johnson Area Heart, the place, as a part of a co-op program referred to as Pathways, he returned each spring or summer season over the following 5 years, to intern in varied departments throughout the middle.<\/p>\n Whereas the time at JSC gave him an enormous quantity of sensible engineering expertise, Ballesteros nonetheless wasn\u2019t certain if it was the suitable match. Alongside together with his childhood fascination with astronauts and area, he had all the time liked cinema and the particular results that cast them. In 2018, he took a 12 months off from the NASA Pathways program to intern at Disney, the place he spent the spring semester working as a security engineer, performing security checks on Disney rides and points of interest.<\/p>\n Throughout this time, he received to know a couple of folks in Imagineering \u2014 the analysis and growth group that creates, designs, and builds rides, theme parks, and points of interest. That summer season, the group took him on as an intern, and he labored on the animatronics for upcoming rides, which concerned translating sure scenes in a Disney film into sensible, protected, and purposeful scenes in an attraction.<\/p>\n \u201cIn animation, lots of issues they do are fantastical, and it was our job to discover a approach to make them actual,\u201d says Ballesteros, who liked each second of the expertise and hoped to be employed as an Imagineer after the internship got here to an finish. However he had one 12 months left in his undergraduate diploma and needed to transfer on.<\/p>\n After graduating from UT Austin in December 2019, Ballesteros accepted a place at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He began at JPL in February of 2020, engaged on some final changes to the Mars Perseverance rover. After a couple of months throughout which JPL shifted to distant work through the Covid pandemic, Ballesteros was assigned to a undertaking to develop a self-diagnosing spacecraft monitoring system. Whereas working with that crew, he met an engineer who was a former lecturer at MIT. As a sensible suggestion, she nudged Ballesteros to contemplate pursuing a grasp\u2019s diploma, so as to add extra worth to his CV.<\/p>\n \u201cShe opened up the thought of going to grad faculty, which I hadn\u2019t ever thought-about,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Full circle<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2021, Ballesteros arrived at MIT to start a grasp\u2019s program in mechanical engineering. In interviewing with potential advisors, he instantly hit it off with Harry Asada, the Ford Professor of Enginering and director of the d\u2019Arbeloff Laboratory for Info Programs and Know-how. Years in the past, Asada had pitched JPL an concept for wearable robotic arms to assist astronauts, which they shortly turned down. However Asada held onto the thought, and proposed that Ballesteros take it on as a feasibility research for his grasp\u2019s thesis.<\/p>\n The undertaking would require bringing a seemingly sci-fi concept into sensible, purposeful kind, to be used by astronauts in future area missions. For Ballesteros, it was the right problem. SuperLimbs turned the main target of his grasp\u2019s diploma, which he earned in 2023. His preliminary plan was to return to trade, diploma in hand. However he selected to remain at MIT to pursue a PhD, in order that he may proceed his work with SuperLimbs in an setting the place he felt free to discover and take a look at new issues.<\/p>\n \u201cMIT is like nerd Hogwarts,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of many goals I had as a child was in regards to the first day of faculty, and with the ability to construct and be artistic, and it was the happiest day of my life. And at MIT, I felt like that dream turned actuality.\u201d<\/p>\n Ballesteros and Asada at the moment are additional growing SuperLimbs. The crew just lately re-pitched the thought to engineers at JPL, who reconsidered, and have since struck up a partnership to assist check and refine the robotic. Within the subsequent 12 months or two, Ballesteros hopes to carry a totally purposeful, wearable design to Johnson Area Heart, the place astronauts can check it out in space-simulated settings.<\/p>\n Along with his formal graduate work, Ballesteros has discovered a approach to have a little bit of Imagineer-like enjoyable. He’s a member of the\u00a0MIT Robotics Crew<\/a>, which designs, builds, and runs robots in varied competitions and challenges. Inside this membership, Ballesteros has shaped a sub-club of types, referred to as the Droid Builders, that purpose to construct animatronic droids from widespread films and franchises.<\/p>\n \u201cI assumed I may use what I discovered from Imagineering and educate undergrads methods to construct robots from the bottom up,\u201d he says. \u201cNow we\u2019re constructing a full-scale WALL-E that might be absolutely autonomous. It\u2019s cool to see all the things come full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/robohub.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MIT-Erik-Ballesteros-01-press_0.jpg\")
\u201cOne of many goals I had as a child was in regards to the first day of faculty, and with the ability to construct and be artistic, and it was the happiest day of my life. And at MIT, I felt like that dream turned actuality,\u201d says Ballesteros. Credit score: Ryan A Lannom, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<\/em><\/p>\n
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