“This is our world now… the world of the electron and the switch.”
— The Hacker Manifesto (1986)
ROS2 security & introspection tools (SROS2, roswtf, rqt graph analyzers); MAVLink inspectors & drone telemetry sniffers; PX4/Gazebo simulation stacks; firmware extraction & debugging tools (OpenOCD, pyOCD, JTAG/SWD probes); sensor spoofing toolkits; embedded Linux workflows (Yocto, Buildroot); edge AI runtimes (TensorRT, ONNX Runtime, OpenVINO); flight log decoders; secure mission-planning toolchains.
I’m a robotics educator, cybersecurity practitioner, and FIRST Robotics mentor building an ecosystem around one idea: autonomous systems + safety + security. This roadmap is the blueprint for the next decade of my growth.
Every project I take on—from robotics to UAVs—sits inside one theme: autonomy and security. This roadmap changes as I build, learn, and test new ideas.
Circuits, sensors, motors, microcontrollers, VEX/FRC systems, and embedded foundations. Early ROS2 workflows, HRI concepts, and engineering robots that are testable, observable, and dependable. Focus on real-world behavior, failure modes, and debugging autonomy at the hardware/software boundary.
Computer vision, tracking, decision pipelines, multi-sensor fusion, navigation and planning, lightweight LLM reasoning on edge devices, and adversarial perception threats. Understanding how robots interpret the world — and how those interpretations can break.
Flight controllers, telemetry security, failsafe logic, autonomous navigation, multi-sensor fusion, and mission-level decision systems. UAVs as the next research testbed for autonomy, safety, and real-world system reliability.
ROS/ROS2 exploit research, DDS hardening, secure communication, drone telemetry threats, firmware/embedded analysis, adversarial ML, sensor/LIDAR/GPS spoofing, and fault-injection techniques for resilience. Security at the intersection of autonomy, perception, and embedded systems.
Deepen robotics fundamentals; Arduino and embedded security basics; small autonomous ground vehicles; ROS2 networking and introspection; UAV hardware and telemetry fundamentals; introductory computer vision modules; firmware and sensor-level analysis workflows.
Autonomous navigation, drone control/telemetry testing, CV to action pipeline, adversarial AI cases, robotics curriculum + security labs, ROS2 exploitation research.
GPS spoofing lab, failsafe testing, firmware extraction/mod, LIDAR spoofing, secure ROS2 deployments, FRC autonomous path security.
Advanced study in autonomous systems security, curriculum expansion, specialized research initiatives, selective publishing, and deeper engagement with the global robotics/security community.
(Focused on Autonomous Systems Security)
Sensors + PID + obstacle avoidance with a secure telemetry dashboard; hardened FRC-friendly variant; data integrity checks.
UAV mission planning, geofencing validation, failsafe behavior testing, telemetry integrity checks, and controlled spoofing scenarios; packaged for classroom use.
Lightweight decision-making model for autonomous robots; evaluate latency vs. accuracy; analyze adversarial robustness on edge hardware.
Labs focused on securing embedded systems, sensor spoofing defense, ROS2 topic monitoring, and safe autonomy validation workflows.
Packet inspection + behavior monitoring for robots/drones; detect anomalies in control loops, telemetry drift, and spoofing attempts; classroom-safe dashboards.
Autonomy and controls fundamentals; UAV safety, airspace rules, and mission-assurance practices; secure robotics and embedded/IoT systems; ROS2 hardening and secure communication patterns; sensor integrity and spoof-resistance methods; adversarial ML and perception-robustness basics; firmware analysis and embedded security workflows.
Burp Suite, Nmap, Linux tooling, OSINT kits, QGroundControl/Mission Planner for UAV testing, telemetry dashboards, GitHub Actions CI/CD.
UAV safety certification; embedded systems security courses; autonomy/controls upskilling tied to teaching goals; FANUC Certified Robot Operator, Universal Robots Core/Advanced Certification, selective robotics security training; VEX educator/programmer credentials (as appropriate).
This roadmap is living. It’s where I’m going and the blueprint of the world I’m building.