Skip Navigation
Home > Who We Are > People > Ethan Schaler

People

Personal Page Publications
Ethan Schaler

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 82-110

Pasadena, CA 91101

Member of:

358C - Robotic System Development

Ethan Schaler, PhD

Group Leader

Biography

I'm a Robotics Mechanical Engineer and Group Lead in the Robotic System Development Group, with a hardware-focused career that actively balances mature flight projects and early-stage R&D:

  • I have significant spacecraft operations experience as a Rover Planner for the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers on Mars, along with subject matter expertise in robotic arms and force-/torque-sensing.
  • I create and lead multi-disciplinary teams of JPL engineers + academic / industry partners to design / build / test / iterate on novel robotic systems for unique space applications. I'm the PI or lead Co-I of four distinct NIAC projects – FLOAT, SWIM, LEAP, & SPARK.

In the past, I have supported spacecraft I&T / V&V (Phase D), spacecraft formulation (pre-Phase A), and DARPA projects (low TRL). My PhD background is in meso-scale flexible grippers, sensors, actuators, and adhesives.

I'm always interested in exploring new, unique robotic mission concepts, along with novel actuation and sensing technologies (electrostatic, magnetic, piezo, etc.), so feel free to reach out!

Education

PhD @ Univ. of California, Berkeley (2018)
Electrical Engineering

MPhil @ Univ. of Cambridge (2012)
Micro- and Nanotechnology Enterprise

BS @ Univ. of Maryland, College Park (2011)
Mechanical Engineering

Internships:
    2016 - NASA JPL (USA)
    2009/10 - Tohoku Univ. (Japan)
    2008/09 - RIKEN (Japan)
    2006 - NASA GSFC (USA)

Long ago, I was the recipient of the Churchill, NSF GRFP, NDSEG, and Goldwater scholarships, and was awarded the Best Student Paper award at MARSS 2018.

Research Interests

FLOAT – Flexible Levitation On A Track (NIAC Project Overview)

SWIM – Sensing With Independent Micro-Swimmers (NIAC Project Overview)

LEAP – Legged Exploration Across the Plume (NIAC Project Overview)

SPARK – Solid-state Propulsion for Autonomous Reconnaissance of Karst (NIAC Project Overview)

  • Ongoing work – check back soon!

Publications

2026
  1. M. Maimone, V. Verma, A. Rankin, K. Kaplan, J. Carsten, E. Schaler, E. Boroson, E. Graser, T. Srinivasan, J. Nash, D. Chiu, "Roving on the edge: Robotic Operations Power Perseverance's Ascent of Jezero Crater Rim," 48th Annual AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, Breckenridge, Colorado, USA, 04 February 2026.
2025
  1. J. Carsten, K. Kaplan, E. Schaler, and M. Maimone, "Tube or not Tube: Manipulation and Sampling Operations on Mars 2020," JPL Mission Chronicles Slide Presentation, Pasadena, CA, 27 August 2025.
  2. V. Verma, M. Maimone, K. Kaplan, E. Thiel, N. Rothenberger, J. Carsten, A. Rankin, E. Schaler, E. Graser, N. Balabanska, S. Kuhn, and H. Dor, "Robotic Operations During Perseverance’s First Extended Mission," 2025 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT, USA, Winner of M. Charles Fogg Best Conference Paper Award, 02 March 2025.
2021
  1. E. Schaler, J. Wisnowski, Y. Iwashita, J. Edlund, J. Sly, W. Raff, K. Kriechbaum, M. Frost, R. McCormick, and J. Townsend, "Two-Stage Calibration of a 6-Axis Force-Torque Sensor for Robust Operation in the Mars 2020 Robot Arm," Advanced Robotics 35, no. 21-22 (2021): 1347-1358, 31 May 2021.
2018
  1. E.W., Schaler L., Jiang C., Lee R.S., Fearing, "Bidirectional, thin-film repulsive-/attractive-force electrostatic actuators for a crawling milli-robot," MARSS 2018 (Int. Conf. on Manipulation, Automation, and Robotics at Small Scales), Nagoya, Japan, 07 November 2018.
  2. E.W., Schaler T.I., Zohdi R.S., Fearing, "Thin-film repulsive-force electrostatic actuators," Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 252-261, 07 November 2018.
  3. E.W., Schaler L., Jiang R.S., Fearing, "Multi-layer, thin-film repulsive-force electrostatic actuators for a 2-DoF micro-mirror," ACTUATOR 2018 (Int. Conf. and Exhibition on New Actuators and Drive Systems), Bremen, Germany, 25 June 2018.