Nikola is a mechanical engineer in the Robotic Vehicles and Manipulators group at JPL. He obtained his masters and PhD from California Institute of Technology in 2015 and 2019, respectively. His dissertation work is focused on robotic actuation, particularly motor modeling, design and optimization; planetary gearbox analysis and design; planar rotary spring design and optimization; robot dynamics sensitivity dependence on actuation characteristics. In the course of his graduate studies he obtained minors in applied computational mathematics and electrical engineering.
Nikola graduated with a Bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in 2013 from the University of Edinburgh and took part in the International Exchange Program at California Institute of Technology in 2011-2012.
He also participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program at Caltech in 2012, where he designed and prototyped a sampling devise for the Axel rover developed at JPL.
-PhD Mechanical Engineering with minors in Applied Computational Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2019
-M.S. Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2015
-B. Eng. Mechanical Engineering, University of Edinburgh, 2013
-International Exchange Program at California Institute of Technology, 2011-2012
-Robotics Mechanical Engineer, JPL, 2019-Present
-Robotic actuation: motor, gearbox, driver, controller design
-Robot dynamics and control