Arthur Petron

About

I’m Arthur Petron. I am a systems designer. I build robotics and reality-aligned intelligence systems that operate under real-world constraints backed by the constructive principles of intuitionistic logic. Recently I’ve been leading robotics work on autonomous machine-tending systems that have to function in the chaos of a real CNC job shop facility.

Before that I was at OpenAI, leading mechanical engineering on the robotic dexterity work — the Shadow Hand systems that learned to manipulate a block and, eventually, solve a Rubik’s Cube. That followed my PhD at the MIT Media Lab in Hugh Herr’s Biomechatronics group, where I built FitSocket, a tissue-stiffness measurement device for fitting prosthetic sockets to amputees. Three MIT degrees in there, plus a handful of patents along the way — including a 2011 one for a folding motor scooter that I am still quietly fond of. The throughline has always been the same: trying to get hardware to behave well against the messiness of the physical world.

Over the last few years my center of gravity (pun intended) has shifted hard toward learning math. I have been particularly focused on learning Category Theory, Operadic Theory, Wiring Diagrams, Topos Theory + Algebraic Topology, and Manifold Theory. I am fascinated with the results I get when I apply these abstractions to make complex systems easier to reason about and more robust. I’m interested in “math that compiles” into trustworthy architecture/models and learning systems that stay stable when you add feedback control in physical reality.

Please, consider this website to be an extension of my personal notebook: electromechanical designs, actuator ideas, simulation and control experiments, and math notes and musings as I try to turn abstract structure into working code, written monograms, and hardware. If you care about robotics, simulation, and mathematics of building real systems you’ll probably find something useful here.

Additionally, I am an avid photographer, recently having the pleasure to attend the 2024 Nobels, Sundance, Cannes, and many more events in a volunteer capacity working with WikiPortraits to help get more Creative Commons licensed photos on Wikipedia. Many photos from my various shoots may be found here on this website and more will be added as I get to my photo processing backlog.

In film, I am an active supporter of film through scientific advising, engineering, and executive production support. I have been involved most recently with the short film, Neuroplastic, written and directed by Graham Sack. Other film includes more commercial ventures and advising/engineering for filmakers local to NYC and beyond.

Other places I exist on the internet: GitHub for code, Google Scholar for papers, the MIT Media Lab page for the prosthetics work.

Follow me on X (@darthur) or drop me a line if you'd like to have even more random musings in your feed. I can be reached via email if you are able to determine how to say "hi" ;¬P.