Research area

Robotics and Automation

Software and data analysis for the VEX Robotics Competition, and research on robot sensor data and control, including a completed concept study for NASA's LEAF lunar payload.

VEX Visualizer · 2026-2027 season tracker
Override game guide · in the visualizer
LEAF-Link · completed October 2026
Robot localization measurement study · in preparation
Projects

Projects in robotics and automation

Competition robotics

0%25%50%75%100%1015202530TrueSkill ratingMatch win rate
Worlds 2026 archive. TrueSkill rating against match win rate, 856 high school teams with match results.

VEX Visualizer

Live

Season tracker for the 2026-2027 VEX V5 Robotics Competition: event results, team records, skills standings and World Championship qualifiers, built from official VEX Events data. It includes the Override game guide and the Worlds 2026 archive.

Data
Official VEX Events data
Updates
Signature events every 30 minutes while they run; other events on Mondays and Thursdays
Estimates
OPR and related values are labeled as estimates; the method is published
vex.nullsetlabs.org

Sensing, control and data analysis

-40040-80-40040PC1 (16.4% of variance)PC2 (14.4%)Ws-2Ler-0 and Cvi-0Col-0SpaceflightGround
OSD-37. 56 samples on the first two principal components. Samples group by strain; spaceflight and ground samples are mixed within each group.

LEAF-Link

Completed

Concept study on whether spaceflight gene expression can supply plant-stress labels for a sensor-based forecast on NASA's LEAF lunar payload, with a growth-chamber control simulation.

Flight and ground samples were labeled correctly for 55 of 56 samples held out by canister position (permutation p = 0.001).

Data
NASA OSDR study OSD-37: 56 Arabidopsis RNA‑seq samples
Methods
Principal component analysis, held-out logistic regression, PID simulation
Version
v1.1, October 3, 2026
robotics.nullsetlabs.org/leaf-link

Robot localization measurement study

In Preparation

Camera range and bearing measurements after calibration, compared with the pose reference, in a public multi-robot localization dataset.

Data
UTIAS Multi-Robot Cooperative Localization and Mapping dataset (MR.CLAM): five camera-equipped robots, nine recordings; public
Status
Write-up in preparation; no public release yet
Status

Project status

Project and statusDataUpdates and versions
Competition robotics
VEX Visualizer
Live
Official VEX Events data, 2026-2027 season Signature events every 30 minutes while they run; other events on Mondays and Thursdays
Override game guide
Live
V5RC Override game manual Field elements, scoring and match rules, summarized in the VEX Visualizer
Worlds 2026 dashboard
Archive
866 high school teams, 2026 VEX World Championship Kept as an archive since October 2026
Sensing, control and data analysis
LEAF-Link
Completed
NASA OSDR study OSD-37 and a growth-chamber simulation v1.1, October 3, 2026; analysis code published
Robot localization measurement study
In Preparation
UTIAS Multi-Robot Cooperative Localization and Mapping dataset (MR.CLAM) Write-up in preparation