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Leo Lin

Robotics Software Engineer (Co-op) at Amazon Robotics (Innovation Lab)

Humanoid manipulationReinforcement Learning (RL)Imitation LearningROSSim2realPCB Design
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About

I'm Leo Lin, currently a Robotics Software Engineer Co-op at Amazon Robotics' Innovation Lab and a Computer Engineering student at UIUC. My journey has taken me through various research labs and internships, including K-Scale Labs and the NSF, where I've focused on the intersection of hardware and intelligence. I'm deeply passionate about Embodied AI and dexterous manipulation—essentially teaching robots how to interact with the world as naturally as humans do. Whether it's open-sourcing the CRAFT hand or winning hackathons with bimanual laundry-folding robots, I love the challenge of taking complex models from simulation to real hardware. I'm always looking to connect with fellow builders and researchers who are pushing the boundaries of what humanoid robots can achieve.

Networking

What I can offer

  • ›Expertise in humanoid manipulation and imitation learning
  • ›Experience with ROS, Mujoco, and NVIDIA Jetson inference
  • ›Hardware-software integration and PCB design skills
  • ›Leadership in community-driven robotics projects

Looking for

  • ›expanding my professional network
  • ›exploring mutual opportunities in robotics and Embodied AI

Best fit for

Robotics researchersStartup foundersAI engineersAcademic professors in computer vision and robotics

Current Interests

Embodied AIDexterous ManipulationHackathon CultureSim2Real transitionsTactile sensing

Background

Career

Progressed from undergraduate research roles at UIUC and NSF to internships at Robnux and K-Scale Labs, eventually leading to a Co-op position at Amazon Robotics and a leadership role as Co-Chair of SIGRobotics.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2023 – 2027); Y Combinator Startup School (2025).

Achievements

  • ›1st Place: NVIDIA x Hugging Face x Seeed Studio Hackathon
  • ›2nd Place: NYC Robot Hackathon
  • ›Co-developed and open-sourced the 'CRAFT hand' dexterous robotic hand
  • ›Reduced PCB size by 50% for a silent robot turret project
  • ›Deployed fine-tuned Groot-n1.5 model for humanoid natural language commands

Opinions

  • Resilience in engineering: the importance of 'locking in' and refocusing when systems fail.
  • Open source philosophy: hardware projects should be open-sourced to advance the field.
  • Value of learning from scratch and seeking mentorship from industry experts.