Ali Agha

Dr. Agha is one of the foremost experts in robotic autonomy and physical AI for complex off-road and industrial environments. He is the co-founder and CEO of Field AI, a company dedicated to advancing next-generation autonomy and Robotics AI. Prior to founding Field AI, Dr. Agha was a leading figure at NASA JPL, where he served as Principal Investigator (PI) for several of the nation’s flagship autonomy programs. These included the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, DARPA RACER (self-driving off-road cars), NASA’s Autonomous Mars Cave Exploration, and the Coordinated Autonomy for the prototype Mars Helicopter-Rover. He also led the CoSTAR team (JPL-MIT-Caltech-KAIST-LTU), guiding efforts that won the 2020 DARPA Subterranean Challenge, focused on navigating complex urban and industrial environments. He also developed multi-robot systems composed of heterogeneous teams—including walking robots, wheeled rovers, and flying drones—that autonomously coordinated with each other and were deployed in various NASA, DARPA, and commercial/industrial missions. Dr. Agha’s work has earned global recognition and accolades, with over 200 scientific publications and patents, as well as several best paper awards. Over his career, he has won and managed hundreds of millions in federal grants, industry, and institutional funding, both as a PI and Co-I prior to Field AI, and now as CEO, driving innovative autonomy solutions. He has also successfully led and managed teams of over 100 members to deliver cutting-edge results. Currently, Dr. Agha leads Field AI, advancing robotic autonomy and embodied AI. Previously, he served as Group Leader of the Robotic Aerial Mobility group at NASA JPL (whose members contributed to the first Mars Helicopter mission) and as a PI at the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) at Caltech. He also helped establish Qualcomm’s Autonomy division, developing self-flying drones and autonomous vehicles, and conducted research at MIT on multi-agent planning and learning under uncertainty for autonomous package delivery. Passionate about translating scientific breakthroughs into impactful products, Dr. Agha advises policymakers and executives on the practical real-world deployment of emerging robotic AI technologies. Dr. Agha is always on the lookout to hire people who share the passion of working on cutting-edge AI and robotics.