Otavio Paz

Electrical Engineering Student @ Columbia University 3-2 Engineering @ Oberlin College Industrial Automation Technician @ IFSP

I’m a well-rounded roboticist in training, interested in robotics, human-centered engineering, and renewable energy.

Explore my work View CV

op2305@columbia.edu

A little about me

Hi, I’m Otavio Paz (he/him), a first-generation international student from Brazil studying Electrical Engineering at Columbia University. I’m a well-rounded roboticist in training, with hands-on experience across mechanical design, electronics, controls, autonomous systems, soft robotics, and AI. I care about human-centered engineering and bring a background in renewable energy to work that aims to make technology useful, sustainable, and approachable.

I currently conduct robotics research under Prof. Pengbo Chu and Prof. Yunzhu Li at Columbia. My past work includes patented tick-control hardware, low-cost soft robotic actuators, autonomous navigation, and reinforcement-learning policies for a Unitree G1.

Outside academics, I enjoy hiking, traveling, F1, lucid dreaming, cooking, and counting how many Miatas I see in a day.

Featured projects

View every project

Sim2Real Unitree G1 Locomotion with RL

Testing and documenting a complete reinforcement-learning pipeline for Unitree G1 locomotion at Washington University in St. Louis.

Isaac Lab
Reinforcement learning
Sim-to-real

Hybrid Renewable Energy System

Designing and installing a solar-first, off-grid power system for a remote learning center in Oberlin, Ohio.

PVWatts
Energy modeling
Electrical design

Vision-Guided Jelly-Roll Peeling

Initial research into battery unrolling, vision and force feedback, and DQI development.

Computer vision
Robotic manipulation
Simulation

Announcements

May 14, 2025

I’ve been accepted to Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science to study Electrical Engineering with a full-ride scholarship!

Dec 31, 2023

I’m one of the 3 recipients for the $1,000 STEAM Generator Scholarship by Francis Rei Israel!

Dec 15, 2023

I’ve been awarded the $6,575 Kyle Lam Hacker Scholarship!

Aug 31, 2023

I’ve been awarded a $3,500 grant from REpowering Schools to design a hybrid renewable system with fellow student Ryan Fontanez!

Mar 19, 2022

I’ve been accepted to Oberlin College with a full-ride scholarship! 🌟

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been accepted to Oberlin College with a full-ride scholarship! This is such a proud and surreal...

Latest posts

Marvin the Paranoid Android reacting to a conversation about life

Mar 19, 2026 · 8 min read Can machines think? A collection of thoughts and arguments about consciousness, the mind, and robots

Dec 14, 2024 · 3 min read lucid dreaming: the exploration of a recent science a brief post about my views on lucid dreaming

Let’s build something thoughtful.