Steven Macenski

Steve Macenski

Steve Macenski is an accomplished robotics engineer and open source advocate. He currently serves as the Owner and Chief Navigator at Open Navigation, LLC.1

Some of Steve's key roles and achievements include:

• Co-Founder of the Satellite Development Organization (SatDev) and Director of Research and Development for SatDev1
• NASA NeXT Competition Winner in 20151
• Open Source Robotics Engineering Lead at Samsung Research America (SRA) from June 2019 to March 20221
• Open Robotics' ROS2 Technical Steering Committee (TSC) board member and ROS Navigation Working Group Lead1
• Speaker at numerous conferences including TechCrunch, RoboBusiness, ROS World, and Autoware Academy1
• 2020 and 2021 Best ROS Developer Award recipient1
• Primary maintainer and developer on critical ROS2 packages including rclcpp, Navigation2, Image Pipeline, Robot Localization, Slam Toolbox, and more1
• Published numerous peer-reviewed papers in top conferences, journals, and industry events1
• Advisor at Alterra Robotics from February 2020 to February 2023 and Simbe Robotics, Inc from January 2020 to September 20211
• Senior Software Engineer and Robotics and Navigation Lead at Simbe Robotics, Inc from May 2017 to May 20191

Steve is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering.1 He has been actively involved in various clubs and competitions during his academic years, including the Illinois Space Society, Satellite Development Organization, and NASA Robotic Mining Competition.1

Steve is a prominent figure in the robotics community, known for his expertise in open source robotics, ROS, and navigation systems. He has made significant contributions to the field through his research, development, and advocacy efforts.12