In the test lab, footsteps keep time. Robin Hsieh crouches beside the screen as sensors read the signals and tweaks force and angle in milliseconds—not just to prove the code works, but to make each step feel human again.
From National Taiwan University to Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute and a PhD at MIT Media Lab, Hsieh’s research has reached top journals and attracted backing from Foxconn and Trend Micro. He’s blending AI with bionics to build smart mobility aids that help people walk better.
Robin Hsieh poses for a photo with the powered prosthetic limb he developed.
Growing up in a family business that processed and exported precision parts, he learned early to tear machines down—and rebuild them smarter.
Then came his first LEGO robot: gears, motors, a few lines of code, and it moved on command.
In that moment, he saw it—engineering could turn imagination into motion.
After HSNU, he entered National Taiwan University’s Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering program. To his parents, it meant he’d made it.
To him, it meant he could finally chase what he loved.
NTU’s formulas didn’t help him.
Building did. He and friends launched an education team, toured Taiwan teaching robotics, designed curriculum for high-school teachers, and even published his first book on programming LEGO robots with a C-like language.
Robin Hsieh used a head-mounted interface to control the robot to move left or right via brainwaves.
But his transcript told a harsher story. From freshman through junior year, he stayed near the bottom, failed ten courses—nine required—and nearly washed out.
Lost and frustrated, he arrived at a simple realization: without a clear goal, he couldn’t go all in.
The real turning point came junior year—through two defining encounters.
He first found his path in NTU’s Lab 405 under Professor Ta-Te Lin, where he began working on powered prosthetics and biomechanics.
Robin Hsieh poses for a photo with Professor Lin Ta-te in Laboratory 405 at National Taiwan University.
There, he saw mechanical engineering meet human physiology—using gait analysis, joint dynamics, and sensors to understand how we stand, bear weight, and move.
Robin Hsieh wearable gait sensing device
Second, he watched an online talk by MIT Media Lab professor Hugh Herr.
Once an elite climber, Hugh Herr was trapped for three days in a −29°C Mount Washington blizzard at 18. He survived—but lost both legs below the knee.
Determined to climb again, he became an MIT professor, built bionic limbs that lock into rock cracks and even change height, and later co-founded BionX to take the tech beyond the lab.
MIT Media Lab Professor Hugh Herr's TED Talk
“He is my hero,” Robin Hsieh says. If Lab 405 showed him engineering could move with the body, Herr’s story felt like a deeper call—less a technical revelation than a mission.
From that moment on, he chose bionic prosthetics as his path.
He delayed graduation by a year to finish research, publish, and present—while loading up on PT biomechanics, kinesiology, and motion analysis.
He went so all-in, a professor thought he was double-majoring.
After graduation, he applied to CMU’s Robotics Institute, the University of Michigan’s Mechanical Engineering program, and MIT Media Lab—and chose CMU, earning his master’s in 18 months.
Robin Hsieh at Carnegie Mellon University
At CMU, he realized that prosthetics are not just data curves in academic papers, but assistive devices worn daily; not lab exhibits, but tools that must assist users up and down stairs and ramps in seconds.
He and his team built a working prototype, then he interned at BionX.
During his internship, he collected discarded parts to assemble a bionic prosthetic limb to gain a deeper understanding of its operation.
On the day of the board meeting, he mustered the courage to express his desire to join Hugh Herr's lab. His supervisor later relayed, "Dr. Herr thinks you're a smart kid and has a good impression of you."
Robin Hsieh poses for a photo with his classmates at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
After graduating from CMU, he flew to Boston on pure adrenaline—only to get the message after takeoff: no admissions slot that year. His mind went blank.
Hours later, he landed in a blizzard. Thin jacket, heavy luggage—then the suitcase handle snapped at customs. Cold wind, a strange city, no plan.
He didn’t turn back. If he’d come this far, he wouldn’t return to zero. He stayed, found work, and decided to apply again. That choice became the hinge that eventually opened MIT Media Lab.
He took a teaching job at “NuVu Studio”—an MIT-adjacent innovation school founded by MIT alumni. A year of cross-disciplinary work taught him to tackle questions without answers, and eight hours of daily English instruction sharpened his voice fast.
In 2017, persistence paid off : Robin Hsieh earned a full scholarship to MIT Media Lab, starting with a master’s. Under Hugh Herr, he trained in bionic prosthetics, assistive tech, biomechanics, and neuroscience—learning how to truly fuse humans and machines.
Robin Hsieh poses for a photo with HUGH HERR, a professor at the MIT Media Lab.
Robin Hsieh spent seven years at MIT Media Lab earning his master’s and PhD. There, he and his team paired nerve-preserving amputation surgery with a powered bionic limb—working with Harvard clinicians to unite medicine and engineering.
Their core idea was bold and simple: preserve and rewire peripheral nerve signals during amputation, and a bionic limb can read a user’s intent far more accurately—bringing walking and control closer to a natural gait.
They built the powered prototype, wrote the algorithms, and tested it with amputees. The data confirmed it : residual nerve signals could be translated in real time into precise power—making the prosthesis part of the body’s neural loop.
The first-of-its-kind breakthrough was published in “Nature Medicine” and has moved into clinical practice—opening a new chapter in amputation care.
Robin Hsieh research findings were published in a top international journal.
With an MIT doctorate and world-leading results, Robin Hsieh had options: stay in academia, join a major research institute, or enter an established company. Instead, he chose the most uncertain path—building a startup.
He says breakthrough tech means little if it never leaves the lab. What mattered to him was what his mentor Hugh Herr proved: research only becomes complete when it improves everyday life.
Robin Hsieh and company co-founder Hyungeun Song
That mission aligned with the vision of “iAct” (智趨動), co-founded by Trend Micro CEO Eva Chen. As early as 2022—while Hsieh was still at MIT—the company backed his work with a NT$2 million scholarship.
Robin Hsieh (third from left) was invited to give a speech at Trend Micro and took a group photo with Trend Micro CEO Chen Yi-chen (third from right) and her team members.
But choosing entrepreneurship meant stepping into a different arena: funding, medical regulations, clinical validation, and market adoption.
The biggest shift, he says, wasn’t the workload—it was the lens. “In research, you convince your peers. In a startup, you convince the world.”
BionX proved powered prosthetics can actively drive a step, nearing a natural gait. But Hsieh saw why scaling is hard : invasive surgery and nerve reconstruction, strict FDA hurdles, and costs so high they rely on insurance—making real-world rollout slow.
So he pivoted to smart mobility aids. Using AI plus multimodal sensors, the system reads real-time data and predicts gait to anticipate intent—no surgery, lower regulatory barriers, and far lower cost, designed to help seniors and stroke survivors move again.
The pivot won early support: a US$3 million first round backed by Foxconn and Trend Micro.
Robin Hsieh's entrepreneurial venture received support and investment from Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn Technology Group.
The company now has offices in the U.S., Singapore, and Taiwan, and plans to unveil its prototype publicly once ready.
From NTU doubts to lab focus—from neural signals to startup risk—Robin Hsieh never measured success by names or titles. “Success,” he says, “is living without needing anyone’s approval.”
Low grades and a snow-night setback didn’t break him. In a world chasing speed and right answers, he chose depth—taking research beyond the lab and turning technology into real-life freedom.
Over eight and a half years, he didn’t rush to prove himself—he kept recalibrating his aim. Once the target is clear, time becomes power.
That’s his lesson for a new generation: no noise—just light.
Bionic Prosthetics: Make a limb feel like part of the body again
Smart Assistive Devices: Use tech to make movement easier and safer
