10 OpenAI robotics researchers
These ten current and former OpenAI robotics researchers have held member of technical staff, research scientist and robotics engineer roles tied to robotics work at OpenAI. A reader can learn what robotics researchers work at OpenAI involves from people who have done it.
Professionals to explore
Adam Fishman
LinkedInExperience: Technical Staff · OpenAI
Adam Fishman has been on the Technical Staff at OpenAI since August 2024, and the profile says Adam Fishman is developing techniques for general purpose robotics there. Adam Fishman was a Doctoral Student at the University of Washington from 2018 to 2024 and a Student Researcher at Google DeepMind from 2023 to 2024.
Alan (Jialiang) Zhao
LinkedInExperience: Member of Technical Staff · OpenAI
Alan Zhao has been a Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI since December 2025, and the profile describes the role as robotics research. Alan Zhao was a Researcher & Engineer at 1X in 2025 and a PhD Student at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) from 2022 to 2025.
Arthur P.
LinkedInExperience: Former Member of the Technical Staff · OpenAI
Arthur P. is a former Member of the Technical Staff at OpenAI (2018 to 2020), a role the profile describes as helping deploy ML/AI on robots towards AGI in the real world. Arthur P. worked in Robotics at Daedalus from 2021 to 2025 and was a Robotic Systems Engineer at Ripcord from 2016 to 2017.
Keith O.
LinkedInExperience: Senior Robotics Engineer · OpenAI
Keith O. is a former Senior Robotics Engineer at OpenAI, a role held from November 2016 to November 2021, and has been a Technical Lead at OpenAI since December 2021. Keith O. was a Robotics Engineer at Boston Dynamics from 2011 to 2016 and a System Engineer at Cima NanoTech from 2006 to 2011.
Kevin M. Kemper
LinkedInExperience: Member of Technical Staff, Robots and AI · OpenAI
Kevin Kemper has been Member of Technical Staff, Robots and AI at OpenAI since April 2025, based in San Francisco. Kevin Kemper was Robot System Lead at Robust.AI from 2024 to 2025 and Staff Robotics Engineer (X - The Moonshot Factory) at Google from 2023 to 2024, and Software & Electronics Tech Lead - Wearable Robotics at Google from 2021 to 2023.
Larry Xu
LinkedInExperience: Member of Technical Staff, Robotics · OpenAI
Larry Xu has been Member of Technical Staff, Robotics at OpenAI since January 2026 and was Member of Technical Staff, Identity Platform at OpenAI from 2023 to 2025. Larry Xu was Lead Software Engineer, Identity Protection Team at Dropbox from 2022 to 2023, based in San Francisco.
Lilian Weng
LinkedInExperience: Former Research Scientist · OpenAI
Lilian Weng is a former Research Scientist at OpenAI (2018 to 2021), a role the profile describes as tech lead on the Robotics team, with a focus on algorithms for training robotic tasks, including teaching a robot hand how to solve Rubik's cube. Lilian Weng has been a Co-Founder of Thinking Machines Lab since 2025.
Toby Simonds
LinkedInExperience: Member of Technical Staff · OpenAI
Toby Simonds has been a Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI since November 2025, and the profile describes the role as Researcher Robotics. Toby Simonds was Head of LLM research at Tufa Labs in 2025 and Humanoid Robotics Lead engineer at the Melbourne Space Program from 2022 to 2024.
Yaofeng "Desmond" Zhong
LinkedInExperience: Member of Technical Staff · OpenAI
Desmond Zhong has been a Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI since July 2026, and the profile headline reads Solving Robotics @ OpenAI. Desmond Zhong was a Founding Research Scientist at Breakpoint AI from 2024 to 2026 and a Research Scientist (Physics-informed AI group) at Siemens from 2020 to 2024.
Zhenpei Yang
LinkedInExperience: Member of Technical Staff · OpenAI
Zhenpei Yang has been a Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI since September 2024, and the profile lists the role under Robotics. Zhenpei Yang was a Research Scientist at Waymo from 2022 to 2024 and a Research Intern at Apple from 2021 to 2022, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's role type and era at OpenAI to your question, and note whether they still work there. Check each person's dates, since a past role may not reflect current practice.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How did your team decide which robotics problems to work on, and who had a say in that choice?
- 02How did you split work between simulation and real robots in your projects?
- 03What would you tell a robotics researcher weighing an AI lab against a robotics company?
Reaching OpenAI robotics researchers
How can I contact one of these OpenAI robotics researchers?
Pick one of the 10 people on this page and choose "Book a paid call", or describe your project to find others. You offer a fee for a 15-minute call or a written answer, Instant Expert finds the person's work email and sends the invitation, and they decide whether to accept. The list covers 1 company: OpenAI, based on profile data retrieved on October 23, 2026. Being listed here doesn't mean someone has agreed to take calls.
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Yes. An agent with a USDC wallet on Base can ask one question without an Instant Expert account. It names the person, for example by the LinkedIn URL on this page, and pays per ask over x402 (HTTP 402). The person answers in writing or by voice note, and if nobody answers within 7 days, the payment goes back to the wallet automatically. Claude and ChatGPT can do the same through the Instant Expert connector: setup is at /docs/mcp for Claude and /docs/chatgpt for ChatGPT. x402 docs
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot; roles marked former had ended by then. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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