Hello
I'm Allison (Pinosky) Gaines,
a Robotics and Machine Learning Engineer
Chicago, IL
Postdoc Researcher
Northwestern University
2025-Present
Building real-time sensor-agnostic perception models for robot learning.
Graduate Researcher
Northwestern University
2019-2024
Worked with Professor Todd Murphey. Developed algorithms and hardware benchmarks for active learning, reinforcement learning, and perception models in the context of robotics.
R&D Engineer
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
2015-2019
Assistant Staff 2015-2017
Associate Staff 2017-2019
Systems Engineering Role:
Screened CCDs, designed cabling, developed assembly procedures, completed V&V tasks, and led payload cable installation at satellite integration for the camera payload for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
Rapid Prototyping Role:
Mechanical lead for a DoD payload. Conducted a system design study. Developed prototypes, drawings, test campaigns, and sell-off material. Managed technicians, designers, and contractors. Collaborated with other system leads to define interfaces, risks, and needs.
Teaching Assistant
UNC Chapel Hill | 2015
Northwestern | 2022
Signals & Systems: (Spring 2015) Planned and facilitated labs (1x/week) and office hours (2x/week). Graded homework assignments and tests.
Machine Dynamics: (Fall 2022) Conducted office hours (3x/week) and taught several lectures.
(Spring 2022) Graded homework assignments.
Research Assistant
UNC Chapel Hill
2013-2015
Worked with Professor Catarina Gallippi. Developed simulation of shear wave propagation in tissue. Applied signal separation techniques to simulate ultrasound return data to delineate structure & composition of tissues.
Research Assistant
ASSIST Center at North Carolina State University
Summer & Fall 2014
Worked with Professor Alper Bozkurt. Helped design a wearable, low powered pulse oximetry device to monitor environmental and personal health parameters. Improved PCB hardware and data acquisition software to integrate new nanotechnology enabled sensors.
Business Analyst Intern
Wix.com
Summer 2013
Developed and disseminated Key Performance Indicators to management, product, and marketing teams Conducted business analysis and strategy development tasks. Advanced Wix’s SEC filing and pre-IPO activities.
Physical State Exploration for Reinforcement Learning from Scratch
A. Pinosky, T.A. Berrueta, O. Li, T.D. Murphey
Under Review, 2025
Flow Matching Ergodic Coverage
M. Sun, A. Pinosky, T.D. Murphey
Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2025
Single-Shot Embodied Robot Learning From Scratch
A. Pinosky
PhD Thesis, Northwestern University, 2024
Embodied Active Learning of Generative Sensor-Object Models
A. Pinosky, T.D. Murphey
International Symposium of Robotics Research (ISRR), 2024
Maximum Diffusion Reinforcement Learning
T.A. Berrueta, A. Pinosky, T.D. Murphey
Nature Machine Intelligence, 2024
Safe Coverage for Heterogeneous Systems With Limited Connectivity
A.T. Taylor, T.A. Berrueta, A. Pinosky, T.D. Murphey
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2024
Hybrid Control for Combining Model-Based and Model-Free Reinforcement Learning
A. Pinosky, I. Abraham, A. Broad, B. Argall, T.D. Murphey
The International Journal of Robotics Research, 2022
Scale-Invariant Specifications for Human-Swarm Systems
J. Meyer, A. Prabhakar, A. Pinosky, I. Abraham, A.T. Taylor, M. Schlafly, K. Popovic, G. Diniz, B. Teich, B. Simidchieva, S. Clark, T.D. Murphey
IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, 2024
Scale-Invariant Fast Functional Registration
M. Sun, A. Pinosky, I. Abraham, T.D. Murphey
The International Symposium of Robotics Research, 2022
A Game Benchmark for Real-Time Human-Swarm Control
J. Meyer, A. Pinosky, T. Trzpit, E. Colgate, T.D. Murphey
IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 2022
Hybrid Control for Learning Motor Skills
I. Abraham, A. Broad, A. Pinosky, B. Argall, T.D. Murphey
Workshop on Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR), 2021
TESS Vibration Testing: A. Boundary Condition Case Study
A. Karlicek, A. Pinosky
SEM International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC), 2018
A. Pinosky
Undergraduate Honors Thesis, UNC Chapel Hill, 2015
Low Powered Pulse Oximetry Device Using Novel Proximity Detector Approach with Energy Harvesting
A. Pinosky, E. Beppler, J. Dieffenderfer, A. Bozkurt
UNC/NCSU Joint BME Research Retreat, NCSU Undergraduate Research Symposium, and Lucas Scholars Seminar, 2014
PhD in Mechanical Engineering
Northwestern University
2019-2024
My research was at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and active learning, with a particular focus on learning from scratch in novel environments.
B.S. in Applied Science–Biomedical Engineering
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2011-2015
I graduated with distinction and highest honors with a major Applied Science with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Math.