Avi Barliya

For almost 5 years, I held leading roles in SpaceIL as the head of attitude and orbit control system (AOCS) group, which designs the autonomous control systems and landing procedure of the first Israeli spacecraft to land on the Moon. I managed the science payload project designed to study the magnetic field of the Moon. Finally, I managed the Flight Configuration of the spacecraft, making sure the entire mission compiles functionally, from the sensors array, through the guidance, navigation and control systems up to the propulsion system. During my Msc and PhD I studied the motor system, and the principles underlying perception, planning and execution of movement in the brain, specifically during gait and arm movements. My research was applied by myself and others to study patients with parkinson disease and cerebral palsy. Furthermore, I studied how basic emotions, are expressed in human body movements during locomotion. At some point I took some time off my research, and my expertise in the understanding of human movement, led me to join the research team in PrimeSense, developing the algorithms behind the now known Microsoft Kinect. And so, I am passionate about bridging the gap between the academic level knowledge about our brain with technology and our future. Specifically, into the fields of robotics, virtual reality, human machine interfaces (neuroprosthesis), etc. For balance, I love to play the piano, I water ski and surf or relax on the beach. I give professional and academic as well as popular science talks, such as: - A TEDxSalon Talk at Tel-Aviv Israel - Researchers night talks (bars talks)