David Barnhart is a leading aerospace engineer, researcher, and entrepreneur specializing in space systems, satellite technologies, and on-orbit assembly. He currently serves as Director of the Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Southern California and is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arkisys Inc.. With decades of experience in the aerospace sector, he has held leadership roles at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Air Force Research Laboratory, and multiple commercial space organizations. His work focuses on small satellites, robotic space systems, satellite swarms, and in-space manufacturing technologies. David Barnhart has authored numerous research publications, patents, and conference papers in aerospace engineering and has received several prestigious honors, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Medal and recognition from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

"Diámesos": The Art of Interfacing Robotics to Things in Space                                                                             The domain of robotics today translates to any type of system that manipulates, moves, affects or modifies either its environment or other things.   For decades elements in space are monolithic, built on the ground and then transported to space for one purpose and life.  Applying the construct of "robotics" to the space domain enables a rethinking of how single use elements are designed and can be utilized, post launch.  The singular challenge to changing this entrenched culture is the lowly "interface";  the entity that connects two or more things together.  This talk with discuss the unique challenges and morphology of space system design, and where potential connection points between elements may lie for efficiency and optimization, all under the rubric of applying elements of robotics to affect, post launch