Aaron Johnson researches how to design intelligent interactions between a robot and its environment with a focus on taking robots out of the lab and factory and into the real world. His interests include novel robot design, behavior design, controller design, platform design, as well as dynamic transitions, contact, physics-based planning, bio-inspired robotics, robot vision, actuator modeling, and robot ethics. He has tested his robots in the Mojave desert, power plants, a coal mine, and on various military bases.