GCER 2026

Benjamin Morrell is a Robotics Technologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, working on autonomous navigation technology for robots flying and exploring underground and in space. He is the Supervisor of the Aerial Robotic Systems Group, where his group works on research, development and implementation of the next generation of flying robotic explorers on other worlds. They previously work on the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, the first controlled, powered flying vehicle on another world. Previously, Ben was the Perception Lead on Team CoSTAR, a JPL-led team competing in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, with the goal to deploy teams of autonomous robots to rapidly explore unknown underground environments. Ben completed his PhD at the University of Sydney in the School of Aerospace Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering in 2018 and his Bachelor’s of Aeronautical (Space) Engineering at the University of Sydney in 2013.