1st Place in Logistics Picking - 2nd What Bimanuals Can Do (WBCD 2026) CompetitionICRA 2026, Vienna
Jun 2026
Brik H. Meza
About
I am an MSc CS (Robotics and AI) student at McGill University as a McCall MacBain Scholar, working at the Mobile Robotics Lab under the supervision of David Meger.
Before McGill, I received my Bachelor's degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) in 2025, with an exchange semester at the University of Texas at Austin. I interned at BSH Home Appliances and worked as an AI Research Engineer at EsSalud, where I led health-AI projects. Along the way, I co-founded Outliers, a Software and AI Consultancy for SMBs, and NONHUMAN, one of LATAM's first robot learning labs.
I am excited about startups, autonomous robots, and the future of humanity in space.
News
- [Oct 2026]HandUMI accepted for poster presentation at the UMI Arena workshop at CoRL 2026.
- [Aug 2026]Moved to Montreal to begin the MSc CS at McGill/Mila as a McCall MacBain Scholar.
- [Aug 2026]Presented HandUMI at Founders, Inc.'s Off Season II festival in San Francisco.
- [Jun 2026]Received a $5,000 research grant from Physical Intelligence to advance HandUMI.
- [Jun 2026]Won 1st place in Logistics Picking at the 2nd What Bimanuals Can Do (WBCD 2026) competition in Vienna.
- [May 2026]Paper on autonomous dump pocket cleaning accepted at the World Mining Congress 2026.
Research
HandUMI: A Modular Hand-Worn Parallel-Jaw Interface for Robot-Free Bimanual Data Capture
Hand-worn interface whose parallel jaws carry swappable fingertips shaped like the robot's own gripper, so demonstrations transfer without changing the robot. 562 robot-free towel-folding demonstrations trained ACT (12/20) and fine-tuned π0.5 (7/20) on PiPER arms. A pair costs USD 557 with a Quest 3S. All open source.
A Robotic Testbed for Autonomous Dump Pocket Cleaning Using Imitation Learning
Experimental testbed and benchmark for evaluating imitation learning architectures on autonomous dump pocket cleaning. Benchmarks four IL architectures (ACT, Diffusion Policy, π0.5 model, and SmolVLA) using a SO-ARM100 platform with granular bentonite material.
Projects
MANTRA
The NONHUMAN team built an ALOHA-style bimanual manipulator using Piper arms, achieving a system 4x cheaper than Stanford's original ALOHA. I led the mechanical design and developed the teleoperation and data-collection stack. The team collected 3,000+ pick-and-place episodes (2,301 curated and available on HuggingFace) to fine-tune and test the π0.5 model.
BISO-ARM100: Automated Medication Sorting via Imitation Learning
A pilot study conducted at IETSI-EsSalud evaluating a low-cost bimanual robotic system (12 DOF) based on the open-source SO-ARM100 project. The system was trained via Imitation Learning and tested on a sample of 10 medication box types, achieving an 80% global success rate in a controlled environment.
Automatic Package Sorting System
Modular mechatronic system for automated package classification using barcode detection and independent sorting modules. Designed to reduce space requirements while maintaining scalability.
Entrepreneurship
Co-led the company end to end, generating five figures in revenue while studying and working full-time. Helped 20+ SMEs across the USA, AU, EU, and LATAM improve their online presence and efficiency through tech and AI.
Started with a bimanual SO-ARM100 setup in early 2025, then raised angel funding to build one of LATAM's first student-led robot learning labs (15+ members, 5 universities). With part of the team, won 1st Place in Logistics Picking at the WBCD Competition, ICRA 2026 (Vienna).
Education
MSc CS student as a McCall MacBain Scholar.
GPA 17/20
GPA: 17/20 (Peruvian scale). Top 2% in faculty; #1 in Mechatronics during the 2021–22 period.
University Honors (Spring 2023)
University Honors (Spring 2023). Courses: Innovation/Entrepreneurship, Spacecraft Dynamics, Materials Engineering & Lab, Mechatronics Lab, and Galaxies/Quasars/Universe.
Teaching
Conducted lab sessions and supervised graded quizzes:
- Industrial Artificial Intelligence
Lab sessions on classification, regression, and XGBoost model training (2025-1, 2025-2, 2026-0, 2026-1) - Dynamic Systems and Control B
Graded quizzes on time/frequency-response analysis, PID controller tuning, and optimal control (2025-1, 2025-2) - Electric Circuits
Supervise graded quizzes and author circuit design problems (2025-2)
Work Experience
AI Research Engineer
Institute for Health Technology Assessment and Research (IETSI), EsSalud
Feb 2025 – Aug 2025
Led 4 pilots (NutriBot, MediVoz, RADOX and BISO ARM-100); presented at Peru's 2025 Health-AI Congress. Pilot results: NutriBot scored 78.9/100 SUS, 85% improved diets; MediVoz reduced note-taking time by 70%.
Redesigned stove grill, projected to save $54k/year; reworked hinge system to reduce cost by $0.50 per unit.
Honors & Awards
McCall MacBain ScholarMcGill University
2026
1st Place - Outstanding International Student Experience AwardPUCP Internationalization Awards
Dec 2024
1st Place - Datathon: AI and Open Data SIS 2024SIS & Fabricum PUCP
Sep 2024
Excellence ScholarshipDARI PUCP
Jul 2024
University HonorsThe University of Texas at Austin
Spring 2023
1st Place - DARI Student Mobility GrantPUCP
Jan 2023
PRONABEC Children of Teachers National ScholarshipGovernment of Peru
2020 - 2024
Thoughts
Articles
- Reflections on Traditional JobsNovember 2023
- Social Media and Personal FocusJanuary 2024
- University: A Snowball, for Better or WorseJune 2024