Atoosa Ayazbakhsh

About Me

Hi, I’m Atoosa. By day I build adaptive systems for robotic rehabilitation. Away from the lab, you’ll find me planning the next trip, painting, on a Pilates mat, or designing something for the web.

My path has taken me from electrical engineering in Tehran to robotics and machine learning in Edmonton, and I’ve learned that good ideas rarely arrive while I’m staring at a screen. A walk somewhere new, an afternoon of painting or a slow, focused Pilates session often untangles a problem that a week of debugging couldn’t.

What connects all of it is a love of things that are both technical and human: a well-designed experiment, a balanced composition, a clean layout, a movement done with control. It’s the same balance I look for in my research on motor learning, where the goal is to find just the right amount of challenge.

Atoosa in the lab, wearing research headgear and glasses
Lab days
Atoosa standing on a footbridge above a river in the Canadian Rockies
Mountain days

Off the Clock

The things that keep me curious, creative and balanced.

  • Travelling

    New places reset my perspective. I love exploring on foot, getting a little lost in unfamiliar neighbourhoods and finding the view that makes the whole trip worth it. Living in Alberta puts the Rockies within reach, with turquoise rivers and mountains that never look the same twice.

    • Canadian Rockies
    • City Walks
    • Trip Planning

  • Painting

    Painting is where I slow down. After a day of numbers and code, mixing colours and working out a composition uses a completely different part of my brain, and there’s no undo button, which is half the fun. I paint for the process more than the result.

    • Colour
    • Composition
    • Creative Practice

  • Pilates

    Pilates keeps me strong, flexible and grounded, which matters when most of my work happens at a desk or a lab bench. I love its precision: small, controlled movements, attention to breath and alignment, and progress you can actually feel. As someone who studies motor learning, I also enjoy watching my own body learn.

    • Core Strength
    • Mobility
    • Mind–Body Balance

  • Web Design

    My interest in the web started during my years as an IT manager, when I looked after my company’s website. Today it’s a creative outlet: I like turning a blank page into something clear, fast and accessible. This site is built in plain HTML, CSS and a little JavaScript, with no frameworks.

    View this site’s source
    • HTML & CSS
    • JavaScript
    • WordPress
    • Accessibility

Quick Facts

Based in
Edmonton, Alberta
Currently
M.Sc. student in the IDEA Lab, University of Alberta
Languages
Persian, English and some French
Volunteering
Research and engineering conferences on campus
Off the clock
Travelling, painting, Pilates and web design

Let’s connect

Want to swap research ideas, travel tips or painting recommendations? I’d love to hear from you.

Say Hello