Conor Walsh

BIOGRAPHY

Why a Tech Power Player? For pioneering robotic technology designed to improve quality of life.

Conor Walsh, a multidisciplinary researcher at Harvard University, is working to develop a wide range of wearable robots that help people move better. He founded and leads the Harvard Biodesign Lab, which spun out Verve Motion, a Cambridge startup that has developed an “exosuit” designed to take the strain off of workers lifting heavy objects. At Harvard Biodesign Lab, Walsh brings together experts from the fields of medicine, engineering, and industrial design to develop human-focused robots. More recently, Walsh became the faculty director of the Harvard Move Lab, an initiative that will be the center of innovation for a $3 million grant from the state to develop next-generation wearable technologies, such as an ankle device that helps people rehabilitate after a stroke. In 2022, Walsh, now 41, was awarded a Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists, which comes with a $250,000 prize. Walsh holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Trinity College Dublin and a master’s degree and a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT.