People

Dr. Ming Liu | Director

Liu Ming graduated from Tongji University for his bachelor’s degree and obtained his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich in 2013. He holds multiple significant positions, such as Executive Committee member of the 13th Guangzhou Youth League, member of the Guangzhou Association for Science and Technology, and director of the Shenzhen New United Front Work Association. He is a recipient of national highlevel talent programs and served between 2020-2024 as the founding chair of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Thrust (Department) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), as well as the director of the Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Unmanned Driving. In addition, he is a distinguished expert appointed by the industry and information technology departments of Shandong and Guangdong provinces, a member of the China Automation Association’s Embodied Intelligence Committee, vice chairman of the China Low - Speed Unmanned Driving Industry Alliance, and vice chairman of the Robotics Ousif Open Platform.

Liu Ming’s research centers on robotics and autonomous driving. He has consistently explored key issues like visual positioning, path planning, 3D perception, and dynamic environment modeling, achieving a series of original results. He has published over 300 academic papers (over 150 SCI - indexed), with more than 23,000 citations, and holds over 100 national invention patents. In the past five years, he has led over 30 projects as principal investigator, with a total funding of over 220 million yuan. He has received 15 best paper and nomination awards at international conferences, the Wu Wenjun Artificial Intelligence Innovation Award from the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, the First - Prize of Shanghai Technical Invention in 2021, the Second - Prize of Guangdong Technical Invention in 2021, and the First - Prize of Technological Progress from the China Ports Association.

Globally, in 2018, IEEE honored Liu Ming with the “IEEE IROS Toshio Fukuda Young Professional Award” for his outstanding contributions to robot path planning and control. This prestigious annual award recognizes one exceptional young innovator in robotics globally. Liu Ming was the first Chinese recipient. In 2024, for the fourth consecutive year, he ranked 17th among the world’s top IROS robotic scholars and 1st among global Chinese scientists in the AI2000 list. He also appeared in the top 0.2% of Stanford’s 2024 Global Scientist List.

Liu Ming led the navigation solution for unmanned IGVs at Guangzhou Nansha Port Phase IV, enabling commercial operation of the world’s largest inland-road-river-sea intermodal terminal with magnet-free autonomous driving IGVs. His work helped create a global benchmark of 170 fully unmanned vehicles and played a key role in promoting Guangzhou’s automated port model along the Belt and Road. Related unmanned vehicle products for logistics, transportation, cleaning, patrolling, and retail have been applied in over 160 parks globally, serving clients like Huawei, Foxconn, and Luxshare.

Ming Liu’s research interests include dynamic environment modeling, deep-learning for robotics, 3D mapping, machine learning and visual control. He’s particularly interested in the investigation of novel, real-time online approaches in solving mobile robot mapping and navigation. In general, he can be stimulated by research in all robotic and intelligent system fields.

Dr. Jianwen Luo | Assistant Director of IADC

Jianwen Luo received B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Honor School, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, in 2012, the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechatronics engineering from State Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, in 2014 and 2018, respectively. Since Sep. 2010 through Jan. 2011, he visited, Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, as an Exchange Student. Since Mar. 2016 through Apr. 2018, he worked with Stanford Robotics Lab, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, as a joint PhD student. Since Feb. 2017 through May 2017, he worked with University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, as a Visit Scholar. Since Jun 2020 through Dec 2020, he worked as a PostDoc with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Since 2021 through 2022, He worked a Research Associate with The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He was also the PI of legged robot project group with Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society (AIRS), Shenzhen, China. He is currently working as an Assistant Director of Intelligent Autonomous Driving Center, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou. His main research interests focus on motor design and control, autonomous driving, legged locomotion, dynamics control, whole body control, robotic system design.

Post-Docs

Dr. Zhijian He

Dr. He is currently a research associate with the Robotics and Multi-Perception Lab directed by Prof. Ming Liu, at the Robotics Institute, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He received his Ph.D. degree from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) in 2019. He received his master’s degree and bachelor’s degree from Jilin University in 2013 and 2009.

Dr. Xinxing Chen

Dr. Chen is now working as a research associate at the RAM Lab of Robotics Institute, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Xinxing Chen was born in Xiangyin, Hunan. She received her PhD degree and master’s degree from HKUST. She received her bachelor’s degree from the Hunan University. Her research interests focus on the structural displacement monitoring, image processing, and construction site safety monitoring.

Ph.D. students

Dr. Jianhao Jiao

Jianhao Jiao received his Bachelor’s degree in Measurement Control and Instrument Science at Zhejiang University in 2017.

His research interest include multi-modal sensor calibration and ego-motion estimation for autonomous driving.

Dr. Peng Yun ( CV)

Peng received his Bachelor’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Research Interests: Machine Learning & Image Processing

Dr. Yang Yu

Yang received his Bachelor’s Degree in 2012 from Donghua University and Master’s Degree in 2014 from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) both in Electrical Engineering.

He has 2 years working experience in Front End Web developing.

Research Interests: Robotics, machine learning and computer vision

Dr. Huaiyang Huang

Huaiyang received his Bachelor’s Degree from Zhejiang University.

Research Interests: Odometry, Localization and SLAM.

Dr. Sukai Wang

Sukai received his Bachelor’s Degree from Zhejiang University, majoring in Measurement Control and Instrument Science.

Sukai’s research interests include Navigation, Autonomous Car and Deep Learning.

Mr. Peide Cai

Peide received his Bachelor’s degree of Automation in 2018 from school of Control Science and Engineering from Zhejiang University.

Peide’s research interests include navigation, sensor fusion and machine learning.

Dr. Hengli Wang

Hengli Wang received his Bachelor’s Degree of Engineering at Zhejiang University in 2018, majoring in Mechatronics Engineering.

Research interests: Semantic Segmentation, 3-D Perception, Visual Navigation, Mobile Robots, Deep Learning.

Mr. Yuxuan Liu

Yuxuan received his Bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University in 2019, majoring in Mechatronic.

Research interests include visual object detection, differentiable programming.

Mr. Zhenhua Xu

Zhenhua Xu receives his bachelor’s degree in eletronics and information engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2018.

Research interests: Slam, visual object detection

Mr. Fulong Ma

Fulong received his Bachelor’s degree of Automation from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2018.

Research interests: 3D object detection and multi-sensor calibration.

Mr. Haoxuan Jiang

Haoxuan Jiang received the B.Eng. degree in Measurement Control Technology and Instruments from Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China, in 2017, and the M.S. degree in Mechanical and Automation Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2018. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in Robotics and Autonomous Systems from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology(Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China.

His research interests include Reinforcement Learning for robotics, SLAM and computer vision.

Mr. Jinhao He

Jinhao He received his master’s degree from Sun Yat-sen University in 2021.

Research interests: visual localization, 3d reconstruction

Mr. Linwei Zheng

Linwei Zheng received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and automation from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2017 and his master’s degree in electronic engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2018.

Research interests: SLAM, computer vision, place recognition

Mr. Jiachen Wang

Jiachen received his Bachelor’s degree of Engineering in Computer Science and Technology from Jilin University (JLU) in 2019.

Research interests: Robotic Perception and Multi-Sensor Fusion

M.Phil Students

Mr. Kan Huang

Kan received his Bachelor’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Electronic and Information Engineering. He has some experience in embedded system development, and iOS App development.

Research interest: Indoor Localization, SLAM, Machine Learning, AI

Mr. Yutong Wang

Yutong received his Bachelor’s degree from Drexel University in Electrical Engineering.

Yutong’s research interests include Localization, Odometry and Autonomous Car.

Research Assitants

Mr. Yuan Wang

Yuan got his Master degree in Telecommunication at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

His interests include digital image processing, deep learning and real-time object detecton, semantic segmentation and instance semantic segmentation in 2D/3D data.

Mr. Weixun Zuo

B.E at Anhui University 2016, Majoring in Optical Information Science and Technology. MSc at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology majoring in Electronic Engineering.

His research interests include Deep Reinforcement Learning, SLAM and Mobile Robot.

Mr. Zhengyong Chen

Zhengyong Chen is a senior student majoring in Communication Engineering of Southwest University for Nationalities.

Zhengyong’s research interests include Neural Network, Machine Learning and Computer Vision.

Alumni and Visitors

Dr. Qinghai Liao. B.E. at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) 2015, Majoring in Mechanical Design Manufacture and Automation Research interests include Mobile Robot, SLAM and Multi-Sensors Calibration.
Dr. Haoyang Ye. Haoyang Ye received his Bachelor’s Degree of Engineering at Zhejiang University in 2016, majoring in Automation. During his undergraduate study in Zhejiang University, he won the outstanding graduates of Zhejiang University. Haoyang’s research interests include Sensor Fusion, Autonomous Car and Deep Learning.
Dr. Qing Liang. Qing Liang received his Bachelor’s Degree of Engineering in Automation from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2013 and his Master’s Degree in Instrument Science and Technology from Beihang University in 2016. Qing’s research interests are sensor fusion and VLC-centric indoor localization.
Dr. Bhutta, Muhammad Usman Maqbool. PhD Student at Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He got SSMS PhD scholarship by Punjab Education Endoment Fund (PEEF) for this program. Bhutta, Muhammad Usman studied M.Phil and M.Sc. from Department of Electronics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad Pakistan (HEC ranked # 1 University in Pakistan) with 2nd position in my batch. Bhutta has been awarded with scholarship (position based) three times during his M.Sc. Received his B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Physics from Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan Pakistan. He has 4 years + experiences in Research and Development of EE and IT Projects and teaching BS and M.Sc. Courses of Computer Science and Physics. Research Interest: Intelligent and Robust Multi-Robotics Applications, Networked Robots
Dr.Yuying Chen. B.E. at Zhejiang University in 2015, majoring in Information Engineering. Research interests:localization, navigation and SLAM
Dr. Yuxuang Sun was a research associate at the RAM-Lab of HKUST Robotics Institute from 2018 to 2020. He received his Ph.D degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) under the supervision of Prof. Max Qing-Hu Meng in 2017. He received his master’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2012, and the bachelor’s degree from Hefei University of Technology (HFUT) in 2009.
Dr. Xuebin Sun was born in Baodi, Tianjin. He received both his PhD degree in 2018 and master’s degree in 2014 from Tianjin University. He received his bachelor’s degree from Tianjin University of Technology in 2011. His research interests focus on video coding optimization, digital image processing and point cloud processing algorithms. Between 2018 and 2020, sun worked as a Research Associate (Postdoc) with Prof. Ming Liu in the Robotics Institute (RI) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
Dr. Rui worked as a Postdoc Fellow with Prof. Linda Zangwill and Prof. David J. Kriegman in the Medical School and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in Feb. 2020,

Rui FAN was born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia in 1993. He received his BEng degree in Automation from the Harbin Institute of Technology in Jul. 2015. From Sep. 2015 to Jun. 2018, Rui worked towards his Ph.D. degree with Prof. John G. Rarity and Dr. Naim Dahnoun in the Visual Information Lab in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bristol (UoB). Between Jul. 2018 and Feb. 2020, Rui worked as a Research Associate (Postdoc) with Prof. Ming Liu in the Robotics Institute (RI) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
Dr. Lei Tai joined Alibaba, Hangzhou as Senior Algorithm Engineer in 2019, Ph.D. (2015-2019)

Lei Tai received both his Bachelor’s Degree of Engineering in 2012 and his Master’s Degree of Engineering in 2014 from Material Science and Engineering Department of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). During his study in HIT, he won the Best Technology Award in ABU Robocon Contest as the team leader of HIT Robotics team.

Lei Tai’s research interests include Deep Reinforcement Learning, Computer Vision and Mobile Robot.
Ms. Ting Sun Joined Huawei Tech. Investment Co., Ltd. HK as Machine Learning Researcher, 2019

B.E. at Beijing Institute of Technology in 2012, majoring in Telecommunication

MSc at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology majoring in Telecommunication

Her research interests include digital image processing, machine learning and robotics.
Ke Yu, Tsinghua University, Beijing, Mobile Robot,2013
Shiwei Li, Tsinghua University, Beijing, Mobile Robot, 2013
Zhonglei Wang, Zhejiang University, SLAM, 2013, admitted by Brown University in 2015
Vincent Sitzmann, Technical University of Munich, SLAM, 2013, admitted by Stanford University in 2015
Zhiyang Yu, Beijing Institute of Tech, ETH Zurich, Scene Recognition, 2014.3~2014.8, admitted by ETH Zurich in 2014
Yue Wang, Tongji University, Shanghai, Deep-learning for scene recognition, 2014.2~2014.8
Sant Kumar, IIT, Bombay, Visual Odometey, 2013.4~2014.7, admitted by ETH Zurich in 2015
Isaac Deutsch, Multi-robot SLAM, 2014.1~2014.7, admitted by Master program of ETH Zurich in 2014, Bachelor Thesis
Daniel Schneider, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Multi-robot Visual SLAM, 2015.3~2015.7, Master Thesis
Alankar Kushagra, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Visual Topological SLAM by Signages, 2014
Tzi Yang Shao, HKUST, Topological Visual Navigation, 2014~2015
Jehri Wong, HKUST, Visual Odometry and Navigation, 2014~2015
Fangyi Zhang, 3D sensing and VLC-based localization, 2013~2015, admitted by Queensland University of Technology, with Prof. Peter Corke
Zonghao Huang, HKUST, Machine Learning, 2014~2015
Adrian Yuen, HKUST, Mobile Table-Tennis Robot and Badminton Robot, 2014~2015, Founder of CustomFPX
Guoyang Xie, HKUST, Deep-learning for automotive, 2013~2015, MPhi, now at Baidu Institute of Deep-Learning, supervised by Andrew Ng.
Kejie Qiu, HKUST, VLC-based localization and navigation, 2013~2015, MPhi
Shaohua Li, HKUST, Deep-learning, 2013~2015, MPhi
Qionghui Tan, City University of Hong Kong, Wheel-chair Control, 2016, MSc
Jonas Eichenberger, ETH Zurich, visual navigation for dynamic large environments using an omnidirectional camera, 2016, Master Thesis
Jinhong Ruby Sun was research assistant in IoT and visual detection, 2016
Lionel Trébuchon, ETH Zurich, research assistant in Omni-SLAM and Line Feature Detection, 2016
Giuseppe Paolo, ETH Zurich, research assistant on Deep Reinforcement Learning for robot controls and Computer Vision, 2017

Robotics and Multi-Perception Lab