Meet the Team
Principal
Investigator
David Navarro-Alarcon
Principal Investigator
David is a Roboticist, who (reluctantly throughout the week) works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received his PhD degree in 2014 from The Chinese University of Hong Kong under the supervision of Prof Yun-hui Liu. David is a Senior Member of the IEEE and serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO).
Research Staff
Domi Gomez
Research Assistant
MSc degree in Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark
Research interests: Design and development of robotic systems for real-world applications.
Dr Luiza Labazanova
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Research interests: Human-robot interactions, artificial intelligence and haptics
Dr Samantha Lee
Lab Manager
PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Research interests: Tool manipulation, multi-robot systems, perceptual robots, image processing, and automation
Valen Qiu
Research Assistant
BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Research interests: Robotic system developing, robot learning
Fonny Poan
Project Assistant
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Media from City University of Hong Kong
Research interests: AR/VR/XR, veterinary healthcare, interactive media
Zem Li
Research Assistant
MSc degree in Game programming at the Goldsmiths, University of London
Research interests: VR/AR Active Learning Experiences/HCI/Game Production
Research Students
Bin Zhang
PhD student
Master degree in Control Science and Engineering from China Academy of Space Technology
Research interests: Multi-agent system, control theory, systems science and complexity
Fangyuan Wang
PhD student
Master degree in Software Engineering from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
Research interests: Reinforcement learning, multi-agent systems and decentralized machine learning
Gu Gong
PhD student
Master degree in Control Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology
Research interests: Bio-inspired machine vision and image processing
Shipeng Lyu
PhD student
Master degree in Electrical Science and Technology at the Southern University of Science and Technology
Research interests: Robot learning and perception
Hui Zhi
PhD student
MSc degree in Control Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology
Research interests: Multi-agent systems, robotics, control theory
Jinsong Wu
PhD student
MRes degree in Hamlyn Centre in Imperial College London
Research interests: Medical robotics, control systems, motion planning
Yuexuan Xu
PhD student
MSc degree in Control Science and Engineering from Hebei University of Technology
Research interests: Modeling and control of robots, visual servoing
Yuan Tian
PhD student
Master degree in Control Science and Engineering from Beihang University
Research interests: Adaptive control, motion planning
Ning Han
PhD student
MSc degree in Control Science and Engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology
Research interests: Visual servoing, neural networks
Zeyu Zhou
PhD student
Master degree in Control Science and Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University
Research interests: Multi-agent system, machine learning
Wanli Liuchen
PhD student
MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Research interests: Robot navigation and machine learning
Qihan Chen
PhD student
Master degree in Control Science and Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University
Research interests: Robot-assisted surgery, learning-based control
Songhao Huang
PhD student
MSc in Engineering from University of Pennsylvania
Research Interests: Planning, Multi-agent system, Learning-based method
Charlie Sun
PhD student
Master degree in Mechanics from Tongji University
Research interests: Human-robot collaboration, learning-based manipulation
MSc Students
Kobe Hon
MSc student
BEng in Product Analysis and Engineering Design from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Research interests: Human-robot interactions
Alumni
Zhen Li
MSc student
Jan 2024 - Jun 2025
Deep learning for robotic manipulation
Zhanguo Chunqiu
MSc student
Jan 2024 - Jun 2025
Reinforcement learning for walking robots
Dr Kyle Huo
PhD student
Sep 2019 - Mar 2025
Robot learning, motion planning in manipulation
Bowen Fan
Research Assistant
Sep 2021 - Aug 2024
Ant-inspired multi-robot systems
Tanja Luštrek
Research Intern
Jun 2024 - Aug 2024
Machine learning, control of mobile robots
Dr Anqing Duan
Research Associate
Oct 2021 - Jul 2024
Robot learning and control
Fuji Hu
MSc Student
Sep 2022 - Jul 2024
Multi-sensor fusion for mobile robots
Dr Zoë Ma
PhD student
Jun 2018 - Jan 2024
Task planning for robotic manipulation
Dr Xiaodong Shao
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mar 2023 - Aug 2023
Control theory applied to mobile robotics
Hongpeng Chen
MSc student
Sep 2021 - Jul 2023
Robotic defect inspection
Dr Jose G. Romero
Visiting Lecturer
Aug 2022 - June 2023
Control theory for multi-agent systems
Dr Celia Saghour
Visiting PhD student
Oct 2023 - April 2023
Model-based methods for soft object manipulation
Dr Jeffery Zhou
PhD student
Sep 2019 - Oct 2022
Latent space methods for robot manipulation
Frank Zhang
MSc student
Sep 2020 - Jul 2022
3D vision-thermal fusion for robotics
Luyin Hu
MPhil student
Sep 2019 - Jun 2022
Thermal servoing, sensor-based control
Dr Muhammed Muddassir
PhD student
Sep 2018 - May 2022
Vision-based manipulation, dermatology robots
Dr Maria Victorova
PhD student
Sep 2017 - Feb 2022
Ultrasound-guided robotics, machine learning
Dr Omar Zahra
PhD student
Jan 2018 - Nov 2021
Neurorobotics, SNN-based control, sensorimotor models
Zeyu Wu
MSc student
Sep 2019 - Jul 2021
Bio-inspired mechanisms, soft robotic hands
Maggie Xu
Research Assistant
Jun 2020 - Feb 2021
Motion planning for manipulators
Rick Peng
Research Assistant
July 2019 - June 2020
Vision-based planning for robotic welding
Dr "Big Tom" Qi
Visiting PhD student
Sep 2019 - Jan 2020
Robotic manipulation of cables
Dr Jihong Zhu
Visiting PhD student
Jul 2019 - Oct 2019
Visual servo control of deformable objects
Dr Tiffany Yip
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jan 2019 - Mar 2019
3D modelling of linear deformable objects
Dr Christian Trejo
Visiting PhD student
Jul 2018 - Aug 2018
Control of continuum soft manipulators
Man-kiu Chow
Research Assistant
Aug 2017 - Feb 2018
Mechanical design of medical robots.