Hi there, I’m Zhefan!

I am pursuing my Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University with a minor in Machine Learning. I lead the UAV Team in the Computational Engineering & Robotics Lab (CERLAB) under the supervision of Professor Kenji Shimada. Before my Ph.D., I received my M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2021. Prior to that, I obtained my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and my B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from Sichuan University in 2019. My current research focuses on perception and planning for autonomous aerial robot navigation in dynamic environments. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me for potential research collaboration!

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Email: zhefanx@andrew.cmu.edu

Last update: 09/2024

Research Interests

  • Robot Learning and AI Robotics: Developing deep learning, reinforcement learning, and artificial intelligence methods to enable autonomous robots to perform complex tasks.
  • Planning and Perception: Designing computationally efficient planning and perception algorithms for robot navigation and obstacle avoidance in dynamic environments.
  • Field Robots: Developing robotic systems for various industrial applications, including construction site inspection, exploration of unknown environments, and reconstruction.
  • Multi-Robot Systems: Coordinating heterogeneous robot teams of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles) for complicated tasks.

Project Highlights

Deep Reinforcement Learning for Robot Navigation and Collision Avoidance

RL-demo
RL-training

Autonomous Robotic Exploration in Unknown and Dynamic Environments

Exploration1
Exploration2

Autonomous Inspection and 3D Reconstruction for Construction Sites

inspection
reconstruction

Safe Trajectory Planning and Collision Avoidance in Dynamic Environments

mocap-demo
Navigation