I am currently a Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering (AAE) at Loughborough University, working with Loughborough University Centre for Autonomous Systems (LUCAS).
I earned my PhD in autonomous aerial vehicles from the same department in 2011. After completing my PhD, I worked briefly at Triumph Actuation & Motion Control Systems-UK Ltd as a control engineer, and then returned to LUCAS as a Research Associate. I joined the Department of AAE as an academic in 2013.
Prior to joining Loughborough University, I obtained my MSc in Guidance, Navigation and Control (in 2008) and BEng in Control Engineering (in 2005) both from Beihang University (BUAA), China.
My research focuses on Robotics and Autonomous Systems, with the primary goal of developing advanced functionalities to facilitate and enhance their applications across various domains. I have gained extensive expereince from supervising approximately 10 PhD students and working with 8 Postdoctoral Research Associates (PDRAs) in conducting high-quality research. Throughout my career, I have consistently attracted and successfully delivered multi-million pound research projects in the field of robotics and autonomous systems.
Note
If you are interested in pursuing a PhD with me, please check PhD funding info at the university website. There is always a potential to offer scholarships to exceptional candidates. If you find a synergy between your background, interests, and our research endeavors, please do not hesitate to contact me.
News:
We have several openings for PhD and Post-doc Research Associate positions. More details can be found at MSCA DC and PDRA.- We’re hosting the 30th International Conference on Automation and Computing (ICAC 2025) at Loughborough University from 27–29 August 2025. More details can be found here.
A new Horizon Europe project AIGreenBots has been kicked-off, which is funded by the MSCA Doctoral Network Program. We will soon look for a doctoral candidate in our group to join the consortium with other 10 doctoral candidates starting from July/Oct 2025.- Mr Zhipeng Zhong has joined our group as a PhD student, working on autonomous ground robotics for horticulture applications.
I have served at ICAC2024 as the Program Chair and now start the new cycle as the Genearl Chair of ICAC2025.
Welcome Dr Shuoyuan XU, who has recently joined us as the PDRA working on the agriculture robotic projects.
We recently have another Agri-tech project (POME: Precision Orchard Management for Environment) kicked off, which aims to use robotic and AI technologies to improve the precision orchard management. A new PDRA will be created for this project.
We have a Postdoc Research Associate job opening on SLAM for agriculture robotics. More details please see the advert.
I am happy to share that I been awarded a Personal Chair, with an approved title of Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Systems, with effect from 1st september 2023.
Congratulations to Dr Callum Rhodes, who has officially claimed the Doctor title following the summer graduation at Loughborough University. He is now a Dyson Research Fellow at Imperial College London.
PhD opportunity with Dr. Sarah Bugby for Energy Resolved-Backscatter X-ray Imaging. I will be the secondary supervisor for the depolyment of the imager on mobile robotics to support inspection and asset assessment. More details here.- A new PDRA post will open soon for a UKRI funded project on agriculture/horticulture robotics (perception and SLAM solutions). The post will likely start from September 2023 for 30-36 months. Please contact me if you are interested.
I have been awarded the University Fellowships starting from Oct 2023 for 12 months.
