About me
Welcome! I’m Haichao Liu (刘海超), currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Perception and embodied INtElligence (PINE) Lab at EEE of Nanyang Technological University (2025.9 - Present), supervised by Prof. Ziwei Wang.
I was a visiting scholar (2025.2 - 2025.8) in the Mechatronics and Automation Lab at ECE of the National University of Singapore, where I was supervised by Prof. Tong Heng Lee. I was also honored to be attached to the Autonomous Systems and Robotics (ASR) Group at A*STAR ARTC as a part-time research scientist.
I received my PhD degree from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2022.8 - 2025.8), when I was in the Robot Motion Planning and Control Lab, under the guidance of Prof. Jun Ma and Prof. Shaojie Shen.
Previously, I earned my Master’s degree from the Institute of Intelligent Control and Systems and the State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System at Harbin Institute of Technology (2020.8 - 2022.7), where I was supervised by Prof. Huijun Gao and Prof. Weiyang Lin.
I also participated in a Postgraduate Study Abroad Program at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of Sydney (2021.8 - 2022.1). My academic journey began with a Bachelor’s degree in Robot Engineering from Northeastern University (2016.9 - 2020.7), within the Faculty of Robot Science and Engineering.
I am always open to discussions or potential collaborations, please feel free to contact me at haichao.liu@ntu.edu.sg.
🤖 2nd RoCo Challenge @ IROS 2026
I am excited to invite students, researchers, and industry teams to join the 2nd Robotic Collaborative Assembly (RoCo) Challenge @ IROS 2026 in Pittsburgh, USA (Sep 27 - 30, 2026)!
RoCo evaluates Physical AI systems on robotic assembly with two tracks:
- 🏭 Industrial Board Assembly (connector insertion, wire routing, screw tightening, battery assembly, etc.)
- 🧱 Brick Assembly (customized LEGO structure construction)
If you are interested in dexterous manipulation, long-horizon reasoning, and generalizable robot intelligence, this challenge is for you.
- 🚨 Proposal deadline: June 22, 2026
- 🧪 Simulation phase: June - August 2026
- 📍 Onsite finals: IROS 2026, Pittsburgh, USA
- 🏆 Prize pool: $20K+ (tentative)
Join us and register here: 🚀 2nd RoCo Challenge @ IROS 2026
Quick links:
Research Interests
My research interests include the areas of Robotics and Autonomous Driving, with focus on:
- Dexterous Robot Manipulation with Open-vocabulary Commands,
- Decision-making, Planning and Control for Autonomous Driving,
with the following technologies:
- Large Multimodal Language Models,
- Reinforcement learning and imitation learning,
- Convex and non-convex optimization.
Publications
All Papers
An Intention-Driven Lane Change Framework Considering Heterogeneous Dynamic Cooperation in Mixed-Traffic Environments
X. Qiu, H. Liu, Y. Pan, J. Ma, and X. Zheng, "An Intention-Driven Lane Change Framework Considering Heterogeneous Dynamic Cooperation in Mixed-Traffic Environments," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. 1-13, 2026.
RoCo Challenge at AAAI 2026: Benchmarking Robotic Collaborative Manipulation for Assembly Towards Industrial Automation
H. Liu, Y. Zhou, Z. Wu, Z. Ji, Z. Shan, Q. Wang, R. Liu, Z. Yang, Y. Gu, S. Khan, S. Yan, J. Liu, H. Zhu, C. Liu, J. Yang, J. Zhang, Z. Wang, "RoCo Challenge at AAAI 2026: Benchmarking Robotic Collaborative Manipulation for Assembly Towards Industrial Automation," arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15469, 2026.
MoE-ACT: Scaling Multi-Task Bimanual Manipulation with Sparse Language-Conditioned Mixture-of-Experts Transformers
K. Guo, H. Liu, Y. Sun, R. Zhao, J. Zhou, J. Ma, "MoE-ACT: Scaling Multi-Task Bimanual Manipulation with Sparse Language-Conditioned Mixture-of-Experts Transformers," arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15265, 2026.
UniManip: General-Purpose Zero-Shot Robotic Manipulation with Agentic Operational Graph
H. Liu, Y. Xue, Y. Zhou, H. Deng, Y. Liang, L. Xie, Z. Wang, "UniManip: General-Purpose Zero-Shot Robotic Manipulation with Agentic Operational Graph," arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.13086, 2026.
VLM-E2E: Enhancing End-to-End Autonomous Driving with Multimodal Driver Attention Fusion
P. Liu, H. Liu, H. Liu, X. Liu, J. Ni, and J. Ma, "VLM-E2E: Enhancing End-to-End Autonomous Driving with Multimodal Driver Attention Fusion," in Proceedings of the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2026, pp. 1-8.
A Survey on Reinforcement Learning of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulation
H. Deng, Z. Wu, H. Liu, W. Guo, Y. Xue, Z. Shan, C. Zhang, B. Jia, Y. Ling, G. Lu, and Z. Wang, "A Survey on Reinforcement Learning of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulation," TechRxiv, 2025. doi: 10.36227/techrxiv.176531955.54563920/v1
An Autonomous Mobility on Demand Platform Supporting Cooperative Driving with Visual Context Generation for LMMs
H. Liu, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "An Autonomous Mobility on Demand Platform Supporting Cooperative Driving with Visual Context Generation for LMMs," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
Human-like Driving: A Comprehensive Survey from Depth and Breadth
H. Lu, J. Yang, Y. Liu, S. Shen, H. Liu, X. Zheng, and H. Yang, "Human-like driving: A comprehensive survey from depth and breadth," Artificial Intelligence for Transportation, vol. 3, p. 100033, 2025.
Diffeomorphism-Transformed Iterative Linear Quadratic Regulator for Constrained Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving
Z. Zhu, H. Liu, W. Wang, J. Duan, H. Zhao, and J. Ma, "Diffeomorphism-Transformed Iterative Linear Quadratic Regulator for Constrained Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. 1-15, 2025.
VLM-UDMC: VLM-Enhanced Unified Decision-Making and Motion Control for Urban Autonomous Driving
H. Liu, H. Guo, P. Liu, B. Ma, Y. Zhang, J. Ma, and T. H. Lee, "VLM-UDMC: VLM-Enhanced Unified Decision-Making and Motion Control for Urban Autonomous Driving," arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.15266, 2025.
RoboDexVLM: Visual Language Model-Enabled Task Planning and Motion Control for Dexterous Robot Manipulation
H. Liu, S. Guo, P. Mai, J. Cao, H. Li, and J. Ma, "RoboDexVLM: Visual Language Model-Enabled Task Planning and Motion Control for Dexterous Robot Manipulation," in Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
LMMCoDrive: Cooperative Driving with Large Multimodal Models
H. Liu, R. Yao, Z. Huang, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "LMMCoDrive: Cooperative Driving with Large Multimodal Model," in Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
UDMC: Unified Decision-Making and Control Framework for Urban Autonomous Driving with Motion Prediction of Traffic Participants
H. Liu, K. Chen, Y. Li, Z. Huang, M. Liu, and J. Ma, "UDMC: Unified Decision-Making and Control Framework for Urban Autonomous Driving with Motion Prediction of Traffic Participants," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, , vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 5856-871, 2025.
Robot Navigation in Unknown and Cluttered Workspace with Dynamical System Modulation in Starshaped Roadmap
K. Chen, H. Liu, Y. Li, J. Duan, L. Zhu, and J. Ma, "Robot navigation in unknown and cluttered workspace with dynamical system modulation in starshaped roadmap," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-7.
CoDriveVLM: VLM-Enhanced Urban Cooperative Dispatching and Motion Planning for Future Autonomous Mobility on Demand Systems
H. Liu, R. Yao, W. Liu, Z. Huang, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "CoDriveVLM: VLM-enhanced urban cooperative dispatching and motion planning for future autonomous mobility on demand systems," arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.06132, 2025.
Synergizing Decision Making and Trajectory Planning Using Two-Stage Optimization for Autonomous Vehicles
W. Liu, H. Liu, L. Zheng, Z. Huang, and J. Ma, "Synergizing Decision Making and Trajectory Planning Using Two-Stage Optimization for Autonomous Vehicles," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 5489-503, 2025.
Real-Time Teleoperation in Motion Mapping for Medical Robot Based on Robot Manipulator and Haptic Device
P. Peuchpen, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "Real-Time Teleoperation in Motion Mapping for Medical Robot Based on Robot Manipulator and Haptic Device," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-6.
Enhance Planning with Physics-informed Safety Controller for End-to-end Autonomous Driving
H. Zhou, H. Liu, H. Lu, J. Ma, and Y. Ji, "Enhance planning with physics-informed safety controller for end-to-end autonomous driving," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-8.
Parallel optimization with hard safety constraints for cooperative planning of connected autonomous vehicles
Z. Huang, H. Liu, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "Parallel optimization with hard safety constraints for cooperative planning of connected autonomous vehicles," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-7.
Improved consensus ADMM for cooperative motion planning of large-scale connected autonomous vehicles with limited communication
H. Liu, Z. Huang, Z. Zhu, Y. Li, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "Improved consensus ADMM for cooperative motion planning of large-scale connected autonomous vehicles with limited communication," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 7222-238, 2024.
Incremental learning-based real-time trajectory prediction for autonomous driving via sparse Gaussian process regression
H. Liu, K. Chen, and J. Ma, "Incremental learning-based real-time trajectory prediction for autonomous driving via sparse Gaussian process regression," in Proceedings of Intelligent Vehicles Symposium(IV), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-7.
Geometry-aware safety-critical local reactive controller for robot navigation in unknown and cluttered environments
Y. Li, X. Tang, K. Chen, C. Zheng, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "Geometry-aware safety-critical local reactive controller for robot navigation in unknown and cluttered environments," IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 3419 - 3426, 2024.
Integrated behavior planning and motion control for autonomous vehicles with traffic rules compliance
H. Liu, K. Chen, Y. Li, Z. Huang, J. Duan, and J. Ma, "Integrated behavior planning and motion control for autonomous vehicles with traffic rules compliance," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2023, pp. 1-7.
Real-time parallel trajectory optimization with spatiotemporal safety constraints for autonomous driving in congested traffic
L. Zheng, R. Yang, Z. Peng, H. Liu, M. Y. Wang, and J. Ma, "Real-time parallel trajectory optimization with spatiotemporal safety constraints for autonomous driving in congested traffic," in Proceedings of 2023 IEEE 26th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), IEEE, 2023, pp. 1186-1193.
Bio-inspired robot swarm path formation with local sensor scope
Y. Zhao, Z. Qu, H. Liu, and R. Zhu, “Bio-inspired robot swarm path formation with local sensor scope, Applied Intelligence, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 17310-17326, 2022.
Solving a Multi-robot Search Problem with Bionic Sarsa Algorithm and Artificial Potential Field
H. Liu, Z. Qu and R. Zhu, "Solving a Multi-robot Search Problem with Bionic Sarsa Algorithm and Artificial Potential Field," 2021 China Automation Congress (CAC), Beijing, China, 2021, pp. 1830-1835.
Research on Robot Visual Grabbing Based on Mechanism Analysis
H. Liu, Z. Liu, H. Liu and W. Lin, "Research on Robot Visual Grabbing Based on Mechanism Analysis," 2021 IEEE 11th Annual International Conference on CYBER Technology in Automation, Control, and Intelligent Systems (CYBER), Jiaxing, China, 2021, pp. 181-186.
Robotic manipulation
RoCo Challenge at AAAI 2026: Benchmarking Robotic Collaborative Manipulation for Assembly Towards Industrial Automation
H. Liu, Y. Zhou, Z. Wu, Z. Ji, Z. Shan, Q. Wang, R. Liu, Z. Yang, Y. Gu, S. Khan, S. Yan, J. Liu, H. Zhu, C. Liu, J. Yang, J. Zhang, Z. Wang, "RoCo Challenge at AAAI 2026: Benchmarking Robotic Collaborative Manipulation for Assembly Towards Industrial Automation," arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15469, 2026.
MoE-ACT: Scaling Multi-Task Bimanual Manipulation with Sparse Language-Conditioned Mixture-of-Experts Transformers
K. Guo, H. Liu, Y. Sun, R. Zhao, J. Zhou, J. Ma, "MoE-ACT: Scaling Multi-Task Bimanual Manipulation with Sparse Language-Conditioned Mixture-of-Experts Transformers," arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15265, 2026.
UniManip: General-Purpose Zero-Shot Robotic Manipulation with Agentic Operational Graph
H. Liu, Y. Xue, Y. Zhou, H. Deng, Y. Liang, L. Xie, Z. Wang, "UniManip: General-Purpose Zero-Shot Robotic Manipulation with Agentic Operational Graph," arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.13086, 2026.
A Survey on Reinforcement Learning of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulation
H. Deng, Z. Wu, H. Liu, W. Guo, Y. Xue, Z. Shan, C. Zhang, B. Jia, Y. Ling, G. Lu, and Z. Wang, "A Survey on Reinforcement Learning of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulation," TechRxiv, 2025. doi: 10.36227/techrxiv.176531955.54563920/v1
RoboDexVLM: Visual Language Model-Enabled Task Planning and Motion Control for Dexterous Robot Manipulation
H. Liu, S. Guo, P. Mai, J. Cao, H. Li, and J. Ma, "RoboDexVLM: Visual Language Model-Enabled Task Planning and Motion Control for Dexterous Robot Manipulation," in Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
Real-Time Teleoperation in Motion Mapping for Medical Robot Based on Robot Manipulator and Haptic Device
P. Peuchpen, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "Real-Time Teleoperation in Motion Mapping for Medical Robot Based on Robot Manipulator and Haptic Device," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-6.
Research on Robot Visual Grabbing Based on Mechanism Analysis
H. Liu, Z. Liu, H. Liu and W. Lin, "Research on Robot Visual Grabbing Based on Mechanism Analysis," 2021 IEEE 11th Annual International Conference on CYBER Technology in Automation, Control, and Intelligent Systems (CYBER), Jiaxing, China, 2021, pp. 181-186.
Robot navigation
Robot Navigation in Unknown and Cluttered Workspace with Dynamical System Modulation in Starshaped Roadmap
K. Chen, H. Liu, Y. Li, J. Duan, L. Zhu, and J. Ma, "Robot navigation in unknown and cluttered workspace with dynamical system modulation in starshaped roadmap," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-7.
Geometry-aware safety-critical local reactive controller for robot navigation in unknown and cluttered environments
Y. Li, X. Tang, K. Chen, C. Zheng, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "Geometry-aware safety-critical local reactive controller for robot navigation in unknown and cluttered environments," IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 3419 - 3426, 2024.
Bio-inspired robot swarm path formation with local sensor scope
Y. Zhao, Z. Qu, H. Liu, and R. Zhu, “Bio-inspired robot swarm path formation with local sensor scope, Applied Intelligence, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 17310-17326, 2022.
Solving a Multi-robot Search Problem with Bionic Sarsa Algorithm and Artificial Potential Field
H. Liu, Z. Qu and R. Zhu, "Solving a Multi-robot Search Problem with Bionic Sarsa Algorithm and Artificial Potential Field," 2021 China Automation Congress (CAC), Beijing, China, 2021, pp. 1830-1835.
Motion planning and control
An Intention-Driven Lane Change Framework Considering Heterogeneous Dynamic Cooperation in Mixed-Traffic Environments
X. Qiu, H. Liu, Y. Pan, J. Ma, and X. Zheng, "An Intention-Driven Lane Change Framework Considering Heterogeneous Dynamic Cooperation in Mixed-Traffic Environments," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. 1-13, 2026.
RoCo Challenge at AAAI 2026: Benchmarking Robotic Collaborative Manipulation for Assembly Towards Industrial Automation
H. Liu, Y. Zhou, Z. Wu, Z. Ji, Z. Shan, Q. Wang, R. Liu, Z. Yang, Y. Gu, S. Khan, S. Yan, J. Liu, H. Zhu, C. Liu, J. Yang, J. Zhang, Z. Wang, "RoCo Challenge at AAAI 2026: Benchmarking Robotic Collaborative Manipulation for Assembly Towards Industrial Automation," arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15469, 2026.
MoE-ACT: Scaling Multi-Task Bimanual Manipulation with Sparse Language-Conditioned Mixture-of-Experts Transformers
K. Guo, H. Liu, Y. Sun, R. Zhao, J. Zhou, J. Ma, "MoE-ACT: Scaling Multi-Task Bimanual Manipulation with Sparse Language-Conditioned Mixture-of-Experts Transformers," arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15265, 2026.
UniManip: General-Purpose Zero-Shot Robotic Manipulation with Agentic Operational Graph
H. Liu, Y. Xue, Y. Zhou, H. Deng, Y. Liang, L. Xie, Z. Wang, "UniManip: General-Purpose Zero-Shot Robotic Manipulation with Agentic Operational Graph," arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.13086, 2026.
An Autonomous Mobility on Demand Platform Supporting Cooperative Driving with Visual Context Generation for LMMs
H. Liu, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "An Autonomous Mobility on Demand Platform Supporting Cooperative Driving with Visual Context Generation for LMMs," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
Diffeomorphism-Transformed Iterative Linear Quadratic Regulator for Constrained Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving
Z. Zhu, H. Liu, W. Wang, J. Duan, H. Zhao, and J. Ma, "Diffeomorphism-Transformed Iterative Linear Quadratic Regulator for Constrained Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. 1-15, 2025.
VLM-UDMC: VLM-Enhanced Unified Decision-Making and Motion Control for Urban Autonomous Driving
H. Liu, H. Guo, P. Liu, B. Ma, Y. Zhang, J. Ma, and T. H. Lee, "VLM-UDMC: VLM-Enhanced Unified Decision-Making and Motion Control for Urban Autonomous Driving," arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.15266, 2025.
RoboDexVLM: Visual Language Model-Enabled Task Planning and Motion Control for Dexterous Robot Manipulation
H. Liu, S. Guo, P. Mai, J. Cao, H. Li, and J. Ma, "RoboDexVLM: Visual Language Model-Enabled Task Planning and Motion Control for Dexterous Robot Manipulation," in Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
LMMCoDrive: Cooperative Driving with Large Multimodal Models
H. Liu, R. Yao, Z. Huang, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "LMMCoDrive: Cooperative Driving with Large Multimodal Model," in Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
UDMC: Unified Decision-Making and Control Framework for Urban Autonomous Driving with Motion Prediction of Traffic Participants
H. Liu, K. Chen, Y. Li, Z. Huang, M. Liu, and J. Ma, "UDMC: Unified Decision-Making and Control Framework for Urban Autonomous Driving with Motion Prediction of Traffic Participants," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, , vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 5856-871, 2025.
Robot Navigation in Unknown and Cluttered Workspace with Dynamical System Modulation in Starshaped Roadmap
K. Chen, H. Liu, Y. Li, J. Duan, L. Zhu, and J. Ma, "Robot navigation in unknown and cluttered workspace with dynamical system modulation in starshaped roadmap," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-7.
CoDriveVLM: VLM-Enhanced Urban Cooperative Dispatching and Motion Planning for Future Autonomous Mobility on Demand Systems
H. Liu, R. Yao, W. Liu, Z. Huang, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "CoDriveVLM: VLM-enhanced urban cooperative dispatching and motion planning for future autonomous mobility on demand systems," arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.06132, 2025.
Synergizing Decision Making and Trajectory Planning Using Two-Stage Optimization for Autonomous Vehicles
W. Liu, H. Liu, L. Zheng, Z. Huang, and J. Ma, "Synergizing Decision Making and Trajectory Planning Using Two-Stage Optimization for Autonomous Vehicles," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 5489-503, 2025.
Enhance Planning with Physics-informed Safety Controller for End-to-end Autonomous Driving
H. Zhou, H. Liu, H. Lu, J. Ma, and Y. Ji, "Enhance planning with physics-informed safety controller for end-to-end autonomous driving," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-8.
Parallel optimization with hard safety constraints for cooperative planning of connected autonomous vehicles
Z. Huang, H. Liu, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "Parallel optimization with hard safety constraints for cooperative planning of connected autonomous vehicles," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-7.
Improved consensus ADMM for cooperative motion planning of large-scale connected autonomous vehicles with limited communication
H. Liu, Z. Huang, Z. Zhu, Y. Li, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "Improved consensus ADMM for cooperative motion planning of large-scale connected autonomous vehicles with limited communication," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 7222-238, 2024.
Geometry-aware safety-critical local reactive controller for robot navigation in unknown and cluttered environments
Y. Li, X. Tang, K. Chen, C. Zheng, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "Geometry-aware safety-critical local reactive controller for robot navigation in unknown and cluttered environments," IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 3419 - 3426, 2024.
Integrated behavior planning and motion control for autonomous vehicles with traffic rules compliance
H. Liu, K. Chen, Y. Li, Z. Huang, J. Duan, and J. Ma, "Integrated behavior planning and motion control for autonomous vehicles with traffic rules compliance," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2023, pp. 1-7.
Autonomous driving
An Intention-Driven Lane Change Framework Considering Heterogeneous Dynamic Cooperation in Mixed-Traffic Environments
X. Qiu, H. Liu, Y. Pan, J. Ma, and X. Zheng, "An Intention-Driven Lane Change Framework Considering Heterogeneous Dynamic Cooperation in Mixed-Traffic Environments," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. 1-13, 2026.
VLM-E2E: Enhancing End-to-End Autonomous Driving with Multimodal Driver Attention Fusion
P. Liu, H. Liu, H. Liu, X. Liu, J. Ni, and J. Ma, "VLM-E2E: Enhancing End-to-End Autonomous Driving with Multimodal Driver Attention Fusion," in Proceedings of the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2026, pp. 1-8.
An Autonomous Mobility on Demand Platform Supporting Cooperative Driving with Visual Context Generation for LMMs
H. Liu, H. Liu, and J. Ma, "An Autonomous Mobility on Demand Platform Supporting Cooperative Driving with Visual Context Generation for LMMs," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
Human-like Driving: A Comprehensive Survey from Depth and Breadth
H. Lu, J. Yang, Y. Liu, S. Shen, H. Liu, X. Zheng, and H. Yang, "Human-like driving: A comprehensive survey from depth and breadth," Artificial Intelligence for Transportation, vol. 3, p. 100033, 2025.
Diffeomorphism-Transformed Iterative Linear Quadratic Regulator for Constrained Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving
Z. Zhu, H. Liu, W. Wang, J. Duan, H. Zhao, and J. Ma, "Diffeomorphism-Transformed Iterative Linear Quadratic Regulator for Constrained Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. 1-15, 2025.
VLM-UDMC: VLM-Enhanced Unified Decision-Making and Motion Control for Urban Autonomous Driving
H. Liu, H. Guo, P. Liu, B. Ma, Y. Zhang, J. Ma, and T. H. Lee, "VLM-UDMC: VLM-Enhanced Unified Decision-Making and Motion Control for Urban Autonomous Driving," arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.15266, 2025.
LMMCoDrive: Cooperative Driving with Large Multimodal Models
H. Liu, R. Yao, Z. Huang, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "LMMCoDrive: Cooperative Driving with Large Multimodal Model," in Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2025, pp. 1-8.
UDMC: Unified Decision-Making and Control Framework for Urban Autonomous Driving with Motion Prediction of Traffic Participants
H. Liu, K. Chen, Y. Li, Z. Huang, M. Liu, and J. Ma, "UDMC: Unified Decision-Making and Control Framework for Urban Autonomous Driving with Motion Prediction of Traffic Participants," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, , vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 5856-871, 2025.
CoDriveVLM: VLM-Enhanced Urban Cooperative Dispatching and Motion Planning for Future Autonomous Mobility on Demand Systems
H. Liu, R. Yao, W. Liu, Z. Huang, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "CoDriveVLM: VLM-enhanced urban cooperative dispatching and motion planning for future autonomous mobility on demand systems," arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.06132, 2025.
Synergizing Decision Making and Trajectory Planning Using Two-Stage Optimization for Autonomous Vehicles
W. Liu, H. Liu, L. Zheng, Z. Huang, and J. Ma, "Synergizing Decision Making and Trajectory Planning Using Two-Stage Optimization for Autonomous Vehicles," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 5489-503, 2025.
Enhance Planning with Physics-informed Safety Controller for End-to-end Autonomous Driving
H. Zhou, H. Liu, H. Lu, J. Ma, and Y. Ji, "Enhance planning with physics-informed safety controller for end-to-end autonomous driving," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-8.
Parallel optimization with hard safety constraints for cooperative planning of connected autonomous vehicles
Z. Huang, H. Liu, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "Parallel optimization with hard safety constraints for cooperative planning of connected autonomous vehicles," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-7.
Improved consensus ADMM for cooperative motion planning of large-scale connected autonomous vehicles with limited communication
H. Liu, Z. Huang, Z. Zhu, Y. Li, S. Shen, and J. Ma, "Improved consensus ADMM for cooperative motion planning of large-scale connected autonomous vehicles with limited communication," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 7222-238, 2024.
Incremental learning-based real-time trajectory prediction for autonomous driving via sparse Gaussian process regression
H. Liu, K. Chen, and J. Ma, "Incremental learning-based real-time trajectory prediction for autonomous driving via sparse Gaussian process regression," in Proceedings of Intelligent Vehicles Symposium(IV), IEEE, 2024, pp. 1-7.
Integrated behavior planning and motion control for autonomous vehicles with traffic rules compliance
H. Liu, K. Chen, Y. Li, Z. Huang, J. Duan, and J. Ma, "Integrated behavior planning and motion control for autonomous vehicles with traffic rules compliance," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), IEEE, 2023, pp. 1-7.
Real-time parallel trajectory optimization with spatiotemporal safety constraints for autonomous driving in congested traffic
L. Zheng, R. Yang, Z. Peng, H. Liu, M. Y. Wang, and J. Ma, "Real-time parallel trajectory optimization with spatiotemporal safety constraints for autonomous driving in congested traffic," in Proceedings of 2023 IEEE 26th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), IEEE, 2023, pp. 1186-1193.
Survey
A Survey on Reinforcement Learning of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulation
H. Deng, Z. Wu, H. Liu, W. Guo, Y. Xue, Z. Shan, C. Zhang, B. Jia, Y. Ling, G. Lu, and Z. Wang, "A Survey on Reinforcement Learning of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotic Manipulation," TechRxiv, 2025. doi: 10.36227/techrxiv.176531955.54563920/v1
Internship
- Part-time Research Assistant for a multimodal media research project, Department of Marketing, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Industrial Robot R&D, Siasun Robot&Automation Co., Ltd from Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Selected Honors
- Judge Appreciation Certificate, 2026, Ministry of Education of Singapore
- Certificate of Appreciation, 2025, Senate of HKUST(GZ)
- Outstanding Volunteer Award, 2024, CyberC, IEEE
- Winning Team (1st place) of the Venture Capital on Campus, 2024, HKSTP
- HKUST Postgraduate Scholarship (Guangzhou Pilot Scheme), 2022, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Outstanding Graduate, 2022, Harbin Institute of Technology
- Chiang Chen Oversea Research Scholarship, 2022, Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation
- He Gao Scholarship, 2021, Robotics Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology
- Chiang Chen Scholarship, 2021, School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
- Outstanding League Cadre, 2021, Harbin Institute of Technology
- First-class Scholarship for PG, 2020, 2021, Harbin Institute of Technology
- Outstanding UG Graduation Thesis, 2020, Faculty of Robot Science and Engineering, NEU
- Outstanding Graduate (Cadre), 2020, Northeastern University
- First-class Scholarship for UG, 2020, Northeastern University
- National Inspirational Scholarship, 2017, 2018, 2019, Ministry of Education of P.R. China
- Outstanding Student, 2017, 2018, 2019, Northeastern University
- Michelin Scholarship, 2017, Northeastern University
- Second Prize of the China University Mathematical Contest in Modeling (CUMCM), 2018, China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Community Services
- Peer Reviewer: IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE RA-L, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, Journal of Field Robotics, Aerospace Science and Technology, PLOS ONE, ICRA, IROS, IV Symposium, ITSC, ROBIO, IECON, etc.
- Session Chair/Co-Chair: ITSC 2025, IROS 2025
- **Area Chair: EIR 2026”
- Committee Member: AIAAT 2026 (Kunming, China), AMLDS 2026 (Osaka, Japan)
- Overall PiC for 1st Robotic Collaborative (RoCo) Assembling Challenge for Human-Centered Manufacturing at AAAI 2026
- Other Services:
- Member of NTU EEE Research Staff Association (RSA) (2025-)
- Vice President of HKUST-GSAA (2024-2025)
- Senate Committee Member of HKUST(GZ) (2024-2025)