Publications & Awards

A Sequential Stalk-Based Manipulation Strategy for Post-Harvest Broccoli Orientation

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)

Yongkai Ye; Chonglei Sun; Yuchen Liang; Jun Wang; Rob B.N. Scharff; Dongdong Du

Automating broccoli reorientation after harvest is hard: the head is fragile and irregular, so grasping it directly risks bruising and floret separation. We propose a sequential stalk-based manipulation strategy in which a depth-based 3D pose estimate guides a UR5 arm with a parallel soft pneumatic gripper to grasp the stalk — never the head — and then horizontally align the broccoli through se...

Octopus-Inspired Embodied Tactile Intelligence: A Universally-Calibrated Miniature Vision-Based Suction Cup

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (TMECH)

Yuchen Liang; Lai Yin Garmisch Wong; Yang Wei; Ming Chun Chan; Wenqi Hu; Rob B.N. Scharff

We developed a miniaturized, vision-based suction cup that gives robotic manipulators a sense of touch — enabling autonomous alignment and the safe grasping of delicate, misaligned objects. The compact 22 × 40 mm footprint integrates a micro-camera for simultaneous multimodal sensing: real-time detection of 3-axis pressing forces and contact orientation for closed-loop surface alignment. A univ...

Toward Octopus-inspired Whole-arm Manipulation: A Sliding Pseudo-joint for Soft Pneumatic Robot Arms

2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)

Yucheng Luo; Ming Chun Chan; Dickson Chiu Yu Wong; Yuchen Liang; Rob B.N. Scharff

Whole arm manipulation with soft robot arms is a challenging problem because, in contrast to traditional robot arms with grippers mounted at the tip, there can be no fixed division of the arm in a positioning portion for point-to-point movements and a grasping portion for securing the object. The octopus has evolved strategies, such as reaching through bend propagation and fetching through the ...

Reciprocal Touch: The Art of Connection

2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)

S.G. van Dipten, M.C. Chan, Y. Liang, R.B.N. Scharff

Our interactive soft robotic handshake device allowed users to exchange real-time handshakes through a pair of soft robotic hands. The installation engaged visitors, fostering unique connections through robotics and demonstrating the potential of human-machine interaction in social experiences.

Compact Octopus-Inspired Suction Cup with Optoelectronic Innervation for Soft Continuum Robot Arms

2025 Conference on Robots for Science (SRC)

Yuchen Liang, Chaoyang Liu, Stein van Veggel, Michael Wiertlewski, Eugeni L. Doubrovski, Adrie Kooijman, Barbara Mazzolai, Rob B.N. Scharff

Poster presented on Conference on Robots for Science – How Robots will Facilitate Scientific Discovery. The poster presents a ongoing work of a novel design of a compact octopus-inspired suction cup, integrating optoelectronic innervation for use in soft continuum robot arms.

MPhil Thesis: Proprioception of GRACE Artificial Muscle Utilizing Macro-bending Principle of Fiber Optics

HKUST Electronic Theses Database

Yuchen Liang

This thesis presents a novel sensing approach for GRACE artificial muscles, integrating fiber optics and machine learning. By exploiting the macro bending loss of optical fibers, we developed a sensing mechanism that delivers accurate, real-time feedback on actuator performance.

Less is More: Physical-Enhanced Radar-Inertial Odometry

2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Qiucan Huang; Yuchen Liang; Zhijian Qiao; Shaojie Shen; Huan Yin

Radar offers the advantage of providing additional physical properties related to observed objects. In this study, we design a physical-enhanced radar-inertial odometry system that capitalizes on the Doppler velocities and radar cross-section information. The filter for static radar points, correspondence estimation, and residual functions are all strengthened by integrating the physical proper...

Autonomy Award for 2024 IEEE RoboSoft Competition

2024 IEEE 7th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft)

SCHARFF, Rob; WONG, Dickson Chiu Yu; LIANG, Yuchen; LUO, Yucheng; WONG, Yuk Kwan; YIP, Chun Yin; CHAN, Ming Chun; CHEUNG, Chun To; WONG, Lai Yin Garmiscl; XU, Yinzhe; LEUNG, Cho Kiu; LEUNG, Suk Wai Winnie; YEUNG, Sai Kit; YANG, Jinglei

I attended the IEEE RoboSoft Competition 2024 as the leader of the team. Our team built a soft gripper mounted on a UR5 robot arm to automatically grab and manipulate multiple kinds of fruits. We won the autonomous prize in the competition.