CV

Education

• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Specialization in Robotics and Automation, Northwestern University, Sep 2024 – present (GPA: 3.8/4.0)
• B.S. in Robotics Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Sep 2020 – Jul 2024 (GPA: 3.67/4.0)
• Exchange Program in Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Jun 2023 – Jan 2024 (GPA: 3.9/4.0)

Honors & Awards

• 3rd place, ICRA 2025 WBCD Life Science R&D track
• Best Paper Finalist, ROBIO 2023
• 2nd Prize, IEEE-RAS Soft Robotics Competition
• Major Scholarship 2023–2024; Scholarship for Outstanding Freshmen (25%)
• Provincial Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program Funding
• 3rd Prize, National Mechanical Design Competition
• 3rd Prize, National Mathematical Modeling Competition (Provincial Level)

Publications

• Y. Chen, S. Lu, H. Zhang, K. Lynch. In-Hand Manipulation with Enforced Grasp Stability for Contact-Rich Tasks. ICRA 2025 Workshop on CRM. link
• Y. Chen, A. Gamboa-Gonzalez, M. Wehner, X. Xiong. Explosive Legged Robotic Hopping. IROS 2024. arXiv
• Y. Chen, D. Yang, Z. Liu, B. Yang, H. Wang. Pipe-finder: Adaptive, Lightweight Pipe Robot Integrating Origami Anisotropic Stiffness Structure. ROBIO 2023. (Best Paper Finalist)
• Y. Chen, et al. VR Soft Haptic Gloves with Force-tunable Electrostatic Adhesive Brake. CNIPA Patent Application No. 202322306150.2

Research Experience

• Northwestern University (Prof. Kevin Lynch), Feb 2025 – present
  • In-hand manipulation via RL with force-closure reward shaping
  • Nonlinear stiffness end-effector design for collaborative robots
  • RDS 2025 project: tendon-driven hand kinematics and control
  • Teleoperation system deployment in Drake and MuJoCo
• University of Wisconsin–Madison (Prof. Xiaobin Xiong, Prof. Michael Wehner), Jun 2023 – Dec 2024
  • Explosive legged robotic hopping with pneumatic augmentation (IROS 2024)
• Southern University of Science and Technology (Prof. Hongqiang Wang), 2021 – 2024
  • Pipe-finder origami-inspired pipeline robot (ROBIO 2023 finalist)
  • VR soft haptic gloves with electrostatic brake (Patent, Innovation funding)

Work Experience

• STARBOT Inc., Santa Barbara, USA — Humanoid Motion Control Engineer, Jun 2025 – Aug 2025
  • Deployed hierarchical RL whole-body control on Unitree G1 humanoid
  • Built multi-policy deployment system with safety checks
• Meituan UAV Division, Beijing, China — Control Algorithm Engineer, Jun 2024 – Sep 2024
  • Enhanced drone autonomy using PPO + ViTs, sim-to-real transfer

Teaching & Mentorship

• Course Assistant (Supergrader), ME449 Robotic Manipulation, Northwestern, Fall 2025
• Mentor, Undergraduate Capstone Projects, 2024–2025

Skills

• Programming & Control: Python, C++/C, MATLAB, ROS, MuJoCo, IsaacSim, Pinocchio
• Design & Modeling: SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Rhino; 3D printing & prototyping
• Hardware: Arduino/ESP32, TI MCUs, compliant actuator design, sensor integration
• Languages: Chinese (Native), English (Fluent)