About

The Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab (CCNY Robotics Lab) is a research laboratory directed by Dr. John (Jizhong) Xiao, in the Electrical Engineering Department of The City College of New York - the flagship campus of the City University of New York system.

The research activities in this lab emphasize system modeling and analysis, embedded system design, control theory and applications, sensor integration and data fusion, computer vision, real-time and embedded computing, intelligent mechatronic systems, 3D mapping, autonomous navigation, and 3D SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping). Specific initiatives underway include multi-robot collaboration, smart reconfigurable computing module for ultra-small robots, design and control of climbing robots, autonomous navigation of MAVs (micro aerial vehicles), assistive navigation for visually impaired people, internet-based telerobotics, mobile sensor networks, multi-robot exploration, and swarm robotics. The problems studied here involve both theoretical development in new methodologies for control, planning, coordination and learning, as well as implementation issues in sensory measurement, hardware design, and computer software development.

The laboratory is located in Steinman Hall (Engineering Building), Grove School of Engineering, occupying four rooms, T-548 (Mobile Robotics Room), T-538 (Design Studio Room), T-539 (Project Room), and T-536 (Research Room). The laboratory is equipped with various robotic platforms (several AscTec quadrotor UAVs, a Draganflyer X6 six-rotor UAV, 3 ActivMedia Pioneer mobile robots, 2 Evolution robots, Khepera micro-robots, and lab-made robotic systems), system development tools (TI DSP development platform, Xilinx FPGA evaluation platform, etc.), fast prototyping machine (Prodigy Plus 3D Printer), networked computing environment, and a variety of sensors and actuators for research and development.

The laboratory continues to receive support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Army Research Office (ARO), Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIIA), CUNY research award program, and industries for its unique effort in theoretical development and experimental validation.

Current Doctoral Student (9/2021 ~)

Current Doctoral Student (9/2020 ~)

Current Doctoral Student (9/2018 ~)

CUNY City College, PhD in EE (9/2015 ~ 12/2019)
Dissertation: Metric Semantic Inspection and Mapping for Concrete Infrastructure
Current Position: 3D computer vision researcher, Apple Inc., CA, USA

CUNY City College, PhD in EE (9/2012 ~ 5/2018)
Dissertation: Intelligent Situation Awareness and Navigation Aid for Visually Impaired Persons
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Automotive Engineering, Clemson University, USA

CUNY Graduate Center, PhD in CSc (9/2011 ~ 5/2018)
Dissertation: Catadioptric Omni-Stereo Vision Systems for Autonomous Navigation
Current Position: Senior Robotics Engineer at Piaggio Fast Forward, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

CUNY College, PhD in EE (9/2013 ~ 5/2017), Co-mentor with Dr. Zhigang Zhu
Dissertation: Deep Learning Based Facial Computing - Data, Algorithms and Applications
Current Position: Deep learning scientist, Amazon AWS Rekognition, Greater Seattle Area, USA

CUNY College, PhD in EE (9/2009 ~ 5/2017)
Dissertation: Wireless Communication and Mobile Sensor Networks
Current Position: Assistant Professor, GuangDong University of Technology, China

CUNY College, PhD in EE (9/2009 ~ 5/2016)
Dissertation: State Estimation and Multi-Sensor Data Fusion for Micro-Aerial Vehicles Navigation
Current Position: Senior Robotics Research Scientist at MathWorks, Boston, USA

CUNY Graduate Center, PhD in CS (9/2010 ~ 5/2015)
Dissertation: 3D Scene Reconstruction with Micro-Aerial Vehicles and Mobile Devices
Current Position: Senior Software Engineer, GOOGLE Inc.

CUNY City College, PhD in EE (9/2009 ~ 12/2014)
Dissertation: A Blind-User Centered Smart Cyber-Physical Navigation System
Current Position: Vice President at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

CUNY Graduate Center, PhD in EE (9/2006 ~ 5/2012)
Dissertation: Exploration of Unknown Structured Environments with Multiple Robots
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Penn State University (Berks Campus)

CUNY Graduate Center, Ph.D. in EE (2012)
Dissertation: Joint Data Association Algorithms of SLAM in Dynamic Environments
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology

CUNY Graduate Center, PhD in EE (~ 5/2012)
Dissertation: Compact Microwave Devices Based on Nonlinear Transmission Line and Substrate Integrated Waveguide
Current Position: RF Engineer at E Band, San Diego, CA

CUNY Graduate Center, PhD in CSc (9/2006 ~ 12/2011)
Dissertation: 3D Map Construction of Structured Indoor Environments with Heterogeneous Robots
Current Position: VP, Head of Data Science, NEAR (India)

CUNY Graduate Center, PhD in EE (9/2003 ~ 12/2009) Dissertation: Distributed Motion Coordination of Swarms of Mobile Agents
Current Position: Associate Prof. at CUNY CityTech

• ccnyroboticslab@gmail
• Grove School of Engineering, Convent Avenue at 140th Street, New York, NY, 10031, USA