Zhen Zhang

I'm currently a first-year Ph.D. student at Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, CUHK, under the supervision of Prof. Kwok Wai Samuel Au. Before that, I was a research assistant at the MRC-CUHK. I received my M.S. degree with Dean's List from Electronic Engineering, CUHK. Previously, I obtained my B.Eng. degree with honours in 2021 from NWPU, Xi'an, China. I was one of ten recipients of the Chiang Chen Overseas Fellowship (Mainland China), 2022.

I'm interested in robotics, robot manipualtion and deep learning. My previous research is about 3D volumetric deformable object manipualtion, quadruped robot.

 -  [Email]  |  [linkedin]  |  [Google Scholar]  |  [Github]  - 

profile photo

News
  • [May. 2025] Our paper about 3D volumetric deformable object manipuation with 3D occupancy is accepted to RAL.
  • [Jan. 2025] I begin my Ph.D. journey at MAE, CUHK.
  • [Sep. 2024] Our workshop paper about data collection platform for DOM is accepted to CoRL 2024 Workshop LFDM.
  • [Jan. 2024] Our paper about interactive navigation with traversable objects is accepted to ICRA 2024, Yokohama, Japan.

Research

2025
Manipulating Elasto-Plastic Objects With 3D Occupancy and Learning-Based Predictive Control
Zhen Zhang, Xiangyu Chu, Yunxi Tang, Lulu Zhao, Jing Huang, Zhongliang Jiang, K. W. Samuel Au
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
IEEE / Bibtex

This work proposes a novel framework for elasto-plastic object manipulation, leveraging 3D occupancy to represent such objects, a learned dynamics model trained with 3D occupancy, and a learning-based predictive control algorithm.

2024
DOFS: A Real-world 3D Deformable Object Dataset with Full Spatial Information for Dynamics Model Learning
Zhen Zhang, Xiangyu Chu, Yunxi Tang, K. W. Samuel Au
CoRL Workshop on Learning Robot Fine and Dexterous Manipulation: Perception and Control, 2024
Project page / arXiv / Bibtex

Proposing a pilot dataset of 3D deformable objects (e.g., elasto-plastic objects) with full spatial information (i.e., top, side, and bottom information) using a novel and low-cost data collection platform with a transparent operating plane.

Interactive Navigation in Environments with Traversable Obstacles Using Large Language and Vision-Language Models
Zhen Zhang, Anran Lin, Chun Wai Wong, Xiangyu Chu, Qi Dou, K. W. Samuel Au
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024
IEEE / Bibtex

Proposing an interactive navigation framework by using large language and vision-language models, allowing robots to navigate in environments with traversable obstacles (e.g., curtain).

Miscellanea

Teaching
  • Teaching Assistant, CUHK MAEG 1010, 2024-25 2nd term.

Services

Life
  • I am a supper sports fan, loving tennis, basketball, golf, football, F1.
  • I love travel and film photography, and I am now using Rollei 35s, Nikon FE, and Nikon F2.

Thanks so much for the source code from Jon Barron .