Yi Hu

Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering

University of Alberta

Hey, here is Yi Hu!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Jun Jin and Dr. Mahdi Tavakoli. PhD researcher specialized in embodied AI and surgical robotics. Developed VLA models and RL/IL frameworks for Franka and da Vinci surgical robots. Strong background in SLAM, kinematics/dynamics, and control theory.

Research

Vision-Language-Action Models with 3D Spatial Reasoning
Cross-Embodiment Reinforcement Learning
Imitation Learning with Suboptimal Demonstrations
Kinematic/Dynamic Modeling for Mobile Robot
Motion Planning & Nonlinear Control
Electromagnetic Field Analysis

Education

PhD in Biomedical Engineer

University of Alberta

January 2021 – Present Edmonton, Canada

Research:

Vision-Lanuage-Action Model
Reinforcemen Learning
Imitation Learning

Skills: PyTorch, Tensorflow, ROS, ROS2, MuJoCo, Gazebo, V-REP, Gym

MSc in Control Theory and Control Engineering

Sichuan University

July 2017 – September 2020 Chengdu, China

Research:

SLAM
Motion Planning
Control Theory

Skills: Matlab/Simulink, ROS, Unity, OpenCV, PyTorch

B.S. in Process Equipment and Control Engineering

Hefei University of Technology

September 2013 – July 2017 Hefei, China

Research:

2D Drawing
3D Modeling
Finite Element Analysis

Skills: AutoCAD, Ansys, SolidWorks, Comsol

Experience

Fast Inference Diffusion Policy for Robot Ball Catching Task

Diffusion policy improved with movement prmitives for fast inference ball catching task

Fast Inference Diffusion Policy for Robot Ball Catching Task

Finetune Vision-Language-Action Model

Finetune Vision-Language-Action Model (Pi0.5)

Finetune Vision-Language-Action Model

Pi0.5 with Spatial Module

Pi0.5 with Spatial Module

Pi0.5 with Spatial Module

Transfer Human Daily Skills to Surgical Robot Tasks

Learning picking/localizing gauze and tracking surgical tool from human daily skills

Transfer Human Daily Skills to Surgical Robot Tasks

Autonomous Endoscopic Camera Manipulator Scanning

Autonomous endoscopic camera manipulator scanning using a noisy demonstration set

Autonomous Endoscopic Camera Manipulator Scanning

Learning Pseudo Surgical Skill Training Task

Learning pseudo surgical skill training task (ring-and-rail task) using a noisy demonstration set.

Learning Pseudo Surgical Skill Training Task

Autonomous Ultrasound Scanning

Autonomous ultrasound scanning for breast seroma using imitation learning

Autonomous Ultrasound Scanning

Remote Ultrasound Scanning

Remote ultrasound scanning by hand pose tracking

Remote Ultrasound Scanning

MediaPipe Hand Tracking

MediaPipe hand tracking to enable future fine-grained robotic hand control

MediaPipe Hand Tracking

Event-based Monocular SLAM

Mono-SLAM based on dynamic vision sensor

Event-based Monocular SLAM

Teleoperation via Meta Quest3

Teleoperation via Meta Quest3

Teleoperation via Meta Quest3

Vehicle Wheel Robot Navigation Simulation in Unity

Vehicle wheel robot navigation simulation in Unity

Vehicle Wheel Robot Navigation Simulation in Unity

Dynamics and Kinematics Modeling

Dynamics and kinematics modeling for wheeled mobile robot

Dynamics and Kinematics Modeling

Actuator Saturation and Unknown Nonlinear Disturbance

Control framework for joint manipulator with actuator saturation and unknown nonlinear disturbance

Actuator Saturation and Unknown Nonlinear Disturbance

Data-driven Generalized Predictive Control

Data-driven generalized predictive control for car-like mobile robots

Data-driven Generalized Predictive Control

Double Closed-Loop General Type-2 Fuzzy Sliding Model Control

Double closed-loop general type-2 fuzzy sliding model control for wheeled mobile robots

Double Closed-Loop General Type-2 Fuzzy Sliding Model Control

Mismatched Uncertainties in Dynamic Model

Fuzzy neural network approximator for mismatched uncertainties in joint manipulator

Mismatched Uncertainties in Dynamic Model

Admittance control

Admittance controller for human-robot compliance interaction

Admittance control

Teleoperation via Meta Quest3

Teleoperation via Meta Quest3

Teleoperation via Meta Quest3

Joystick Teleoperation

Collecting dataset using joystick teleoperation

Joystick Teleoperation

Kinesthic Operation

Collecting dataset using admittance controller

Kinesthic Operation

Hand Tracking Teleoperation

Collecting dataset using hand tracking teleoperation

Hand Tracking Teleoperation

Publications

See also my Scholar profile

Yi Hu, Yafei Ou, August Sieben, Zahra Samadikhoshkho, Bin Zheng, Jun Jin, Mahdi Tavakoli (2025). Learning from imperfect demonstrations in a surgical training task. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control.

Yi Hu, Mahdi Tavakoli, Jun Jin (2025). Pretraining Using Comparable Human Activities of Daily Living Dataset in Robotic Surgical Task Learning. IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics.

Yi Hu, Zahra Samadikhoshkho, Jun Jin, Mahdi Tavakoli (2024). Label-Free Adaptive Gaussian Sample Consensus Framework for Learning From Perfect and Imperfect Demonstrations. IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics.

Yi Hu, Mahdi Tavakoli (2023). Autonomous ultrasound scanning towards standard plane using interval interaction probabilistic movement primitives. 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

Yi Shui, Tao Zhao, Songyi Dian, Yi Hu, Rui Guo, Shengchuan Li (2022). Data‐driven generalized predictive control for car‐like mobile robots using interval type‐2 T‐S fuzzy neural network. Asian Journal of Control.

Contact

hu19@ualberta.ca