Xianyi Cheng 程先仪

Hi, I’m Xianyi (she-an-yee). I’m a PhD student advised by Professor Matthew T. Mason at the Manipulation Lab, Carnegie Mellon University.

I’m interested in everything about robotic manipulation. It is usually surprising to many people that, while AIs have achieved superhuman performance in some areas, robots struggle with manipulation tasks that are extremely easy to humans (Moravec’s paradox). My ultimate research goal is to bring human-level dexterity to robotic manipulation. Currently, my work focuses on dexterous manipulation motion generation — the first step toward general manipulation intelligence.

Publications

Enhancing Dexterity in Robotic Manipulation via Hierarchical Contact Exploration
Xianyi Cheng, Sarvesh Patil, Zeynep Temel, Oliver Kroemer, Matthew T. Mason
Robotics and Automation Letter (RAL), 2023, Accepted
International Conference on Intelligent Robots (IROS) 2023, Late Breaking Results, Oral
paper/ website

Autogenerated Manipulation Primitives
Eric Huang, Xianyi Cheng, Yuemin Mao, Arnav Gupta, Matthew T Mason
The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2023
paper

Learning Preconditions of Hybrid Force-Velocity Controllers for Contact-Rich Manipulation
Jacky Liang, Xianyi Cheng, Oliver Kroemer
The Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), 2022
paper/ website/ video

Extrinsic Dexterous Manipulation with a Direct-drive Hand: A Case Study
Arnav Gupta, Yuemin Mao, Ankit Bhatia, Xianyi Cheng, Jonathan King, Yifan Hou, Matthew T Mason
International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022
paper/ video

Contact Mode Guided Motion Planning for Quasidynamic Dexterous Manipulation in 3D
Xianyi Cheng, Eric Huang, Yifan Hou, Matthew T. Mason
International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022
paper/ video/ code

Contact Mode Guided Sampling-Based Planning for Quasistatic Dexterous Manipulation in 2D
Xianyi Cheng, Eric Huang, Yifan Hou, Matthew T. Mason
International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021
paper/ video/ contact-mode-enumeration-2d-matlab

Efficient Contact Mode Enumeration in 3D
Eric Huang, Xianyi Cheng, Matthew T. Mason
International Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR), 2020
paper

Manipulation with Suction Cups using External Contacts
Xianyi Cheng, Yifan Hou, Matthew T. Mason
International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR), 2019
paper/ video

Data-Efficient Process Monitoring and Failure Detectionfor Robust Robotic Screwdriving
Xianyi Cheng, Zhengzhong Jia, Matthew T. Mason
International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 2019
paper

Sensor Selection and Stage & Result Classifications for Automated Miniature Screwdriving
Xianyi Cheng, Zhengzhong Jia, Ankit Bhatia, Reuben M Aronson, Matthew T. Mason
International Conference on Intelligent Robots (IROS), 2018
paper

Teaching

CMU 24-351 Dynamics, Fall 2022, TA and recitation instructor
CMU 24-760 Robot Dynamics and Analysis, Fall 2021, TA and recitation instructor

Industry

Amazon Robotics AI, Applied Scientist Intern, 2022 Summer, Motion primitive development for stowing.

ABB Robotics, Research Intern, 2020 Summer

CV

Download here

Fun

I enjoy singing in the Carnegie Mellon Jazz Choir. Here are some of our performances: Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2022.