ikd-Tree: An Incremental KD Tree for Robotic Applications
Cai, Y., Xu, W., & Zhang, F. (2021). ikd-tree: An incremental kd tree for robotic applications. arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.10808.
Curriculum Vitae
The latest version of my CV can be downloaded here.
Work experience
- Postdoctoral Fellow, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 2025 - present
Education
- B.Eng. in Automation, Beihang University, 2020
- Ph.D in Robotics, University of Hong Kong, 2024
Publications
Avoiding Dynamic Small Obstacles with Onboard Sensing and Computation on Aerial Robots
F. Kong, W. Xu, Y. Cai and F. Zhang, Avoiding Dynamic Small Obstacles With Onboard Sensing and Computation on Aerial Robots," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 7869-7876, Oct. 2021, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2021.3101877."
Robots’ State Estimation and Observability Analysis Based on Statistical Motion Models
W. Xu, D. He, Y. Cai and F. Zhang, Robots' State Estimation and Observability Analysis Based on Statistical Motion Models," in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 2030-2045, Sept. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TCST.2021.3133080."
FAST-LIO2: Fast Direct Lidar-Inertial Odometry
W. Xu, Y. Cai, D. He, J. Lin and F. Zhang, "FAST-LIO2: Fast Direct LiDAR-Inertial Odometry," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 2053-2073, Aug. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TRO.2022.3141876.
Gemini II: Design, Modeling, and Control of a Compact Yet Efficient Servoless Bi-copter
Y. Qin, N. Chen, Y. Cai, W. Xu and F. Zhang, Gemini II: Design, Modeling, and Control of a Compact Yet Efficient Servoless Bi-copter," in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 4304-4315, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.1109/TMECH.2022.3153587."
A Self-rotating, Single-actuated UAV with Extended Sensor Field of View for Autonomous Navigation
Chen, N., Kong, F., Xu, W., Cai, Y., Li, H., He, D., ... & Zhang, F. (2023). A self-rotating, single-actuated UAV with extended sensor field of view for autonomous navigation. Science Robotics, 8(76), eade4538.
MARSIM: A light-weight point-realistic simulator for LiDAR-based UAVs
Kong, F., Liu, X., Tang, B., Lin, J., Ren, Y., Cai, Y., ... & Zhang, F. (2023). MARSIM: A light-weight point-realistic simulator for LiDAR-based UAVs. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 8(5), 2954-2961.
Immesh: An immediate lidar localization and meshing framework
Lin, J., Yuan, C., Cai, Y., Li, H., Zou, Y., Hong, X., & Zhang, F. (2023). Immesh: An immediate lidar localization and meshing framework. arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.05206.
Trajectory Generation and Tracking Control for Aggressive Tail-Sitter Flights
Lu, G., Cai, Y., Chen, N., Kong, F., Ren, Y., & Zhang, F. (2022). Trajectory Generation and Tracking Control for Aggressive Tail-Sitter Flights. arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.11552.
Occupancy Grid Mapping without Ray-Casting for High-resolution Sensors
Y. Cai, F. Kong, Y. Ren, F. Zhu, J. Lin and F. Zhang, "Occupancy Grid Mapping Without Ray-Casting for High-Resolution LiDAR Sensors," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, doi: 10.1109/TRO.2023.3323936.
MARS-LVIG dataset: A multi-sensor aerial robots SLAM dataset for LiDAR-visual-inertial-GNSS fusion
Haotian Li and Yuying Zou and Nan Chen and Jiarong Lin and Xiyuan Liu and Wei Xu and Chunran Zheng and Rundong Li and Dongjiao He and Fanze Kong and Yixi Cai and Zheng Liu and Shunbo Zhou and Kaiwen Xue and Fu Zhang.(2024). MARS-LVIG dataset: A multi-sensor aerial robots SLAM dataset for LiDAR-visual-inertial-GNSS fusion. The International Journal of Robotics Research.
ROG-Map: An Efficient Robocentric Occupancy Grid Map for Large-scene and High-resolution LiDAR-based Motion Planning
Ren, Y., Cai, Y., Zhu, F., Liang, S., & Zhang, F. (2023). ROG-map: An efficient robocentric occupancy grid map for large-scene and high-resolution LiDAR-based motion planning. In 2024, International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). IEEE.
Large-scale Multi-session Point-cloud Map Merging
Wei, H., Li, R., Cai, Y., Yuan, C., Ren, Y., Zou, Z., Wu, H., Zheng, C., Zhou, S., Xue, K., Zhang, F. (2023) "Large-scale Multi-session Point-cloud Map Merging," in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, doi: 10.1109/LRA.2024.3504317
Swarm-LIO2: Decentralized Efficient LiDAR-inertial Odometry for UAV Swarms
Zhu, F., Ren, Y., Yin, L., Kong, F., Liu, Q., Xue, R., Liu, W., Cai, Y., Lu, G., Li, H. & Zhang, F. (2024). Swarm-LIO2: Decentralized, Efficient LiDAR-inertial Odometry for UAV Swarms. in IEEE Transactions on Robotics.
Autonomous Tail-Sitter Flights in Unknown Environments
Lu, G., Ren, Y., Zhu, F., Li, H., Xue, R., Cai, Y., ... & Zhang, F. (2024). Autonomous Tail-Sitter Flights in Unknown Environments. in IEEE Transactions on Robotics.
LVBA: LiDAR-Visual Bundle Adjustment for RGB Point Cloud Mapping
Li, R., Liu, X., Li, H., Liu, Z., Lin, J., Cai, Y., & Zhang, F. (2025). LVBA: LiDAR-Visual Bundle Adjustment for RGB Point Cloud Mapping.in 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Neural Surface Reconstruction and Rendering for LiDAR-Visual Systems
Liu, J., Zheng, C., Wan, Y., Wang, B., Cai, Y., & Zhang, F. Neural Surface Reconstruction and Rendering for LiDAR-Visual Systems. in 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Safety-assured high-speed navigation for MAVs
Ren, Y., Zhu, F., Lu, G., Cai, Y., Yin, L., Kong, F., Lin, J., Chen, N. & Zhang, F. (2025) Safety-assured high-speed navigation for MAVs. in Science Robotics.
GauSS-MI: Gaussian Splatting Shannon Mutual Information for Active 3D Reconstruction
Xie, Y., Cai, Y., Zhang, Y., Yang, L. & Pan, J. (2025) GauSS-MI: Gaussian Splatting Shannon Mutual Information for Active 3D Reconstruction. in Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2025.
FAST-LIVO2 on Resource-Constrained Platforms: LiDAR-Inertial-Visual Odometry with Efficient Memory and Computation
Zhou, B., Zheng, C., Wang, Z., Zhu, F., Cai, Y., & Zhang, F. (2025). FAST-LIVO2 on Resource-Constrained Platforms: LiDAR-Inertial-Visual Odometry with Efficient Memory and Computation. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.
Efficient Swept Volume-Based Trajectory Generation for Arbitrary-Shaped Ground Robot Navigation
Li, Y., Yin, L., Cai, Y., Liu, J., Li, H., & Zhang, F. (2025). Efficient Swept Volume-Based Trajectory Generation for Arbitrary-Shaped Ground Robot Navigation. in International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2025).
Temporal Overlapping Prediction: A Self-supervised Pre-training Method for LiDAR Moving Object Segmentation
Miao, Z., Chen, R., Cai, Y., He, B., Zhao, W., Shao, W., ... & Zhang, F. (2025). Temporal Overlapping Prediction: A Self-supervised Pre-training Method for LiDAR Moving Object Segmentation. in ICCV 2025.
Slope inspection under Dense Vegetation Using LiDAR-based Quadrotors
Liu, W., Ren, Y., Guo, R., Kong, V. W., Hung, A. S., Zhu, F., ... & Zhang, F. (2025). Slope inspection under dense vegetation using LiDAR-based quadrotors. Nature Communications.
A High-Payload Robotic Hopper Powered by Bidirectional Thrusters
Li, S., Bai, S., Jia, R., Cai, Y., Ding, R., Shi, Y., ... & Chirarattananon, P. (2025). A High-Payload Robotic Hopper Powered by Bidirectional Thrusters. IEEE Transactions on Robotics.
A Survey on LiDAR-Based Autonomous Aerial Vehicles
Ren, Y., Cai, Y., Li, H., Chen, N., Zhu, F., Yin, L., ... & Zhang, F. (2025). A Survey on LiDAR-Based Autonomous Aerial Vehicles. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.
DeltaFlow: An Efficient Multi-frame Scene Flow Estimation Method
Zhang, Q., Zhu, X., Zhang, Y., Cai, Y., Andersson, O., & Jensfelt, P. (2025). DeltaFlow: An Efficient Multi-frame Scene Flow Estimation Method. in NeurIPS 2025 (Spotlight) .
Teaching
Fellowships & Awards
- Digital Futures Postdoc Fellowships , 2025-2026
- RSS Pioneer in Robotics: Science and Systems 2024
- Best Paper Award Finalist in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2022
- Y S and Christabel Lung Postgraduate Scholarship for Engineering Students 2020-2021.
- Hui Pun Hing Postgraduate Fellowship (Mainland Collaborations), 2020-2021
- Postgraduate Scholarships, University of Hong Kong, 2020-2024
Scholarly Reviews
- IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (T-PAMI)
- IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO)
- Journal of Field Robotics (JFR)
- IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (T-MECH)
- IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL)
- IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles (TIV)
- IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
- IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems(IROS) 2022-2025
- IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2024-2025