ROBOT LEARNING & MANIPULATION

Ziyan Feng Shay

MPhil Researcher · HKUST (Guangzhou)

I study physical intelligence for generalist robot manipulation, connecting tactile sensing, closed-loop control, and robot learning.

Advisors: Prof. Qiang Nie and Prof. Jinni Zhou

IROS 2026First Author · Accepted CoRL 2026First Author · Accepted ICRA 2026 ManipDojo1st Place
Personal HonorsD-Robotics Annual Star AmbassadorProvincial Advanced Individual in Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Selected Publications

IROS 2026First Author · Accepted

TactileReflex: Noise-Statistics-Driven Vision-Tactile Reflex Control for Force-Sensitive Manipulation

Ziyan Feng, Yulong Fu, Zheng Li, Yuxin He, Jieji Ren, Yudong Zhong, Lujia Wang, Jinni Zhou, and Qiang Nie

Innovation. Turns intrinsic tactile sensor noise into self-calibrated control thresholds, removing the need for external force calibration, material models, or manual threshold tuning. Three coordinated reflexes address slip, excessive grip, and overload for force-sensitive manipulation.

arXiv ↗
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TactileReflex architecture with tactile proxies, prioritized reflex channels and closed-loop gripper control
TactileReflex system overviewView full size · Source
Pouring comparison: without reflex the cup slips and fails to pour; with reflex the cup stays oriented and pours successfully
Pouring comparison — left: without reflex; right: with TactileReflex.View full size · Source
CoRL 2026First Author · Accepted

What is the Better Curriculum: Controller-Shaped Grasping Behavior for Contact Force-Sensitive Manipulation

Ziyan Feng et al.

Innovation. Uses tactile feedback as a teacher during data collection: a high-rate controller shapes demonstrations so ACT and π0.5 can learn safer grasping without tactile inputs at inference. The work connects demonstration quality with learned contact behavior and distinguishes what policies can learn from what still requires real-time feedback.

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CoRL teaser comparing reflex-assisted and manual teleoperated collection for fragile-cup grasping
Teaser — controller-shaped demonstrations for fragile-object grasping.View full size
CoRL system overview showing controller-shaped data collection, tactile-free policy learning and deployment with optional reflex arbitration
System overview — demonstration collection, tactile-free policy learning, and deployment.View full size

Research Interests

My research lies at the intersection of robot learning, multimodal perception, and physical interaction. I am interested in how vision-language-action models, tactile sensing, and reinforcement learning can help robots understand tasks and manipulate objects reliably in the real world.

I am particularly interested in contact-rich and force-sensitive manipulation, the role of sensory feedback in learning and control, and generalization across objects and environments. My work combines learning-based methods with closed-loop control, with an emphasis on real-robot validation and robust physical behavior.

Selected Experience

RIL-LAB · HKUST(GZ)

Sep. 2025 – Present

Research on tactile sensing and robot learning for real-world manipulation.

Motphys · Robotics RL Intern

Jul. 2026 – Present

Research on tactile simulation and robot learning.

ICRA 2026 ManipDojo Challenge 1st Place

2026

Developed a multi-task robot manipulation system using reinforcement learning.

Tsinghua AIR × D-Robotics Champion

Jan. – Mar. 2025

Desktop Robot Track champion, Embodied AI Program.

Education

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

Aug. 2025 – Present

MPhil in Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Southwest University

Sep. 2021 – Jun. 2025

B.Eng. in Automation

First-Class Scholarship · Outstanding Graduate · Innovation Award

Working with robotic arms at a competition Working with a robot at a demonstration Portrait outside the Peace Hotel A candid campus moment
Group photo at a D-Robotics event Receiving an honor at Southwest University An evening portrait Portrait by the Shanghai waterfront at night