Publications

Cross-Robot Behavior Adaptation through Intention Alignment

X. Chen^†, Y. Gao^†, H. Liu, F. Yang, A. Ghadirzadeh, J. Yang, B. Liang, C. Zhang, T. L. Lam, and S.-C. Zhu

Science Robotics, 2026

Research on enabling behavior adaptation across different robot platforms through intention alignment.

Emergent Co-Adaptive Strategies in Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Systems via Meta-Learning

H. Wang, L. Wang, T. L. Lam, J. Zhai, D. Lin, H. Zheng, X. He, and Y. Gao

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2026

Meta-learning for heterogeneous robot teams that adapt between egoistic and cooperative strategies in human-facing coordination.

ReBeCA: Unveiling Interpretable Behavior Hierarchy behind the Iterative Self-Reflection of Language Models with Causal Analysis

T. Yan, S. Shang, Y. Li, S. Qiu, H. Peng, W. Luo, J. Xie, L. Qu, and Y. Gao

arXiv, 2026

A causal-analysis framework for modeling the hidden behavior hierarchy behind iterative self-reflection in language models.

Entrospect: Information-Theoretic Self-Reflection Elicits Better Response Refinement of Small Language Models

T. Yan, Z. Lin, L. Zhang, Z. Sun, and Y. Gao

Findings of ACL, 2025

An information-theoretic approach to self-reflection for small language models, aimed at better refinement with lower waste.

OC-HMAS: Dynamic Self-Organization and Self-Correction in Heterogeneous Multiagent Systems Using Multimodal Large Models

P. Feng, T. Yang, M. Liang, L. Wang, and Y. Gao

IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2025

A multimodal large-model framework for role allocation, adaptive planning, self-correction, and dynamic organization in heterogeneous agents.

Unlocking Drone Perception in Low AGL Heights: Progressive Semi-Supervised Learning for Ground-to-Aerial Perception Knowledge Transfer

J. Hu, C. Fan, M. Ozay, H. Feng, Y. Gao, and T. L. Lam

IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2025

Progressive semi-supervised learning for viewpoint-shifted perception, transferring structure from ground views to low-altitude drone imagery.

VLONS: Vision-Language Based Occlusion-Aware Neural Rendering System for Multi-View Scene Understanding

J. Shi, H. Zhang, Y. Zhang, T. L. Lam, L. Zhang, H. Huang, and Y. Gao

IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 2025

A vision-language neural rendering system for multi-view scene understanding under occlusion and structural ambiguity.

Understanding Users' Perceptions and Expectations toward a Social Balloon Robot via an Exploratory Study

C. Wang, T. Xia, Y. Wang, G. Yu, Z. Zhao, S. Zheng, M. Liao, C. Liang, Y. Gao, C. Yu, et al.

ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST), 2025

An exploratory study to understand user perceptions and expectations of a social balloon robot.

Towards VLM-Based Physical Intelligence: Fine-Grained Understanding of Object’s Deformability from Images

W. Lai, T. Zhang, Y. Gao, and T. L. Lam

arXiv, 2025

Explores how large vision-language models can infer physical deformability cues from visual evidence.

Multimodal Deformation Estimation of Soft Pneumatic Gripper During Operation

C. Cai, F. Xiao, M. Vanza, T. Wang, F. Zhou, X. Xu, J. Zhu, and Y. Gao

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2025

Combines camera and IMU sensing to estimate the deformation state of a soft pneumatic gripper during operation.

Robot Liquid Perception Through Physical Reasoning and External Knowledge Injection in VLMs

W. Lai, T. Zhang, T. L. Lam, and Y. Gao

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2024

Liquid recognition through physical reasoning, weak visual evidence, and structured knowledge injected into vision-language models.

Cooperative Surface Inspection with Heterogeneous Mobile Robots Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

Y. Gao and collaborators

Manuscript, 2024

A deep reinforcement learning framework for cooperative inspection by heterogeneous mobile robots.

Transformable Inspection Robot for Infrastructure Maintenance with Large Language Model-Based Agentic System

H. Wang, Y. Chen, J. Chen, Y. Gao, and collaborators

IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), 2024

An inspection robot system that combines transformable embodiment with a large-language-model agentic layer.

PepperPose: Leveraging Physical Symmetry for Fast and Stable Human Pose Estimation

T. Zhang, W. Lai, J. Xiao, Y. Gao, and T. L. Lam

arXiv, 2024

Uses embodied symmetry priors to improve speed and stability in human pose estimation.

Asymmetric Self-Play-Enabled Intelligent Heterogeneous Multirobot Catching System Using Deep Multiagent Reinforcement Learning

Yuan Gao, J. Chen, X. Chen, C. Wang, J. Hu, F. Deng, and T. L. Lam

IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2023

Learn2Agree: Fitting with Multiple Annotators Without Objective Ground Truth

C. Wang, Yuan Gao, C. Fan, J. Hu, T. L. Lam, N. D. Lane, and N. Bianchi-Berthouze

TML4H Workshop at ICLR, 2023

Asymptotically Efficient Estimator for Range-Based Robot Relative Localization

Y. Wang, M. Lin, X. Xie, Y. Gao, F. Deng, and T. L. Lam

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2023

An Intention Inference Method for Space Non-Cooperative Target Based on BiGRU-Self Attention

H. Zhang, J. Luo, Y. Gao, and W. Ma

Advances in Space Research, 2023

Boosting Lightweight Depth Estimation via Knowledge Distillation

J. Hu, C. Fan, H. Jiang, X. Guo, Y. Gao, X. Lu, and T. L. Lam

International Conference on Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management (KSEM), 2023

Multilevel Hierarchical Network with Multiscale Sampling for Video Question Answering

M. Peng, C. Wang, Yuan Gao, Y. Shi, and X.-D. Zhou

Manuscript, 2022

Abnormal Occupancy Grid Map Recognition Using Attention Network

F. Deng, H. Feng, M. Liang, F. Qi, N. Yi, Y. Yang, Y. Gao, J. Chen, and T. L. Lam

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022

FEANet: Feature-Enhanced Attention Network for RGB-Thermal Real-Time Semantic Segmentation

F. Deng, H. Feng, M. Liang, H. Yang, Y. Gao, J. Chen, J. Hu, X. Guo, and T. L. Lam

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022

Emotion and Memory Model for Social Robots: A Reinforcement Learning Based Behaviour Selection

M. I. Ahmad, Y. Gao, F. Alnajjar, S. Shahid, and O. Mubin

Behaviour & Information Technology, 2022

Learning to Coordinate for a Worker-Station Multi-Robot System in Planar Coverage Tasks

J. Tang, Y. Gao, and T. L. Lam

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2022

Ab-Mapper: Attention and BiCNet Based Multi-Agent Path Planning for Dynamic Environment

H. Guan, Y. Gao, M. Zhao, Y. Yang, F. Deng, and T. L. Lam

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022

LAPO: Latent-Variable Advantage-Weighted Policy Optimization for Offline Reinforcement Learning

X. Chen, A. Ghadirzadeh, T. Yu, J. Wang, Y. Gao, W. Li, L. Bin, C. Finn, and C. Zhang

Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), 2022

Temporal Pyramid Transformer with Multimodal Interaction for Video Question Answering

M. Peng, C. Wang, Yuan Gao, Y. Shi, and X.-D. Zhou

Manuscript, 2021

Invariant Filtering for Bipedal Walking on Dynamic Rigid Surfaces with Orientation-Based Measurement Model

Yuan Gao and Y. Gu

Manuscript, 2021

Meta Reinforcement Learning Based Sensor Scanning in 3D Uncertain Environments for Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Systems

J. Chen, Yuan Gao, J. Hu, F. Deng, and T. L. Lam

Manuscript, 2021

Leveraging Activity Recognition to Enable Protective Behavior Detection in Continuous Data

C. Wang, Y. Gao, A. Mathur, A. C. De C. Williams, N. D. Lane, and N. Bianchi-Berthouze

Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 2021

A Dataset of Human and Robot Approach Behaviors into Small Free-Standing Conversational Groups

F. Yang, Y. Gao, R. Mailey, S. Zojaji, C. Peters, and G. Castellano

PLOS ONE, 2021

Ab-Mapper: Attention and BiCNet Based Multi-Agent Path Finding for Dynamic Crowded Environment

H. Guan, Y. Gao, M. Zhao, Y. Yang, F. Deng, and T. L. Lam

arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.00760, 2021

Machine Behavior Development and Analysis Using Reinforcement Learning

Yuan Gao

Doctoral thesis, Uppsala University, 2020

Recognizing Micro-Expression in Video Clip with Adaptive Key-Frame Mining

M. Peng, C. Wang, Y. Gao, T. Bi, T. Chen, Y. Shi, and X.-D. Zhou

arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.09179, 2020

Efficient Learning of Socially Aware Robot Approaching Behavior Toward Groups via Meta-Reinforcement Learning

C. Li, G. Castellano, and Y. Gao

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2020

Fast Adaptation with Meta-Reinforcement Learning for Trust Modelling in Human-Robot Interaction

Yuan Gao, E. Sibirtseva, G. Castellano, and D. Kragic

IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019

Learning Socially Appropriate Robot Approaching Behavior Toward Groups Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

Yuan Gao, F. Yang, M. Frisk, D. Hernandez, C. Peters, and G. Castellano

IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2019

A Generalized Framework for Self-Play Training

D. Hernandez, K. Denamganai, Y. Gao, P. York, S. Devlin, S. Samothrakis, and J. A. Walker

IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), 2019

When Robot Personalisation Does Not Help: Insights from a Robot-Supported Learning Study

Yuan Gao, W. Barendregt, M. Obaid, and G. Castellano

IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2018

Investigating Deep Learning Approaches for Human-Robot Proxemics

Yuan Gao, S. Wallkötter, M. Obaid, and G. Castellano

IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2018

Human-Robot Proxemics Using Recurrent Neural Networks

Yuan Gao, S. Wallkötter, M. Obaid, and G. Castellano

IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2018

Effects of Posture and Embodiment on Social Distance in Human-Agent Interaction in Mixed Reality

C. Li, T. Androulakaki, Y. Gao, F. Yang, H. Saikia, C. Peters, and G. Skantze

International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA), 2018

Bandit Learning with Concurrent Transmissions for Energy-Efficient Flooding in Sensor Networks

P. Zhang, Y. Gao, and O. Theel

EAI Endorsed Transactions on Industrial Networks and Intelligent Systems, 2018

Personalised Human-Robot Co-Adaptation in Instructional Settings Using Reinforcement Learning

Y. Gao, W. Barendregt, and G. Castellano

IVA Workshop on Persuasive Embodied Agents for Behavior Change (PEACH), 2017

Less is More: Learning More with Concurrent Transmissions for Energy-Efficient Flooding

P. Zhang, Y. Gao, and O. Theel

International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services, 2017

Exploring Users' Reactions towards Tangible Implicit Probes for Measuring Human-Robot Engagement

M. Obaid, Y. Gao, W. Barendregt, and G. Castellano

International Conference on Social Robotics, 2017

Deep Gate Recurrent Neural Network

Yuan Gao and D. Głowacka

Asian Conference on Machine Learning (ACML), 2016

Officehours: A System for Student Supervisor Matching Through Reinforcement Learning

Y. Gao, K. Ilves, and D. Głowacka

International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) Companion, 2015