About me
I am a postdoctoral researcher at BruBotics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). I received my B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering, M.Sc. in Control Systems, and Ph.D. in Biorobotics from Harbin Institute of Technology (China), Imperial College London (UK), and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Italy) in 2020, 2021, and 2025, respectively. My Ph.D. research was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Cesare Stefanini and Prof. Arianna Menciassi. My research focuses on Compliant Robotic Systems across Control, Interaction, and Embodiment, encompassing generalizable autonomous control of soft manipulators, human-centered teleoperation of continuum robots, and integrated physical embodiment of compliant robotic mechanisms.
I was a Scientific Advisor at Ultimage Intelligent Technology (Macau) Limited (2026), an exchange student at EPFL (2024), and a research assistant at King’s College London and Tsinghua University (2022).
Contact
Email: zixi.chen at vub.be; zc.academic at gmail.com
News
2026
- Sep: [Job] I joined BruBotics, VUB, as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the RESSORT project, contributing to the project management of one of the largest EC-funded soft robotics projects and the research of underactuated dexterous hand designs.
2025
Oct: [Job] I joined Ultimage Intelligent Technology (Macau) Limited as a Scientific Advisor, working on the development of continuum surgical robotics, research on rolling-joint continuum robotics and teleoperation, and PhD student supervision.
Oct: [Graduation] I was awarded a PhD in Biorobotics with distinction from the Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.
Sep: [Publication] Our paper AdapJ: An Adaptive Extended Jacobian Controller for Soft Manipulators has been accepted to IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (TMECH)!
Jun: [Publication] Our paper A Survey on Soft Robot Adaptability: Implementations, Applications, and Prospects has been accepted to IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine (RAM)! This review summarizes the key discussions and insights from our Soft Robot Adaptability Workshop held at IROS 2024. Thank all workshop organizers and speakers for your valuable contributions!
Jun: [Publication] Our paper A Versatile Neural Network Configuration Space Planning and Control Strategy for Modular Soft Robot Arms has been accepted to IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO)!
May: [Workshop] We will organize a Soft Robot Practical Application Workshop at IROS 2025, see you in Hangzhou!
2024
Nov: [Publication] Our paper A Novel and Accurate BiLSTM Configuration Controller for Modular Soft Robots with Module Number Adaptability has been accepted to Soft Robotics (SoRo)!
Sep: [Publication] Our paper Simulation of Optical Tactile Sensors Supporting Slip and Rotation using Path Tracing and IMPM has been accepted to IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (IEEE RA-L)! I cosupervised the first author, Zirong, on this work. Congratulations, Zirong!
Jun: [Workshop] We will organize a Soft Robot Adaptability Workshop at IROS 2024, see you in Abu Dhabi!
Mar: [Publication] Our paper Data-driven Methods Applied to Soft Robot Modeling and Control: A Review has been accepted to IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (IEEE T-ASE)!
2023
Nov: [Publication] Our paper A Hybrid Adaptive Controller for Soft Robot Interchangeability has been accepted to IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (IEEE RA-L)!
Apr: [Publication] Our paper Plasticine Manipulation Simulation with Optical Tactile Sensing has been accepted to ICRA 2023 ViTac Workshop: Blending Virtual and Real Visuo-Tactile Perception, see you in London!
Feb: [Talk] I give a paper sharing for taichi community in Chinese about our IEEE RA-L paper.
Jan: [Publication] Our paper Tacchi: A Pluggable and Low Computational Cost Elastomer Deformation Simulator for Optical Tactile Sensors has been accepted to IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (IEEE RA-L)! Thank Prof. Shan Luo and Prof. Bin Fang for their supervision during this work!