Tixiao Shan

About

Tixiao Shan is a prominent robotics researcher whose work centers on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), autonomous exploration, and mobile robot navigation. He is best known for developing LIO-SAM, a tightly-coupled lidar-inertial odometry framework that achieves highly accurate, real-time trajectory estimation and map-building using a factor graph formulation. Since its publication in 2020, LIO-SAM has become a landmark contribution to the field, amassing nearly 2,000 citations and establishing itself as a foundational reference for lidar-inertial odometry systems worldwide. Building on this success, Shan co-developed DiSCo-SLAM, a distributed multi-robot SLAM framework leveraging the lightweight Scan Context descriptor for efficient 3D LiDAR-based collaboration among robot teams. His research portfolio extends into deep reinforcement learning for autonomous exploration, Bayesian kernel inference for 3D occupancy mapping, lidar super-resolution via simulation, and planning under uncertainty. His work on underwater autonomous exploration further demonstrates the breadth of his contributions across diverse robotic platforms. With a consistently high-impact publication record spanning perception, mapping, and decision-making, Shan has made substantial and lasting contributions to the autonomous robotics community.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   LIO-SAM: Tightly-coupled Lidar Inertial Odometry via Smoothing and Mapping

   1,955 citations · 2020
2. 2
   DiSCo-SLAM: Distributed Scan Context-Enabled Multi-Robot LiDAR SLAM With Two-Stage Global-Local Graph Optimization

   112 citations · 2021
3. 3
   LIO-SAM: Tightly-coupled Lidar Inertial Odometry via Smoothing and Mapping

   100 citations · 2020
4. 4
   Simulation-based lidar super-resolution for ground vehicles

   83 citations · 2020
5. 5
   Self-Learning Exploration and Mapping for Mobile Robots via Deep Reinforcement Learning

   53 citations · 2019
6. 6
   Learning-Aided 3-D Occupancy Mapping With Bayesian Generalized Kernel Inference

   50 citations · 2019
7. 7
   Virtual Maps for Autonomous Exploration of Cluttered Underwater Environments

   41 citations · 2022
8. 8
   Information-Driven Path Planning

   34 citations · 2021
9. 9
   Zero-Shot Reinforcement Learning on Graphs for Autonomous Exploration Under Uncertainty

   18 citations · 2021
10. 10
    Belief roadmap search: Advances in optimal and efficient planning under uncertainty

    17 citations · 2017

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links