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About

Weisheng Yan is a prolific robotics and autonomous systems researcher whose work spans multi-robot coordination, underwater robotics, path planning, and adaptive control. Best known for his groundbreaking 2015 paper on mutual information-based path planning for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), which has accumulated over 300 citations, Yan pioneered the use of multidimensional RRT* algorithms to optimize collaborative ocean sampling—a contribution that has significantly shaped marine robotics research. His early work on synchronization of robot manipulators with unknown dynamics (2012) laid important theoretical foundations for cooperative robotic systems, while his later investigations into admittance-based adaptive control for multiple manipulators further advanced the field of coordinated manipulation. Yan's research portfolio reflects a remarkable breadth: from distributed task assignment under communication constraints and GPS-denied autonomous exploration to underwater hull-cleaning robots and hybrid legged underwater systems capable of wall climbing. His more recent contributions to bidirectional trust-based variable autonomy demonstrate an expanding interest in human-robot interaction. With a body of work totaling over 650 citations across diverse robotic domains, Yan has established himself as a versatile and impactful contributor to intelligent autonomous systems, offering students and researchers valuable frameworks across both theoretical control design and real-world robotic applications.