Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Tianze Chen is a pioneering roboticist whose work redefines how robots interact with the physical world, focusing on the emerging field of multi-object grasping (MOG). Rather than the traditional single-object pick-and-place, Chen’s research enables robots to grasp, sense, and transfer multiple objects simultaneously—a paradigm shift for warehouse automation and batch picking. Their major contributions include developing the first comprehensive taxonomy of 12 multi-object grasp types, derived from both human and robotic data, and creating novel algorithms like the Experience Forest, which optimizes finger movement strategies for grasping piles of objects. Chen also advanced tactile sensing by showing that robots can estimate the number of objects in a grasp before lifting, a critical step toward dexterous manipulation. With over 65 citations across their top papers, including foundational works from 2021 and 2022, Chen’s impact is already felt in robotics and logistics. Notably, their work on efficient picking and transferring policies directly addresses real-world challenges in fulfillment centers, promising to boost efficiency by reducing the number of trips needed. For students and researchers, Chen’s research offers a compelling vision of robots that can handle complexity with human-like intuition.