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About

Xiaoyu Fu is a pioneering roboticist whose work spans surgical robotics, bio-inspired locomotion, and miniature autonomous systems. Fu’s most impactful contribution is the development of an apprenticeship learning framework that enables robots to achieve superhuman performance in surgical tasks, such as suturing and retraction, by iteratively learning from human-guided demonstrations—a breakthrough with 243 citations that promises to reduce surgeon fatigue and shorten operation times. In bio-inspired design, Fu engineered a minimally actuated, 10 cm six-legged robot (136 citations) that leverages passive dynamics to achieve rapid, stable, and maneuverable locomotion, mirroring the efficiency of cockroaches. Further pushing boundaries, Fu created the Medic robot, a 5-gram autonomous crawling and climbing millirobot capable of navigating dark, cluttered environments using only a single low-resolution camera—demonstrating extreme miniaturization for confined-space exploration. Fu’s earlier work also includes economic evaluations of construction robotics, highlighting a sustained interest in practical, real-world applications. With over 390 total citations across these key papers, Xiaoyu Fu is recognized for advancing robotic autonomy, dexterity, and miniaturization, inspiring new generations of researchers in surgical assistance, agile locomotion, and millirobotics.