Yan-Bin Jia

About

Yan-Bin Jia is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of robotic manipulation, tactile sensing, and computational mechanics. His research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how robots can interact with the physical world — particularly in grasping, cutting, and dynamic object manipulation. Jia's most influential contributions center on robotic interaction with deformable objects. His work on squeezing and lifting soft 3D objects (57 citations) drew inspiration from human hand behavior to develop practical liftability criteria, while his complementary studies on grasping deformable planar objects (46 citations) tackled the thorny mechanics of changing wrench spaces and contact area evolution. He has also made significant strides in robotic cutting, producing a rigorous mechanical framework for controlling knife motion through fracture and friction (50 citations). Beyond grasping, Jia has explored tactile surface reconstruction and object recognition from one-dimensional contact data, enabling robots to "feel" their way to understanding unknown geometries. His dynamic manipulation research extends to high-speed impact modeling (30 citations) and the remarkably challenging problem of precision batting of in-flight objects (35 citations). With over 340 cumulative citations, Jia's body of work represents a comprehensive, mathematically grounded approach to making robots dexterous, adaptive, and physically intelligent.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Picking up a soft 3D object by “feeling” the grip

   57 citations · 2015
2. 2
   Robotic Cutting: Mechanics and Control of Knife Motion

   50 citations · 2019
3. 3
   Grasping deformable planar objects: Squeeze, stick/slip analysis, and energy-based optimalities

   46 citations · 2014
4. 4
   Pose and Motion from Contact

   42 citations · 1999
5. 5
   Batting an in-flight object to the target

   35 citations · 2019
6. 6
   Three-dimensional impact: energy-based modeling of tangential compliance

   30 citations · 2012
7. 7
   Surface Patch Reconstruction From “One-Dimensional” Tactile Data

   27 citations · 2009
8. 8
   Computation on Parametric Curves with an Application in Grasping

   22 citations · 2004
9. 9
   Modeling Deformations of General Parametric Shells Grasped by a Robot Hand

   19 citations · 2010
10. 10
    Recognition of Curved Surfaces From “One-Dimensional” Tactile Data

    16 citations · 2012

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links