Papers
4
Total Citations
50
H-Index
2
About
Mingen Li is a rising roboticist whose research focuses on the challenging frontier of deformable object manipulation, particularly rope-like and linear objects. His work addresses a critical gap in robotics: while rigid object manipulation is well-understood, handling deformable materials remains notoriously difficult due to their complex, high-dimensional physics. Li's major contribution lies in developing differentiable physics-based models that enable robots to plan and control the manipulation of these flexible objects with unprecedented precision. His most impactful work, "Robotic Manipulation of Deformable Rope-Like Objects Using Differentiable Compliant Position-Based Dynamics" (2023, 42 citations), introduces a novel framework that bridges simulation and reality, allowing robots to autonomously perform tasks like rope threading and knot-tying. This has direct applications in autonomous robotic suturing for surgery and industrial assembly. Li further extends this work by incorporating visual cues to estimate material flexibility, enabling generalized manipulation across diverse materials from iron wire to silk. His research on differentiable position-based dynamics for parameter identification and motion control (2022) also provides foundational tools for model-based robotic control. Through these innovations, Li is paving the way for robots to handle the soft, deformable world around us.
Research Focus
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