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About

Ruixiang Du is a robotics researcher whose work centers on human-supervised control of humanoid robots for disaster response and assistive applications. He made major contributions to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), where he was a key member of the Team WPI-CMU collaboration. Du’s research addresses the integration of mobility, manipulation, perception, and operator interfaces to enable humanoid robots—particularly the 28-degree-of-freedom Atlas robot—to perform complex tasks in unstructured environments. His most cited paper, “Human-in-the-loop Control of a Humanoid Robot for Disaster Response: A Report from the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials” (78 citations), details the hardware and software architecture that allowed reliable human-in-the-loop control. His follow-up work, “What Happened at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals” (57 citations), and “Human-supervised control of the ATLAS humanoid robot for traversing doors” (51 citations) further demonstrate his impact on achieving robust, real-world humanoid behavior. Beyond disaster robotics, Du has also explored robotics-enabled in-home screening for fall risks in older adults, showing a commitment to socially beneficial applications. With over 250 total citations, his work has helped define the state of the art in human-supervised humanoid control.