Xianwu Zeng

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Xianwu Zeng is a robotics researcher whose work focuses on the design, control, and perception of legged robots, with a particular emphasis on achieving mechanical simplicity and robust real-world operation. His most notable contribution is the creation of Q-Whex, an innovative quasi-wheeled hexapod robot that uses only six actuators—one per hip—to achieve highly mobile and reliable locomotion. This minimalist design, detailed in his 2023 paper (34 citations), represents a significant step toward practical, untethered robots capable of navigating complex environments. Zeng has also advanced the field of robot perception by developing an online terrain classification framework for legged robots, which leverages acoustic signals produced during locomotion to identify different surfaces. By applying Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients to this problem, his 2023 work (9 citations) offers a novel, low-cost method for enabling robots to adapt their gait in real time. Through these contributions, Zeng is helping to bridge the gap between laboratory prototypes and deployable robotic systems, demonstrating that clever mechanical design and innovative sensing can dramatically simplify and enhance legged robot performance.