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About

Xuchen Han is reshaping the computational foundations of contact mechanics, with a focus on convex optimization for frictional contact in robotics and physics simulation. His landmark 2022 paper, "An Unconstrained Convex Formulation of Compliant Contact" (25 citations), introduced a breakthrough method that eliminates contact constraints analytically to produce an unconstrained convex problem—guaranteeing global convergence and enabling effective warm-starting for real-time applications. Han extended this framework to couple rigid and deformable bodies (2023, 7 citations) using a novel corotational material model, and later integrated it with the Material Point Method for elastoplastic materials and articulated rigid bodies (2024, 5 citations). Most recently, his 2025 work on "Irrotational Contact Fields" (2 citations) generalizes these ideas to generate convex approximations of complex, experimentally validated contact models like Hunt & Crossley with Coulomb friction. Across these contributions, Han’s work is distinguished by its mathematical rigor—proving convexity and convergence—while delivering practical solvers that are robust, efficient, and immediately applicable to simulation and control. His research stands at the intersection of geometry, optimization, and physics, offering a principled path toward stable, high-fidelity contact handling in complex systems.