Yang-Lun Lai

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Yang-Lun Lai is at the forefront of agricultural robotics, pioneering human-robot collaboration to address critical labor shortages in the tea industry. His research focuses on developing cooperative frameworks that seamlessly blend human expertise with robotic precision, particularly for the delicate task of tea plucking. Lai’s major contribution lies in rejecting fully autonomous solutions in favor of adjustable autonomy systems, where robots provide power assistance and stable platform navigation while humans retain supervisory control and harvesting judgment. His most cited work, a 2020 study on a human-robot cooperative vehicle for tea plucking (12 citations), established a foundational cooperative framework that leverages human skill for cutting and robotic support for mobility. This was advanced in his 2021 paper on a collaborative robot with adjustable autonomy (9 citations), which demonstrated stable side-by-side motion in narrow terrain tea gardens. Lai’s innovative approach—prioritizing practical, synergistic human-robot teams over full automation—positions him as a key figure in sustainable agricultural technology, with his work directly impacting the future of specialty crop harvesting.