Zhefeng Cao

Southern University of Science and Technology

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Zhefeng Cao is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of dynamic locomotion and hybrid mobility, with a focus on making robots more resilient and versatile. His key contributions lie in two complementary areas: push recovery for humanoid robots and novel wheeled-quadruped platform design. In his 2021 paper on reachability-based push recovery, Cao introduced a novel application of Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) reachability analysis to the variable-height inverted pendulum (VHIP) model, enabling humanoid robots to better calculate zero-step capturability—essentially, how to stay upright after a disturbance without stepping. This work provides a rigorous, safety-guaranteed framework for reactive balance, a critical capability for real-world humanoid deployment. More recently, with his 2023 work on the Xiaotian-Hybrid platform, Cao has advanced the design of wheeled-quadruped robots, merging the speed and efficiency of wheels with the terrain adaptability of legs. Though both papers currently hold 4 citations each, they represent foundational steps in two fast-growing subfields. Cao’s research is particularly notable for its theoretical depth—applying formal methods like reachability analysis to practical control problems—and its engineering ambition in building novel hardware platforms.