PolyU Scholars Hub
Prof. David NAVARRO 毛大衛
Associate Professor
Area of Specialization: Robotics and Embodied AI
- FG638
- 2766-7816
- dnavar@polyu.edu.hk
- Personal Website
ORCID ID
SCOPUS IDBiography
PhD (CUHK)
Short Description
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the group leader of the Robotics and Machine Intelligence Laboratory (ROMI Lab). My research focuses on fundamental problems involving the planning, learning, and control of robot motion tasks. Our group has received substantial funding from both government agencies and industry partners. I am a Senior Member of IEEE and currently serve as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO).
I received my PhD in Mechanical and Automation Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Yun-hui Liu. During my doctoral studies, I was awarded the prestigious CONACYT Fellowship. After graduation, I joined the CUHK T Stone Robotics Institute, first as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a Research Assistant Professor (2014-2017). I have also held visiting positions at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and the University of Toulon, France.
At PolyU, I teach both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in robotics, nonlinear dynamics, and control systems. My innovative approaches to education, particularly in developing flipped classrooms and digital platforms for online learning, have earned several teaching awards.
I welcome applications for PhD studies in my group. Prospective applicants, please read this guideline.
I received my PhD in Mechanical and Automation Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Yun-hui Liu. During my doctoral studies, I was awarded the prestigious CONACYT Fellowship. After graduation, I joined the CUHK T Stone Robotics Institute, first as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a Research Assistant Professor (2014-2017). I have also held visiting positions at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and the University of Toulon, France.
At PolyU, I teach both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in robotics, nonlinear dynamics, and control systems. My innovative approaches to education, particularly in developing flipped classrooms and digital platforms for online learning, have earned several teaching awards.
I welcome applications for PhD studies in my group. Prospective applicants, please read this guideline.
Selected Publications
- A. Duan, W. Liuchen, J. Wu, R. Camoriano, L. Rosasco, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. Learning Rhythmic Trajectories with Geometric Constraints for Laser-Based Skincare Procedures. IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2025.
- J. Qi, L. Lu, F. Wang, H.-Y. Lee, D. Navarro-Alarcon, Z. Zhang, and P. Zhou. “LLM-driven Symbolic Planning and Hierarchical Imitation Learning for Long-horizon Deformable Object Assembly,” in Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM), 2025.
- F. Wang, A, Duan, P. Zhou, S. Huo, G. Guo, C. Yang, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Explicit-Implicit Subgoal Planning for Long-Horizon Tasks with Sparse Rewards,” in IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE), 2025.
- F. Wang, S. Lyu, P. Zhou, A. Duan, G. Guo, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Instruction-Augmented Long-Horizon Planning: Embedding Grounding Mechanisms in Embodied Mobile Manipulation,” in Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2025.
- C. Saghour, D. Navarro-Alarcon, P. Fraisse, and A. Cherubini. “Dual-Arm Shaping of Soft Objects in 3D Based on Visual Servoing and Online FEM Simulations,” in International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2025.
- H.-Y. Lee, P. Zhou, A. Duan, C. Yang, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Iterative Shaping of Multi-Particle Aggregates based on Action Trees and VLM,” in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2025.
- J. G. Romero, A. Donaire, E. Nuno and D. Navarro-Alarcon, "Robust Consensus of a Class of Perturbed Port-Hamiltonian Systems with Time Delays," in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (T-AC), 2025
- P. Zhou, J. Qi, A. Duan, S. Huo, Z. Wu and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Imitating Tool-based Garment Folding from a Single Visual Observation Using Hand-Object Graph Dynamics,” in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (T-II), 2024.
- A. Duan, C. Yang, J. Zhao, S. Huo, P. Zhou, W. Ma, Y. Zheng and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Safe Learning by Constraint-Aware Policy Optimization for Robotic Ultrasound Imaging,” in IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE), 2024.
- X. Shao, B. Zhang, H. Zhi, J. G. Romero, B. Fan, Q. Hu, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “InPTC: Integrated Planning and Tube-Following Control for Prescribed-Time Collision-Free Navigation of Wheeled Mobile Robots,” in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (T-MECH), 2024.
- B. Zhang, H. Zhi, J. G. Romero, L. Labazanova, A. Duan, X. Li, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Fourier-Based Multi-Agent Formation Control to Track Evolving Closed Boundaries,” in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regulate Papers (T-CAS-I), 2023.
- L. Labazanova, S. Peng, L. Qiu, H.-Y. Lee, T. Nanayakkara, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Self-Reconfigurable Soft-Rigid Mobile Agent with Variable Stiffness and Adaptive Morphology,” in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2023.
- P. Zhou, P. Zheng, J. Qi, C. Li, A. Duan, M. Xu, V. Wu, and D. Navarro-Alarcon. “Neural Reactive Path Planning with Riemannian Motion Policies for Robotic Silicone Sealing,” in Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM), 2023.
- L. Hu, D. Navarro-Alarcon, A. Cherubini, M. Li and L. Li. “On Radiation-Based Thermal Servoing: New Models, Controls and Experiments,” in IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2022.
- D. Navarro-Alarcon and Y.-H. Liu. “Fourier-Based Shape Servoing: A New Feedback Method to Actively Deform Soft Objects into Desired 2-D Image Contours,” in IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2018.
