Prof. David NAVARRO 毛大衛

PolyU Scholars Hub

Associate Professor

Area of Specialization: Robotics and Embodied AI

PolyU Scholars Hub

ORCID ID

SCOPUS ID

Biography

PhD (CUHK)

Short Description

I am an Associate Professor of Robotics and Embodied AI in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), where I lead the Robotics and Machine Intelligence Laboratory (ROMI Lab). I also serve as Programme Leader of the MSc in Intelligent Robotics Engineering and Departmental Programme Leader of the Engineering Doctorate. In addition, I am an investigator in PolyU’s Research Institute for Smart Ageing and Research Centre for Assistive Technology.

My research investigates how robots can acquire and use visuomotor skills to perform complex physical tasks. At ROMI Lab, we combine perception, learning, planning, and feedback control to enable robust interaction with dynamic, uncertain, and deformable environments. Our work spans deformable-object manipulation, mobile manipulation, long-horizon task execution, and cooperative multi-robot systems, bringing together mechanics, computing, and automation.

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. Before joining PolyU in 2017, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow and subsequently a Research Assistant Professor at the CUHK T Stone Robotics Institute. I have also held short visiting academic appointments at the École Centrale de Nantes in France and the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

I am a Senior Member of IEEE and an active member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. I serve as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics and IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, as well as a Technical Editor of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. I also regularly participate and contribute to the organization of flagship robotics conferences, including ICRA and IROS.

At PolyU, I teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses in intelligent robotics, nonlinear dynamics, and control systems. My educational work includes developing flipped-classroom approaches and digital platforms for online and blended learning, for which I have received several teaching awards.

I welcome applications from exceptional students interested in pursuing PhD studies. Prospective applicants must read this guideline.

Selected Publications

S. Lyu, F. Wang, W. Lin, G. Guo, and D. Navarro-Alarcon, “Enhancing End-User Engagement in Human–Robot Interaction by Performing LLM-Driven Expressive Behaviors,” ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction, vol. 15, no. 4, no. 79, 2026.
L. Labazanova, L. Qiu, J. G. Romero, L. Cheng, T. Nanayakkara, and D. Navarro-Alarcon, “Motion and Morphology Planning for Autonomous Manipulation in Clutter With a Shape-Shifting, Variable-Stiffness Robot,” Advanced Intelligent Systems, no. e70475, 2026.
H.-Y. Lee, P. Zhou, A. Duan, W. Ma, C. Yang, and D. Navarro-Alarcon, “Non-Prehensile Tool-Object Manipulation by Integrating LLM-Based Planning and Manoeuvrability-Driven Controls,” Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 100, no. 103231, 2026.
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,” Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, vol. 97, no. 103096, 2026.
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, vol. 41, pp. 1956–1973, 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,” IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, vol. 22, pp. 16038–16049, 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 Proc. of AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, vol. 39, no. 14, pp. 14690–14698, 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,” The International Journal of Robotics Research, vol. 44, no. 7, pp. 1138–1155, 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,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 7102–7109, 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,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 6245–6256, 2024.