The Marine Robotics Lab (MRL) advances the design and control of aquatic robots that operate safely and efficiently in complex, real-world environments. Our ambition is to deliver reliable, explainable, and coordinated autonomy for AI-enabled robots to support scientific discovery, infrastructure resilience, and environmental stewardship.
Specifically, we integrate learning with model-based control and estimation (e.g., diffusion planning and learning-augmented MPC/CBF) to provide robust and adaptive performance in uncertain, unstructured environments. We build unconventional, bio-inspired robotic platforms and swarms to address engineering challenges in aquatic and cross-domain locomotion, sensing, control, and collective behavior, informing the design of next-generation robots. We also co-design robot morphology, material properties (e.g., variable stiffness), and control so that physical dynamics contribute to computation, expand control authority, and improve energy efficiency.
News
- 2025/05 Three papers were accepted to the 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2025). Two of them are from my research group—congratulations to Arturo and Zhiheng! The third is a collaborative effort with researchers from MIT and KU Leuven.
- 2025/05 Our team participated in ICRA 2025 in Atlanta, where Kevin presented his work on the MicroASV platform and Jack presented his research on a hybrid soft pneumatic and tendon-actuated finger. Additionally, Prof. Wang delivered an invited talk at the Amphibious Robotics workshop.
- 2025/04 Happy to share our new paper in Science Robotics, led by PI Liang Li from Max Planck Institute. We demonstrate how virtual reality can be used to reverse-engineer sensorimotor control and apply it to swarm robot pursuit—achieving performance on par with model predictive control (MPC).
- 2025/04 We showcase our robots to middle school students and the public at Engineering EXPO 2025.
- 2025/01 Two papers were accepted by the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).
- 2024/11 We are seeking 1 PhD student in Control and Autonomy of Marine Robots, Bioinspired Robotics, Collective Robotics, etc., for the upcoming admissions cycle (Fall 2025); Deadline: 12/15/2024. Please visit our Opportunities page for more information.
- 2024/08 Dr. Wang was appointed as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Field Robotics.
- 2024/05 Dr. Wang co-organized a workshop called “Bioinspired Robotics and Robotics for Biology” at the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Yokohama, Japan.
- 2024/04 We showcase our robots to middle school students and the public at Engineering EXPO 2024.
- 2024/01 One paper “Robust Model Predictive Control with Control Barrier Functions for Autonomous Surface Vessels” was accepted by the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).
- 2024/01 Dr. Wang started his position as an assistant professor in ME Department at UW-Madison.
- 2023/10 We are seeking 2-3 PhD students in Control and Autonomy of Marine Robots, Bioinspired Robotics, Collective Robotics, etc., for the upcoming admissions cycle (Fall 2024); Deadline: 12/15/2023. Please visit our Opportunities page for more information.