Carnegie Mellon University Mechanical Engineering

shimada@cmu.edu

Zhefan Xu

PhD student

Zhefan Xu

Department
Mechanical Engineering
Program
Ph.D.
Graduation
May 2026
  • Robotics
  • Reinforcement Learning
  • Perception and Planning for Navigation
WebsiteGoogle ScholarLinkedIn

Projects

UAV Tunnel Inspection

Publications

15 papers with CERLAB.

  1. ASIP-Planner: Adaptive Planning for UAV Surface Inspection in Partially Known Indoor Environments

    Hanyu Jin, Zhefan Xu, Haoyu Shen, Xinming Han, Kanlong Ye, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2026, accepted) · 2026

  2. NavRL++: A System-Level Framework for Improving Sim-to-Real Transfer in Reinforcement Learning-Based Robot Navigation

    Zhefan Xu, Hanyu Jin, Kenji Shimada

    arXiv preprint · 2026

  3. Intent Prediction-Driven Model Predictive Control for UAV Planning and Navigation in Dynamic Environments

    Zhefan Xu, Hanyu Jin, Xinming Han, Haoyu Shen, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters · 2025

  4. LV-DOT: LiDAR-visual dynamic obstacle detection and tracking for autonomous robot navigation

    Zhefan Xu, Haoyu Shen, Xinming Han, Hanyu Jin, Kanlong Ye, Kenji Shimada

    arXiv preprint · 2025

  5. NavRL: Learning Safe Flight in Dynamic Environments

    Zhefan Xu, Xinming Han, Haoyu Shen, Hanyu Jin, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters · 2025

  6. Heuristic-based Incremental Probabilistic Roadmap for Efficient UAV Exploration in Dynamic Environments

    Zhefan Xu, Christopher Suzuki, Xiaoyang Zhan, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · 2024

  7. Onboard Dynamic-Object Detection and Tracking for Autonomous Robot Navigation With RGB-D Camera

    Zhefan Xu, Xiaoyang Zhan, Yumeng Xiu, Christopher Suzuki, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters · 2024

  8. Quadcopter Trajectory Time Minimization and Robust Collision Avoidance via Optimal Time Allocation

    Zhefan Xu, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · 2024

  9. A real-time dynamic obstacle tracking and mapping system for UAV navigation and collision avoidance with an RGB-D camera

    Zhefan Xu, Xiaoyang Zhan, Baihan Chen, Yumeng Xiu, Chenhao Yang, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · 2023

  10. A Vision-Based Autonomous UAV Inspection Framework for Unknown Tunnel Construction Sites With Dynamic Obstacles

    Zhefan Xu, Baihan Chen, Xiaoyang Zhan, Yumeng Xiu, Christopher Suzuki, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters · 2023

  11. Vision-aided UAV Navigation and Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance using Gradient-based B-spline Trajectory Optimization

    Zhefan Xu, Yumeng Xiu, Xiaoyang Zhan, Baihan Chen, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · 2023

  12. DPMPC-Planner: A real-time UAV trajectory planning framework for complex static environments with dynamic obstacles

    Zhefan Xu, Di Deng, Yiping Dong, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · 2022

  13. Autonomous UAV Exploration of Dynamic Environments Via Incremental Sampling and Probabilistic Roadmap

    Zhefan Xu, Di Deng, Kenji Shimada

    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters · 2021

  14. Coordinated Aerial-Ground Robot Exploration via Monte-Carlo View Quality Rendering

    Di Deng, Zhefan Xu, Wenbo Zhao, Kenji Shimada

    arXiv preprint · 2020

  15. Frontier-based Automatic-differentiable Information Gain Measure for Robotic Exploration of Unknown 3D Environments

    Di Deng, Zhefan Xu, Wenbo Zhao, Kenji Shimada

    arXiv preprint · 2020