Dr. Zhou Tianyu is an Elite Professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin University. He has been selected for the National High-Level Overseas Young Talents Program (Excellent Youth). He received his B.E. degree from Dalian University of Technology in 2017, his M.S. degree from the University of Florida in 2019, and his Ph.D. in Civil and Coastal Engineering from the same university in 2023, where he subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher. His research primarily focuses on embodied intelligence, construction robotics, human-robot collaboration, teleoperation, multi-modal perception, digital twins, and intelligent construction.

Addressing critical challenges in complex engineering environments—such as robots’ difficulties in “seeing clearly, understanding correctly, acting properly, and coordinating effectively”—he conducts research on environment perception, task understanding, autonomous decision-making, dexterous manipulation, and safe human-robot collaboration for construction robots. His work aims to promote deep interdisciplinary integration of robotics, artificial intelligence, and civil engineering. The resulting technologies are applied in building construction, infrastructure inspection, ocean engineering, disaster emergency response, and extreme-environment operations.

Dr. Zhou has participated in multiple research projects funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He has published numerous academic papers in the fields of construction robotics, human-robot interaction, intelligent construction, and safety science, and holds several related patents. His research emphasizes the integration of fundamental theory, key technologies, and engineering applications, with a commitment to developing intelligent robotic systems that address real-world engineering needs.

Our research group is looking for master's and PhD students who are interested in the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and civil engineering. The main research areas include:

1.  Engineering robotics and embodied intelligence;

2. Robot autonomous navigation, task planning, and dexterous manipulation;

3. Human-robot collaboration, robot teleoperation, and shared control;

4. Computer vision and multimodal perception;

5. Tactile perception, haptic interaction, and intelligent manipulation;

6. Digital twins, virtual reality, and mixed reality;

7. Intelligent construction and construction robotics;

8. Smart inspection and operation of infrastructure;

9. Smart disaster prevention in buildings, intelligent evacuation, and robotic rescue;

10. Human factors engineering, cognitive state recognition, and operational safety.

We welcome students with backgrounds in civil engineering, intelligent construction, mechanical engineering, automation, computer science, artificial intelligence, electronic information, and related fields. We hope students have strong research interests, a sense of responsibility, and teamwork skills. Preference will be given to those with experience in robotics, programming, machine learning, computer vision, embedded systems, 3D modeling, or experimental research.

Contact: tianyu_zhou@tju.edu.cn