Cao Muqing

Cao Muqing

Postdoc, Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D, Nanyang Technological University

Muqing Cao’s Home Page

Hi, I am a postdoctoral fellow at Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. I obtained my PhD and bachelor degree from Nanyang Technology University, Singapore. My research interests are aerial robots, multi-robot planning, robot dynamics, and control. If you are interested in my research, please contact me via email: caom0006 AT e.ntu.edu.sg.

I am interested in collaborating with/mentoring students in research. Please feel free to drop me an email and set up a call if you would like to discuss research problems or seek research guidance.

News

  • 2026/02
    I serve as a program committee member of RSS Pioneers 2026!
  • 2026/02
    I gave a guest lecture at CMU graduate course Multi-Robot Planning and Coordination!
  • 2026/02
    I gave a talk at Pennsylvania State University Systems, Controls, and Robotics seminar series!
  • 2026/02
    Our paper on online informative path planning (IA-TIGRIS) has been accepted at IEEE T-RO!
  • 2025/12
    Our paper on multi-robot entanglement-free trajectory planning has been accepted by IJRR (paper link)!
  • 2025/10
    I gave a guest lecture at Texas A&M University CSCE 689-600: Special Topics in Multi-Robot Systems (course link)!
  • 2025/07
  • 2025/06
    One paper and one workshop proposal accepted to IROS 2025!
  • 2025/04
    I am selected as a RSS Pioneer 2025 (14.6% acceptance)!
  • 2025/04
    I will serve as a co-chair of the session "Human Motion Sensing" at ICRA 2025!
  • 2025/01
    Four papers accepted to ICRA 2025!
  • 2024/10
    I have started a position as a postdoctor at CMU AirLab!
  • 2024/10
    We successfully organized IROS 2024 Workshop and Competition on Multi-Robot Perception and Navigation Challenges in Logistics and Inspection Tasks (website). Thanks to all speakers and participants!
  • 2024/06
    We are organizing the Cooperative Aerial Robots Inspection Challenge (CARIC) (website) in conjunction with IROS 2024 Workshop!
  • 2024/06
    Our paper on a novel hybrid aerial-ground manipulator has been accepted by IROS 2024!
  • 2023/10
    Our paper on a novel hybrid aerial-ground robot has been awarded the IROS 2023 Best Entertainment Paper!
  • 2023/03
    Our paper on trajectory planning multi-tethered robots has been accepted by T-RO!

Research Highlights

Braid-based Planning

Braid-based entanglement-free trajectory planning for multiple tethered robots

Muqing Cao, Kun Cao, Xinhang Xu, Shenghai Yuan, Yan Loi Wong and Lihua Xie

The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2025

Paper
CARIC Challenge

Cooperative Aerial Robot Inspection Challenge: A Benchmark for Heterogeneous Multi-Uncrewed-Aerial-Vehicle Planning and Lessons Learned

Muqing Cao, T.M. Nguyen, Shenghai Yuan, A. Anastasiou, A. Zacharia, S. Papaioannou, P. Kolios, C.G. Panayiotou, M.M. Polycarpou, Xinhang Xu, M. Zhang, F. Gao, B. Zhou, B.M. Chen and Lihua Xie

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine (RA-M) 2025

Paper Video Challenge
Learning Planning

Learning Dynamic Weight Adjustment for Spatial-Temporal Trajectory Planning in Crowd Navigation

Muqing Cao, Xinhang Xu, Y. Yang, J. Li, T. Jin, P. Wang, T.Y. Hung, G. Lin and Lihua Xie

IEEE ICRA 2025

Paper Video
Tethered UAVs

Neptune: Nonentangling Trajectory Planning for Multiple Tethered Unmanned Vehicles

Muqing Cao, Kun Cao, Shenghai Yuan, T.M. Nguyen and Lihua Xie

IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2023

Paper Video Code
AirCrab

AirCrab: A Hybrid Aerial-Ground Manipulator with An Active Wheel

Muqing Cao, J. Zhao, Xinhang Xu and Lihua Xie

IEEE/RSJ IROS 2024

Paper Video
Hybrid Robot

DoubleBee: A Hybrid Aerial-Ground Robot with Two Active Wheels

Muqing Cao, Xinhang Xu, Shenghai Yuan, Kun Cao, K. Liu and Lihua Xie

IROS 2023 Best Entertainment Paper Award

Paper Video
Tethered Robots

Path Planning for Multiple Tethered Robots Using Topological Braids

Muqing Cao, Kun Cao, Shenghai Yuan, K. Liu, Yan Loi Wong and Lihua Xie

Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2023

Paper Video Presentation Code

Distributed Control of Multirobot Sweep Coverage Over a Region With Unknown Workload Distribution

Muqing Cao, Kun Cao, X. Li and Lihua Xie

IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 2023

Paper Video

DIRECT: A Differential Dynamic Programming Based Framework for Trajectory Generation

Kun Cao, Muqing Cao, Shenghai Yuan and Lihua Xie

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2021

Paper Video Code