Jane Li

Robotics Engineering

Assistant Professor

Affiliated Department or Office:

Robotics Engineering

Education:

BS Mechanical Engineering China Agricultural University 2006

MS Mechanical Engineering University of Victoria (BC, Canada) 2009

PhD Computer Engineering University of California at Santa Cruz 2014

Postdoc Electrical & Computer Engineering Duke University 2016

My research bridges the gap between human-robot interaction and human movement science. I am particularly interested in the design of human-robot interfaces and assistive robot autonomy, based on the understanding of the perception-action coupling of humans and cyber-human systems. At WPI, I primarily work on tele-nursing robots and assisted teleoperation interfaces. I also have extensive experience in exoskeletons for rehabilitation and tele-surgical robots.

zli11@wpi.edu

Office Location

Unity Hall room 283

Personal Website

Research Lab

Human-inspired Robotics Lab (HiRo)

Research Interests

Research Interests:

Human-robot Interaction

Tele-Nursing Robots

Perception-action Coupling

Exoskeleton for stroke rehabilitation

Scholarly Work

Heramb Nemlekar, Dharini Dutia, Zhi Li, “Object Transfer Point Estimation for Fluent Human-Robot Handovers”, Accepted by 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). - 2019

Kenechukwu C. Mbanisi, Hideyuki Kimpara, Tess Meier, Michael Gennert and Zhi Li “Learning Coordinated Vehicle Maneuver Motion Primitives from Human Demonstration”, In 2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 6560-6565. - 2018

Zhi Li, Peter Moran, Qingyuan Dong, Ryan Shaw, Kris Hauser, “Development of a Tele-Nursing Mobile Manipulator for Remote Care-giving in Quarantine Areas”, In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 3581-3586. 2017. - 2017

Zhi Li, Dejan Milutinovic and Jacob Rosen, “From Reaching to Reach-to-grasp: the Arm Posture Difference and its Implications on Human Motion Control Strategy”. Experimental Brain Research, 235(5), pp.1627-1642, 2017 - 2017

Zhi Li, Dejan Milutinović, and Jacob Rosen. “Design of a Multi-Arm Surgical Robotic System for Dexterous Manipulation.” Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics 8(6), Oct. 2016 - 2016

Zhi Li, Dejan Milutinovic and Jacob Rosen, “Spatial Map of Synthesized Criteria for the Redundancy Resolution of Human Arm Movements”. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering, 23(6), pp. 1020 - 1030, Nov. 2015 - 2015

News

SEE MORE NEWS ABOUT JANE LI

A student gets ready to catch a frisbee on the Quad.

The Month in Photos: April 2022

May 17, 2022

From left, Jane Li, Cagdas Onal, Yunus Telliel, and Jeanine Skorinko

Nursing Robots Under Development Could Help Care for Patients

April 20, 2022

Researchers to Develop Glove to Tele-operate Robotic Systems

December 15, 2021

WPI researchers (from left) Soussan Djamasbi, Jeanine Skorinko, Winston Soboyejo, Cagdas Onal (principal investigator), Yunus Telliel, Jing Xiao, Pratap Rao and Jane Li with the Baxter research robot.

WPI Secures $3M NSF Grant to Study Human-Robot Interaction

October 24, 2019

Media Coverage

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WBZ News Radio 1030

Futuristic Help for Nurses

Robotics Engineering Assistant Professor Jane Li spoke with WBZ News Radio (at the 00:17:24 mark) about the nursing robots she’s constructing. The robots are designed to help nurses care for patients who are in quarantine or isolation, and to help with other tasks, such as retrieving supplies and equipment.

Worcester Business Journal

WPI receives $3M to study human-robot workplace interaction

The Worcester Business Journal reported on WPI receiving $3 million from the National Science Foundation to study human-robot interaction in the workplace. Eight WPI researchers are involved: Cagdas Onal (principal investigator), Yunus Telliel, Jeanine Skorinko, Winston Soboyejo, Jing Xiao, Pratap Rao, Soussan Djamasbi and Jane Li.