Lintao Zheng

I am currently a second-year master's student in Robotics at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).

My research experience includes contributing to robot planning and control under uncertainty at the UPenn Figueroa Robotics Lab with Prof. Nadia Figueroa, and developing a teleoperation forklift system at the UPenn xLab with Prof. Rahul Mangharam.

Previously, I also gained significant experience in sensor fusion and autonomous robot vehicles, including developing a Doppler radar-based speed detection system and line-following robot vehicles during my undergraduate studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), as well as designing and building a teleoperated robot with multimodal sensors at UPenn.

My primary research interests lie in robot learning, optimal control and uncertainty-aware decision-making, focusing on learning-based motion planning, control, and perception. I aim to develop generalizable and uncertainty-aware frameworks that integrate learning, perception, and control to achieve safe, robust, and adaptive robotic autonomy in complex real-world environments.

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1. Developed an MPPI-based planning and control framework to achieve obstacle avoidance and task completion under uncertainty.
2. Modeled task uncertainty to improve MPPI’s robustness and goal-reaching accuracy in uncertain environments.
3. Addressed sensor occlusions and perception errors by integrating uncertainty-aware cost terms, enabling adaptive replanning when visual detections fail.
4. Enhanced the cost function with additional terms to avoid uncertain regions and encourage exploration of unknown spaces for safer, more resilient behavior.

1. Utilized the CAN protocol to establish communication between the Jetson and the forklift.
2. Built Bluetooth communication to translate joystick inputs on the Jetson to forklift control commands.
3. Achieved full remote forklift control including driving, steering and lifting.
4. Designed and fabricated a 3D-printed and laser-cut chassis to mount the Jetson, power system, and communication hardware and a stable top-mounted camera system to support teleoperation perception.

1. Developed a 3-DOF teleoperated robot using Itsy Bitsy and Arduino for precise servo control.
2. Designed the Waldo system for smooth teleoperation, including servo selection and custom coding.
3. Led the full development cycle across mechanical, circuit, and software design.
4. Integrated sensors (ultrasonic, IR, force) for obstacle detection and environmental interaction.
5. Optimized control algorithms with PID and custom logic to boost efficiency and accuracy.