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About Me
Hello! I am Mingzhang Zhu (朱明彰). I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Robotics at the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), advised by Prof. Dennis W. Hong. My research focuses on mechanism design, humanoid locomotion, and humanoid robot soccer compeition.
Education
- Ph.D. student in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, UCLA, 2021 - present
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, Worcester Polytechinic Institute, 2017 - 2021
Research Interests
- Mechanisms and Designs
- Humanoid Robots Locomotion
- Dexterous Manipulation
- Path Planning and Integration
Selected Projects¶
A Humanoid Robot Movie Character: Kid Cosmo
Kid Cosmo is a humanoid robot developed for Netflix’s sci-fi movie “The Electric State.” The project involved a year-long full-stack development effort, combining mechanical design, control systems, and real-time puppeteering for expressive on-camera performance.
- Designed a compact torso, tightly integrating electronics within a constrained outer shell.
- Developed a model-based controller for dynamic locomotion with coordinated upper-body motions.
Robotic Hands & Data Collection Devices (Ongoing)
A collection of next-generation robotic hand and data collection systems, including:
- Exoskeleton-based data collection device for ROH-Hand
- Next-generation dexterous robotic hand co-designed with a human-wearable demonstration device (ongoing)
- Underactuated robotic hand for massage and physical interactions
Humanoid Soccer Competition: Robocup
Developed a full-stack navigation and locomotion pipeline for ARTEMIS, enabling robust path planning and MPC-based trajectory tracking for autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance in dynamic and noisy RoboCup environments.
- Integrated path planning with MPC-based trajectory tracking
- Optimized and tuned dynamic locomotion for stable, high-speed operation
- Hardware Maintainence for reliable field performance
- Enabled 45 goals across 6 matches
News¶
- 2025-09 — Won the "Mike Stilman Best Paper Award" on IEEE Humanoids 2025!
- 2025-05 — Won the "Best Demo Award" in IEEE ICRA 2025!
- 2025-03 — Passed Ph.D. Qualifying Examination and Advanced To Candidacy!