I am an MSc student in Mechanical Engineering at EPFL, where I work with
Sylvain Calinon and
Auke Ijspeert.
I joined EPFL in 2024. My research focuses on robot learning, with interests in motion planning, manipulation, and locomotion.
We present a hierarchical approach that integrates the spatial extraction capabilities of neural networks with the robust convergence of numerical optimization, enabling efficient and stable trajectory generation in diverse environments.
We propose Spline Policy, a structured policy representation that models robot behaviors as spline trajectories rather than discrete action chunks, supporting flexible temporal evaluation, parameter-space constraints, and uncertainty propagation.
Learning Amphibious Locomotion for Salamander Robots
Mengze Tian†, Qiyuan Fu†, Chuanfang Ning, Javier Jia Jie Pey, Jonathan Arreguit, Andrea Ferrario, Auke Ijspeert · (under review)
We learn a single reinforcement-learning policy for walking, swimming, and automatic transitions between them using proprioceptive feedback. A biologically inspired prior guides learning, while a system-level sim-to-real alignment pipeline accounts for sensing, actuation, mechanical backlash, and fluid interactions. We validate the policy on a physical salamander robot on flat and uneven terrain and in water.
Research on robot learning for manipulation and amphibious locomotion. With Sylvain Calinon, I work on Spline Policy, connecting policy learning with trajectory execution and control. With Auke Ijspeert, I study learning amphibious locomotion: a single policy for walking, swimming, and automatic transitions using proprioceptive feedback, validated on a physical salamander robot.