Longsen Gao

Full-stack in Robotics ∩ Control ∩ Deep Learning

I’m now a fourth-year PhD student at AgMan Lab, University of New Mexico under the supervision of Prof. Rafael Fierro and co-supervision of Prof. Claus Danielson. Also, I’m collaboratively working with Prof. Howie Choset affiliate in CMU Robotics Institute and Prof. Manoranjan Majji affiliate in TAMU LASER Lab in space autonomous robotics field.

My research interest focus on High-DOF Robotics Manipulation, Learning-based Control and VLM in Robotics. Currently, I’m focusing on designing learning-based control algorithms for multi-arm robotics systems with high DoF for dexterous manipulation missions. Besides, I’m still working on VLM-based robot manipulation.

Recent News

Selected Research Projects

Information Fusion
Arm Icon Information-Theoretic Graph Fusion with VLA for Policy Reasoning and Dual Robotic Control

Shunlei Li†, Longsen Gao†, Jin Wang, Chang Che, Xi Xiao, Jiuwen Cao, Yingbai Hu, Hamid Reza Karimi
Information Fusion
Video Icon [Video] Paper Icon [Paper]
† Equal contribution (co-first authors)

In Preparing
Arm Icon Dynamical Optimal Distribution Manipulation via Multi-Robot System

Longsen Gao, Claus Danielson, Rafael Fierro
IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (TASE)

In Preparing
Arm Icon Decentralized Adaptive RRT Manipulation using Multi-Robot System

Longsen Gao, Claus Danielson, Rafael Fierro
IROS 2026

In Preparing
Arm Icon Safe Decentralized Adaptive Operations using Multi-Robot System

Longsen Gao, Claus Danielson, Rafael Fierro
IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (TASE)

IEEE TCST
Arm Icon Safe On-Orbit Dislodging of Deployable Structures via Robust Adaptive MPC

Longsen Gao, Claus Danielson, Andrew Kwas, Rafael Fierro
IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology (TCST)
Video Icon [Video] Paper Icon [Paper] Project Icon [Project Page]

RA-L 2025
Drone Icon AirBender: Adaptive Transportation of Bendable Objects Using Dual UAVs

Jiawei Xu, Longsen Gao, Rafael Fierro, David Saldaña
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
Video Icon [Video] Paper Icon [Paper]

CDC 2024
Drone Icon Adaptive Robot Detumbling of A Non-Rigid Satellite

Longsen Gao, Claus Danielson, Rafael Fierro
IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)
Video Icon [Video] Paper Icon [Paper] Paper Icon [Media Report]

DARS 2024
Drone Icon Decentralized Adaptive Aerospace Transportation of Unknown Loads Using A Team of Robots

Longsen Gao, Kevin Aubert, David Saldana, Claus Danielson, Rafael Fierro
International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS)
Video Icon [Video] Paper Icon [Paper]

IROS 2023
Drone Icon Autonomous Multi-Robot Servicing for Spacecraft Operation Extension

Longsen Gao, Kevin Aubert, David Saldana, Claus Danielson, Rafael Fierro
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
Video Icon [Video] Paper Icon [Paper]

🚀Space Univversity Research Initiative (SURI)

CMU Logo TAMU Logo UNM Logo Northrop Grumman Logo
Funded by: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Northrop Grumman Logo
Video Icon [Detail]

Selected Industrial Projects

UR Robot Driver Project GitHub Icon ⭐Star 1k+   Fork IconForks 1k+
UR LogoROS-Industrial Universal Robot Meta Package

Felix Messmer, Dave Coleman, Matthias Nösner,...,Longsen Gao,...

  • Contribute UR Robot Driver for ROS 1 Noetic using C++/Python.
  • Optimized C++ ur_kinematics core.
  • Resolved critical ur_kinematics bugs.
  • Interfaced ROS kinematics with dynamic for advanced motion planning.
Github Icon [Github]

Selected Competition Projects

UR Robot Driver Project GitHub Icon National Second Prize
Biomimetic Robotic Fish for Automated Leakage Detection via Computer Vision

  • Autonomous biomimetic robotic fish with OpenCV-based leak detection.
  • Embedded control using STM32F407ZET6 microcontroller.
  • PID control for precise underwater swimming.
  • Bio-inspired design combined with real-time visual inspection.
Github Icon [Detail]
UR Robot Driver Project GitHub Icon National Second Prize
Vision-Based Control for High-Speed Locomotion of a Bipedal Robot

  • Developed vision-based control system for bipedal robot high-speed locomotion.
  • Real-time terrain detection using computer vision for adaptive gait adjustment.
  • Enhanced robustness on variable and dynamic ground surfaces.
  • Applied in competitive dynamic environment scenarios.
Github Icon [Detail]

Honors and Awards

  • Best Poster Award in IROS 2025
  • Best Poster Award in SWRS 2025

Professional Services

Reviewer

  • 2026: ICRA, ACC
  • 2025: IEEE TCST, ACC, Control Engineering Practice
  • 2024: CDC, ACC, ICLR, RA-L, IEEE ACESS, ICRA, IROS
  • 2023: IROS, ICRA

Teaching Experience

  • 2025 Spring: ECE595, ST: Autonomous Mobile Robots
  • 2024 Spring: ECE595, ST: Autonomous Mobile Robots

Mentored Students

  • Jacob Jackson (Summer Scholar, 2023)
    Now M.S. in Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech
  • Travis Ian Bouck (Summer Scholar, 2024)
    Now M.S. in Aerospace Engineering at California Polytechnic State University
  • Giovanni Cordova (Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2022–2024)
    Now CEO & Co-Founder, Aeralytic LLC
  • Richard Pang (Intern Scholar, 2025)
    Now Undergraduate in Computer Science at University of Minnesota Twin Cities

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