About Me

Yupeng Yang is a Ph.D. student of College of Computing and Informatics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.. He received his master degree in Computer Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering from Civil Aviation University of China, respectively. His advisor is Prof. Wenhao Luo.

His current research focuses on the safety and connectivity control for robot swarms. His research interests include robotics, control theory, machine learning, embedded control and control barrier functions.

🔥 News

• [May. 2025] I will be the teaching assistant for the ITCS 5356 Introduction to Machine Learning for Fall 2025.
• [May. 2025] I will be the teaching assistant for the ITSC 2214 Data Structures and Algorithms for Summer 2025 [Teaching Note].
• [May. 2025] I will join the ur2phd graduate student mentor training program, through which I will formally study mentoring philosophy.
• [Mar. 2025] I will be the student mentor for the Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Computing.
• [Mar. 2025] I have been selected as a volunteer in ICUAS 2025, and I am tasked with the responsibility of coordinating and executing the setup for the associated UAV competition.
• [Jan. 2025] One paper on Multi-robot Deadlock Resolution has been accepted to 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation ICRA’ 25.
• [Dec. 2024] I passed my qualifying exams in UNCC.
• [Dec. 2024] I will be the teaching assistant for the ITSC 5154 Applied Machine Learning for Spring 2025.
• [Aug. 2024] I have been selected as volunteer in IROS 2024
• [Jul. 2024] One paper on Courteous MPC for Autonomous Driving with CBF-inspired Risk Assessment has been accepted to 27th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems ITSC’ 24.
• [Jun. 2024] One paper on Integrating Online Learning and Connectivity Maintenance for Communication-Aware Multi-Robot Coordination has been accepted to 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems IROS’ 24.
• [May. 2024] One paper on Decentralized Multi-Robot Line-of-Sight Connectivity Maintenance under Uncertainty has been accepted to 2024 Robotics: Science and Systems RSS’24.
• [Oct. 2023] Our paper about connectivity maintenance is accepted to MRS’ 23.
• [Oct. 2023] One paper on Ecologically-Inspired Decentralized Multi-Agent System with Deadlock Avoidance has been accepted as the workshop paper to 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Multi-Robot and Multi-agent Systems MRS’ 23.
• [Sep. 2023] One paper on Global and Subgroup Connectivity Maintenance for Decentralized Multi-Robot Networks under Uncertainty has been accepted to 2023 IROS Workshop on Advances in Multi-Agent Learning – Coordination, Perception, and Control IROS’23 Workshop.
• [Mar. 2023] One paper on Occlusion-free Image-Based Visual Servoing has been accepted to IFAC, 2023 IFAC’ 23.
• [Mar. 2023] I am awarded as second place for ORAL PRESENTATION in the category of Computing & Informatics, Annual Graduate Research Symposium (UNCC) GRS’ 23
• [Jan. 2023] One paper on Minimally Constrained Multi-Robot Coordination with Line-of-sight Connectivity Maintenance has been accepted to ICRA, 2023 ICRA’ 23.
• [Jan. 2023] One paper on Minimally Constraining Line-of-Sight Connectivity Maintenance for Collision-free Multi-Robot Networks under Uncertainty has been accepted to AAMAS, 2023 (Extended Abstract) AAMAS’ 23.

📝 Publications

Highlights

1. Communication-aware Multi-robot System

2. Risk-aware Autonomous Driving Vehicle

Adaptive Deadlock Avoidance for Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems via CBF-inspired Risk Measurement

Yanze Zhang, Yiwei Lyu, Siwon Jo, Yupeng Yang, Wenhao Luo

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2025

Paper

• We present a novel decentralized framework that ensures both efficient task execution and deadlock resolution for multi-agent systems, which enables co-optimization between the task-related controller and deadlock resolution controller, yielding smoother robots’ motion with improved overall task execution efficiency

All Publications

• Adaptive Deadlock Avoidance for Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems via CBF-inspired Risk Measurement.
  Yanze Zhang, Yiwei Lyu, Siwon Jo, Yupeng Yang, and Wenhao Luo
  Accepted to the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA’ 25), 2025
  [PDF]

• Courteous MPC for Autonomous Driving with CBF-inspired Risk Assessment.
  Yanze Zhang, Yiwei Lyu, Sude Ela Demir, Xingyu Zhou, Yupeng Yang, Junmin Wang and Wenhao Luo
  Accepted to the 27th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC’ 24), 2024
  [PDF][Demo-NGSIM][Demo-IDM]

• Integrating Online Learning and Connectivity Maintenance for Communication-Aware Multi-Robot Coordination.
  Yupeng Yang, Yiwei Lyu, Yanze Zhang, Ian Gao, and Wenhao Luo
  Accepted to the 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS’ 24), 2024
  [PDF][Project][Website]

• Decentralized Multi-Robot Line-of-Sight Connectivity Maintenance under Uncertainty.
  Yupeng Yang, Yiwei Lyu, Yanze Zhang, Sha Yi, and Wenhao Luo
  Accepted to the 2024 Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS’24), 2024
  [PDF][Video]

• Minimally Constrained Multi-Robot Coordination with Line-of-sight Connectivity Maintenance.
  Yupeng Yang, Yiwei Lyu, and Wenhao Luo
  Accepted to 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA’23), 2023
  [PDF]

• Minimally Constraining Line-of-Sight Connectivity Maintenance for Collision-free Multi-Robot Networks under Uncertainty.
  Yupeng Yang, Yiwei Lyu, and Wenhao Luo
  Accepted to 22nd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2023
  [PDF]

• Occlusion-Free Image Based Visual Servoing Using Probabilistic Control Barrier Certificates.
  Yanze Zhang, Yupeng Yang, Wenhao Luo
  Accepted to appear in the 22th World Congress of International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC’23), 2023
  [PDF][Slides]

🎖 Honors and Awards

• 2024.06 Conference Travel Award from the Graduate School of UNC Charlotte.
• 2023.03 Second place for ORAL PRESENTATION in the category of Computing & Informatics at Annual Graduate Research Symposium (UNCC)

📖 Education

• 2022.01 - Now, Doctor of Philosophy, Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, The United States
• 2018.09 - 2021.06, Master of Computer Science, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, The United States
• 2015.09 - 2019.06, Bachelor of Engineering, Civil Aviation University of China, China

📚 Services

Teaching Service

• ITSC 5356 Introduction to Machine Learning [Fall 2025]
• ITSC 2214 Data Structure and Algorithms [Summer 2025]
• ITSC 5156 Applied Machine Learning [Spring 2025]

External Reviewer

Journal

• IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (R-AL)
• IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO)
• IEEE Internet of Things Journal
• IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics
• IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
• IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing
• IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
• IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems
• IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics
• IEEE Transactions on Reliability
• IEEE Sensors Journal
• Cartography and Geographic Information Science

Conference

• IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
• Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS)

Mentoring Activities

I am passionate about mentoring students and partnering with them to tackle real-world challenges. Below is a brief introduction to the talented mentees I have the privilege of guiding:

• Ian Gao, Bachelor Research Project. Now at UNC Chaphill as an undergraduate.
• Siwon Jo, Bachelor Research Project.

Conference Volunteer

• 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
• 2025 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS)

Finally, this is my little playground!