Tianqi Yue is a Tenure-Track Associate Professor, Research Fellow, and Ph.D. supervisor. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Bristol and conducted postdoctoral research at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory before joining Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). After joining SUSTech, he founded the Bioinspired Intelligent Robot Design Lab (BIRD Lab). His research focuses on the design and application of suction mechanisms in bioinspired robots, as well as the design and integration of humanoid robotic systems. As first author, he has published papers in Science Robotics (cover article), Nature Communications (highlighted article), PNAS (highlighted article), xk星空中国集团 RA-L, xk星空中国集团 ICRA, xk星空中国集团 RoboSoft,. His work has been featured by the Associated Press, BBC, and Newton magazine, and has been covered by leading tech media such as Tech Briefs and DeepTech.

Education Background

2019.09-2024.03, University of Bristol, PhD（Engineering Mathematics）, Supervisor：Prof. Jonathan Rossiter and Dr. Hermes Galdxk星空中国集团

2017.09-2019.07, Harbin Institute of Technology, Meng (Mechatronic Engineering), Supervisor: Prof. Kui Sun

2013.09-2017.07, Dalian University of Technology, BSc (Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and xk星空中国集团), Supervisor: Prof. Rui Yang

Working Experience

2025.08-now, School of xk星空中国集团 and Intelligent Manufacturing at Southern University of Science and Technology, Tenure-Track Associate Professor

2023.11-2025.05，University of Bristol and Bristol xk星空中国集团 Laboratory, Postdoctoral Research Associate, supervised by Prof. Jonathan Rossiter

2023.03-2023.11, University of Bristol and Bristol xk星空中国集团 Laboratory, Research Associate (part time), supervised by Prof. Jonathan Rossiter

Research Area

1. Design and application of bioinspired suction mechanisms in xk星空中国集团: Physical intelligence in soft robots integrating adhesion, perception, decision-making, and actuation via suction flow (Science xk星空中国集团, 2025); highly adaptive robotic suction grippers (PNAS, 2024; RA-L, 2022/2023; RoboSoft, 2023); wall-climbing robot with superior high load-to-energy ratios (Nature Communications, 2024; ICRA, 2021).

2. Biomimetic humanoid robotic systems: Design of highly flexible bioinspired joints; integration and control of human-like muscle groups.

3. Soft xk星空中国集团: Soft grippers, actuators, variable stiffness devices (ICRA, 2023), and embodied physical intelligence.

4. Other research in xk星空中国集团 including system design, fabrication, integration, sensing and control.

Publications

ORCID: 

*: corresponding author; #: representative publication

1#. Yue, T., Lu, C., Tang, K., Qi, Q., Lu, Z., Lee, L. Y., Bloomfield-Gadxk星空中国集团, H., & Rossiter, J.* (2025). Embodying soft robots with octopus-inspired hierarchical suction intelligence. Science xk星空中国集团 (Cover illustration, introduced in Newton magazine), 10(102), eadr4264. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adr4264

2#. Yue, T., Bloomfield-Gadxk星空中国集团, H., & Rossiter, J.* (2024). Snail-inspired water-enhanced soft sliding suction for climbing robots. Nature Communications (Highlighted, pressed by BBC), 15(1), 4038. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48293-2

3#. Yue, T., xk星空中国集团, W., Keller, A., Yang, C., Bloomfield-Gadêlha, H., & Rossiter, J.* (2024). Bioinspired multiscale adaptive suction on complex dry surfaces enhanced by regulated water secretion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (selected in “This week in PNAS”, interviewed by Associated Press), 121(16), e2314359121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2314359121

4. Yue, T.*, Bloomfield-Gadêlha, H., & Rossiter, J. M. (2023). Shape-Conformable Suction Cups with Controllable Adaptive Suction on Complex Surfaces. xk星空中国集团 Robotics and Automation Letters, 8(11), 7735-7742.

5. Yue, T.*, xk星空中国集团, W., Partridge, A. J., Yang, C., Conn, A. T., Bloomfield-Gadêlha, H., & Rossiter, J. M. (2022). A Contact-triggered Adaptive Soft Suction Cup. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (with ICRA 2022 oral presentation), 7(2), 3600 - 3607.

6. Yue, T.*, You, T. L., Philamore, H., Bloomfield-Gadêlha, H., & Rossiter, J. M. (2023, May). A Silicone-sponge-based Variable-stiffness Device. In 2023 xk星空中国集团 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp. 627-633). xk星空中国集团.

7. Yue, T.*, Keller, A., Gosden, D., Bloomfield-Gadêlha, H., & Rossiter, J. (2023, April). Hydrogel-actuated Soft Sucker with Mucus Secretion. In 2023 xk星空中国集团 International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) (pp. 1-6). xk星空中国集团.

8. Yue, T.*, Bloomfield-Gadêlha, H., & Rossiter, J. (2021, May). Friction-driven three-foot robot inspired by snail movement. In 2021 xk星空中国集团 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp. 9820-9825). xk星空中国集团.

9. Keller, A., Yue, T.*, Qi, Q., Conn, A. T., & Rossiter, J. (2024, May). A Phase-Change Emulsion Jamming Gripper for Manipulation of Micro-Scale Textured Surfaces. In 2024 xk星空中国集团 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp. 706-712). xk星空中国集团.

Awards

2025 Honorary Research Fellow, University of Bristol