Electronic Engineering Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong - Prof LAI, Jiewen 賴捷文

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Prof LAI, Jiewen 賴捷文

Research Assistant Professor
B.Eng. (WUST, China), Ph.D. (PolyU), SrMCMES
homepage Rm 313, Ho Sin Hang Engineering Building phone Tel: +852 3943 4343 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Research Interests:

Soft robotics, bioinspired robots, mechatronics, haptics, robot perception, sensorimotor control, robophysical intelligence
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hyperlink http://www.ee.cuhk.edu.hk/jwlai/

 

 

Resume of Career

Jiewen Lai received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2022 and completed his postdoctoral training at CUHK in 2023. He subsequently joined the Department of Electronic Engineering as a Research Assistant Professor. In 2026, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University.

Current Research Interests

Soft robotics, bioinspired robots, mechatronics, haptics, robot perception, sensorimotor control, robophysical intelligence

External Service in Recent 3 Years

  • Associate Editor, ICRA’26, ICRA’25, ICRA’24
  • Organizing Co-chair, IEEE IROS C4SR workshop, 2025
  • Organizing Co-chair, IEEE ICRA C4SR workshop, 2024
  • Young Editorial Board member, Biomimetic Intelligence and Robotics, 2025 to present

Taught Course

  • ELEG4701 Intelligent Interactive Robot Practice

Honors and Awards

  • Silver Medal, The 51st International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, 2026
  • T.J. Tarn Best Paper in Robotics Award, IEEE ROBIO, 2025
  • First Place, Soft Robotics Embodied Intelligence Challenge, IEEE IROS, 2025
  • Best Student Paper Finalist, ICBIR, 2025
  • IEEE Industrial Electronics Society SYP Award, 2025
  • IdeaBooster Fund Award, CUHK, 2023
  • Dr. Barbara Kwok Young Postdoctoral Researcher Travel Grants Award, 2023

Selected Publications in the past 5 years

  1. J. Lai*, Y. Liu*, T.-A. Ren, Y. Ma, T. Zhang, J. Y.-C. Teoh, M. R. Cutkosky, H. Ren, “Single Twistable Tendon-driven Continuum Robots,” Nat. Commun., 2026.
  2. J. Lai*, T.-A. Ren*, P. Ye, Y. Liu, J. Sun, H. Ren, “Gravity-aware Proactive Joint-level Compensation for Portable Soft Slender Robots using a Single IMU and Real-time Simulation,” Int. J. Robot. Res., 2026.
  3. Y. Lin*, Y. Huang*, C. Bei, L. Bai, H. Gao, H. Ren, J. Lai, “EndoDDC: Learning Sparse to Dense Reconstruction for Endoscopic Robotic Navigation via Diffusion Depth Completion,” in Proc. IEEE ICRA, 2026. (EE MSc project: Mr. Yinheng Lin)
  4. Z. Min*, J. Lai*, H. Ren, “Innovating Robot-assisted Surgery through Large Vision Models,” Nat. Rev. Electr. Eng., 2025.
  5. T.-A. Ren, W. Liu, T. Zhang, L. Zhao, H. Ren, J. Lai, “Three-Dimensional Morphological Reconstruction of Millimeter-Scale Soft Continuum Robots based on Dual Stereo Vision,” in Proc. IEEE ROBIO, 2024. (EE MSc project: Ms. Wenyan Liu)
  6. J. Lai, B. Lu, K. Huang, H. K. Chu, “Gesture-Based Steering Framework for Redundant Soft Robots,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron., 2024.
  7. J. Lai*, T.-A. Ren*, W. Yue, S. Su, J. Y.-K. Chan, H. Ren, “Sim-To-Real Transfer of Soft Robotic Navigation Strategies That Learns from The Virtual Eye-In-Hand Vision,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Inform., 2023.
  8. J. Lai, B. Lu, Q. Zhao, H. K. Chu, “Constrained Motion Planning of A Cable-Driven Soft Robot with Compressible Curvature Modeling,” IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett., 2022.
  9. J. Lai, K. Huang, B. Lu, H. K. Chu, “Verticalized-Tip Trajectory Tracking of A 3d-Printable Soft Continuum Robot: Enabling Surgical Blood Suction Automation,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron., 2022.
  10. J. Lai, B. Lu, H. K. Chu, “Variable-Stiffness Control of A Dual-Segment Soft Robot Using Depth Vision,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron., 2022.
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