Weiran Yao received the bachelor’s (with Hons.), master’s, and doctor’s degrees in aeronautical and astronautical science and technology from the School of Astronautics, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, China, in 2013, 2015, and 2020, respectively. From 2017 to 2018, he was a Visiting Scholar with the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. In 2020, he joined the Department of Control Science and Engineering, HIT as an Assistant Professor, and was then promoted to an Associate Professor in 2021. At present, he is a research staff of the Key Laboratory of Autonomous Intelligent Unmanned Systems (AIUS), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China.

Yao’s research interests include autonomous decision-making of unmanned systems, multi-robot task planning and control, etc. He has published two research monographs and more than 30 research articles. He applied for more than 30 invention patents. In 2019, He won the first prize of China’s a Ministerial Invention Award. In 2020, he won the second prize of China’s the State Technological Invention Award. In 2022, he was the winner of the Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by China Association for Science and Technology, and was named the Youth Top-Notch Talent of HIT.

Educational Experience

• Sep. 2015 – Apr. 2020, Doctor of Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
• Oct. 2017 – Jan. 2018, Visiting Ph.D. Student, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
• Sep. 2013 – Jul. 2015, Master of Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
• Sep. 2009 – Jul. 2013, Bachelor of Engineering (with Hons.), Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

Professional Experience

• Dec. 2022 – present, Doctoral Student Supervisor, Control Science and Engineering Discipline, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
• Apr. 2022 – present, Master Student Supervisor, Control Science and Engineering Discipline, Harbin, China
• Jan. 2022 – present, Associate Professor, Department of Control Science and Engineering, School of Astronautics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
• May 2020 – present, Postdoctoral Fellow, Control Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
• Jul. 2020 – Dec. 2021, Assistant Professor, Department of Control Science and Engineering, School of Astronautics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

Academic Honors and Awards

• Excellent Ideological and Political Educator of Harbin Institute of Technology (2022)
• Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by China Association for Science and Technology (2022)
• Special Postdoctoral Sponsorship Program of Heilongjiang Province (2022)
• Heilongjiang Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars (2021)
• Youth Top-notch Talent Program of Harbin Institute of Technology (2021)
• Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award of Harbin Institute of Technology (2021)
• China’s the State Technological Invention Award (Second Prize, the fourth person, 2020)
• Excellent Graduate Award of Harbin Institute of Technology (2020)
• China’s Ministerial Technological Invention Award (First Prize, the fourth person, 2019)

Research Interests

• Autonomous unmanned swarm systems
• Multi-robot task planning and control
• Autonomous decision-making of unmanned systems
• Spacecraft assembly and experimental technology

Academic Activities

• Guest Editor (2022- ), Special Issue “Mobile Robotics and Autonomous Intelligent Systems” in Applied Science (now open for submission: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special_issues/mobile_robotic)
• Guest Editor (2022- ), Special Issue “Safety and Security of Robotic Systems: Intelligent Algorithms” in Frontiers in Neurorobotics (now open for submission: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/44942/safety-and-security-of-robotic-systems-intelligent-algorithms)
• Youth Editorial Board Member (2023- ), Electronics Optics and Control (in Chinese)
• Topical Advisory Panel Member (2023- ), Drones
• Topical Advisory Panel Member (2023- ), Applied Sciences
• Session Chair, Special Session “Motion Control and Robust Control for Robotics and Manipulators” in the 2021 IEEE 30th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE 2021)
• Technical Committee Member, 2022 6th International Conference on Aerospace Technology, Communications and Energy Systems (ATCES 2022)
• Member, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS)
• Member, IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS)
• Committee Member, Technical Committee on Big Data, Chinese Association of Automation (CAA)
• Committee Member, Technical Committee on Intelligent Control and System, Chinese Institute of Command and Control (CICC)
• Liaison, The Eighth Council of Chinese Society of Astronautics
• Reviewer for more than 40 journals and conferences including
  • ACM Computing Surveys
  • ACM Trans. Intelligent Systems and Technology
  • Expert Systems with Applications
  • IEEE Trans. Control Systems Technology
  • IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics
  • IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatronics
  • IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems
  • IEEE Trans. Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems
  • IEEE Trans. Industrial Informatics
  • IEEE Trans. Automation Science and Engineering
  • IEEE Trans. Mobile Computing
  • IEEE Trans. Intelligent Transportation Systems
  • IEEE Internet of Things Journal
  • IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
  • AIAA Journal
  • Aerospace Science and Technology
  • Acta Astronautica
  • ISA Transactions
  • Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems
  • Acta Automatica Sinica