Below we list all peer-reviewed papers published since the lab was founded in 2022. For a complete list of publications, please visit Google Scholar.

2026

N3P: Accelerated Automated Parking via a Learning-Based Naturalistic Three-Stage Scheme
Xue, Y.*, Mohammadnejad, T., Tariq, F.M., Bae, S., Isele, D., Sakamoto, Y., Figueroa, N. and D’sa, J.
IEEE 29th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC) To be presented. [Link]
Zero-Shot Generalization from Motion Demonstrations to New Tasks
Freitag, L., Combrink, A., and Figueroa, N.
IEEE 22nd International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), Shenyang, China, August 2026
:trophy: Finalist for CASE 2026 Best Conference Paper. [Link] [Webpage]
KGripper: A Push-On Twist-Off Passive Perching Mechanism
Weakly, J., Gong, V., Kang, T., Li, T., Figueroa, N. and Sung, C.
ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 18(8):081005, August 2026 [Link]
Surviving the Paper Deluge: A One-Year Study in Learning From Demonstration [Science and Technology Watch]
Billard, A., Detry, R., Figueroa, N., Foriest, M., Lee, D. and Yao, K.
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 33(2):205–211, June 2026 [Link]
Viability-Preserving Passive Torque Control
Zhang, Z., Wang, Y., Zhang, Z., Li, T. and Figueroa, N.
2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Vienna, Austria
:trophy::trophy: Winner of Best Contribution Award at IROS 2025 Workshop on E-RLC and Best Student Paper Award at IROS 2025 Workshop on Building Safe Robots. [Link][Webpage][Video]
Flow with the Force Field: Learning 3D Compliant Flow Matching Policies from Force and Demonstration-Guided Simulation Data
Li, T., Li, Y., Zhang, Z. and Figueroa, N.
2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Vienna, Austria [Link][Webpage][Video]
SymSkill: Symbol and Skill Co-Invention for Data-Efficient and Real-Time Long-Horizon Manipulation
Shao, Y., Zheng, Y., Sun, S., Chaudhari, P., Kumar, V., and Figueroa, N.
2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Vienna, Austria
:trophy::trophy: Winner of ICRA 2026 Best Paper Award in Planning and Control and Best Conference Paper Award. [Link][Webpage][Video]
Occupancy-Aware Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Valet Parking in Uncertain Dynamic Environments
Nawaz, F., Sung, M., Gadginmath, D., D’sa, J., Bae, S., Isele, D., Figueroa, N., Matni, N. and Tariq, F.M.
2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Vienna, Austria [Link]
VLMgineer: Vision Language Models as Robotic Toolsmiths
Gao, G.*, Li, T.*, Shi, J., Li, Y., Zhang, Z., Figueroa, N. and Jayaraman, D.
Fourteenth International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2026, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [Link][Webpage][Penn News]
Proactive Local-Minima-Free Robot Navigation: Blending Motion Prediction with Safe Control
Xue, Y.*, Zhang, Z.*, Ã…kesson, K. and Figueroa, N.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 11(4):5096–5103, April 2026 [Link][Video]
COMETH: Convex Optimization for Multi-view Estimation and Tracking of Humans
Martini, E., Choi, H., Figueroa, N. and Bombieri, N.
Expert Systems With Applications, February 2026 [Link][Webpage]
RNBF: Real-Time RGB-D Based Neural Barrier Functions for Safe Robotic Navigation
Das, S., Xue, Y., Li, H. and Figueroa, N.
18th IEEE/SICE Symposium on System Integration (SII), 2026, Cancun, Mexico [Link][Video]

2025

WiRA: Reshaping Recognition in Robotics and Automation for Gender Equity [Women in Engineering]
Psomopoulou, E., Figueroa, N. and Chalvatzaki, G.
IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 32(4):118–120, Dec. 2025 [Link]
Rapid Mismatch Estimation via Neural Network Informed Variational Inference
Jaszczuk, M. and Figueroa, N.
9th Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), 2025, Seoul, Korea [Link][Webpage][Video]
Elastic Motion Policy: An Adaptive Dynamical System for Robust and Efficient One-Shot Imitation Learning
Li, T., Sun, S., Aditya, S., and Figueroa, N.
2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Hangzhou, China [Link][Webpage][Video]
Out-of-Distribution Recovery with Object-Centric Keypoint Inverse Policy for Visuomotor Imitation Learning
Gao, J., Li, T. and Figueroa, N.
2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Hangzhou, China [Link][Webpage][Video]
Gradient Field-Based Dynamic Window Approach for Collision Avoidance in Complex Environments
Zhang, Z., Xue, Y., Figueroa, N. and Ã…kesson, K.
2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Hangzhou, China [Link][Code]
Graph-based Path Planning with Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance for Autonomous Parking
Nawaz, F., Sung, M., Gadginmath, D., D’sa, J., Bae, S., Isele, D., Figueroa, N., Matni, N. and Tariq, F.M.
IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), 2025 Romania. [Link]
ADMM-MCBF-LCA: A Layered Control Architecture for Safe Real-Time Navigation
Srikanthan, A.*, Xue, Y.*, Kumar, V., Matni, N. and Figueroa, N.
2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Atlanta, USA. [Link] [Video]
MOrF: Magnetic Origami Folding System for Repeatably Reconfigurable Structures with Enhanced Fold Angle Control
Unger, G., Shenoy, S., Li, T., Figueroa, N., and Sung, C.
2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Atlanta, USA. [Link] [Video]

2024

SE(3) Linear Parameter Varying Dynamical Systems for Globally Asymptotically Stable End-Effector Control
Sun, S. and Figueroa, N.
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2024 Abu Dhabi, UAE. [Link][Code] [Video]
Reactive Temporal Logic-based Planning and Control for Interactive Robotic Tasks
Nawaz, F., Peng, S., Lindemann, L., Figueroa, N. and Matni, N.
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2024 Abu Dhabi, UAE. [Link][Webpage] [Video]
A Robust Filter for Marker-less Multi-person Tracking in Human-Robot Interaction Scenarios
Martini, E., Parekh, H., Peng, S., Bombieri, N., and Figueroa, N.
IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN), 2024 USA. [Link][Webpage] [Video]
Directionality-Aware Mixture Model Parallel Sampling for Efficient Linear Parameter Varying Dynamical System Learning
Sun, S., Gao, H., Li, T. and Figueroa, N.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 9(7):6248–6255, July 2024 [Link][Code] [Video]
Constraint-Aware Intent Estimation for Dynamic Human-Robot Object Co-Manipulation
Shao, Y., Li, T., Keyvanian, S., Chaudhari, P., Kumar, V., and Figueroa, N.
RSS, 2024 Netherlands. [Link][Webpage] [Video]
Object Permanence Filters for Robust Tracking with Interactive Robots
Peng, S., Wang, X., Wang, M., Shah, J.A., and Figueroa, N.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024 Yokohama, Japan. [Link][Webpage] [Video]
Learning Complex Motion Plans using Neural ODEs with Safety and Stability Guarantees
Nawaz, F., Li, T., Matni, N. and Figueroa, N.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024 Yokohama, Japan. [Link][Webpage] [Video]
Constrained Passive Interaction Control: Leveraging Passivity and Safety for Robot Manipulators
Zhang, Z., Li, T. and Figueroa, N.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024 Yokohama, Japan. [Link][Code][Video]
Towards Feasible Dynamic Grasping: Leveraging Gaussian Process Distance Fields, SE(3) Equivariance and Riemannian Mixture Models
Choi, H., and Figueroa, N.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024 Japan. [Link][Video]
On the Feasibility of EEG-based Motor Intention Detection for Real-Time Robot Assistive Control
Choi, H., Das, S., Peng, S., Bajcsy, R. and Figueroa, N.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024 Yokohama, Japan. [Link][Video]
Neural Contractive Dynamical Systems
Beik-Mohammadi, H., Hauberg, S., Arvanitidis, G., Figueroa, N., Neumann, G., and Rozo, L.
ICLR, 2024 Spotlight (5% acceptance rate). Vienna, Austria. [Link]
Reactive Collision-Free Motion Generation in Joint Space via Dynamical Systems and Sampling-Based MPC
Koptev, M., Figueroa, N. and Billard, A.
The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 43(13):2049–2069, 2024 [Link][Code][Video]
On-Manifold Strategies for Reactive Dynamical System Modulation with Non-Convex Obstacles
Fourie, C., Figueroa, N. and Shah, J.
IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO), 40:2390–2409, 2024
:trophy: Honorable Mention for IEEE TRO King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Paper Award. [Link][Video]

2023

Task Generalization with Stability Guarantees via Elastic Dynamical System Motion Policies
Li, T. and Figueroa, N.
7th Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), Nov 2023 [Link][Webpage][Video]
Learning Realistic Joint Space Boundaries for Range of Motion Analysis of Healthy and Impaired Human Arms
Keyvanian, S., Johnson, M.J. and Figueroa, N.
IEEE Humanoids, 2023 Austin, USA. [Link][Webpage]
Ultrafast, Programmable, and Electronics-Free Soft Robots Enabled by Snapping Metacaps
Jin, L., Yang, Y., Maldonado, B.O.T., Lee, S.D., Figueroa, N., Full, R.J. and Yang, S.
Advanced Intelligent Systems, Feb. 2023 [Link]
Neural Joint-Space Implicit Distance Functions for Reactive Robot Manipulator Control
Koptev, M., Figueroa, N., Billard, A.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 8(2):480–487, Feb. 2023 [Link][Code][Video]

2022

Temporal Logic Imitation: Learning Plan-Satisficing Motion Policies from Demonstrations
Wang, Y., Figueroa, N., Li, S., Shah, A. and Shah, J.
6th Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), PMLR 205:94–105, Dec 2022 [Link][Webpage][Video]
Locally Active Globally Stable Dynamical Systems: Theory, Learning and Experiments
Figueroa, N. and Billard, A.
The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 41(3):312–347, 2022 [Link][Webpage][Video #1][Video #2]