Ziyin Xiong

I am a second-year MS Research student at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Prof. Katerina Fragkiadaki. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence from Tong Class at Yuanpei College, Peking University (2025), with a minor in Economics from the National School of Development.

At Peking University, I was advised by Prof. Yixin Zhu. I also collaborated with Dr. Siyuan Huang and Dr. Tengyu Liu at BIGAI, and Prof. Masayoshi Tomizuka at UC Berkeley.

My goal is to build robots that are useful in everyday life, acting with dexterity, efficiency, and reliability in complex, changing environments.

Research interests

Large-scale data has driven remarkable progress in robot learning. My research asks how robots could make the most of it: physical understanding that keeps fine-grained actions robust, and reasoning that transfers to new tasks. I pursue this along two directions:

Physically grounded multimodal representations. Effective dexterous manipulation requires understanding scene geometry and the dynamics of physical contact. I study how visual, geometric, and tactile information can be coherently integrated to connect perception, prediction, and action, enabling robots to anticipate and control their interactions with the world.

Scaling reasoning and learning through interaction. I aim to scale robots’ ability to solve novel tasks, reducing reliance on exhaustive demonstration coverage. I am interested in how foundation-model reasoning can guide planning and exploration, while reinforcement learning enables improvement through experience. Simulation supports scalable interaction, complemented by real-world feedback for adaptation and transfer.

PhD applications. I am applying for PhD programs starting in Fall 2027 and would be glad to connect about potential opportunities.

Service

Conference reviewer: CoRL 2026. Workshop reviewer: Trustworthy Embodied Foundation Models at RSS 2026 and CompLearn at ICML 2026.

Beyond research

I believe sound is the medium closest to the soul. Honest and meaningful communication can bring the world closer together.

I am enthusiastic about podcasts for their efficient and intimate way of sharing knowledge and ideas. I am preparing a personal podcast exploring geopolitical history, traditional customs, and popular culture. Please reach out if you are passionate about these subjects or interested in starting a podcast.