Distinguished ProfessorDikai Liu

Dikai Liu is Director of the ARC Research Hub for Human-Robot Teaming for Sustainable and Resilient Construction (www.HaRTCon.org), Distinguished Professor of intelligent robotics at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia, and an IEEE RAS Distinguished Lecturer. He is also a General Chair of the 2028 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2028), which will be held in Sydney in October 2028. 

Dikai’s current research interests lie in intelligent robotics, an interdisciplinary field that integrates robot perception and control, computational intelligence, machine learning, robot learning, human factors and ergonomics, sociotechnical systems theory, social psychology, and behaviour change.

Dikai’s research on human-robot collaboration (HRC) addresses a fundamental question: How can intelligent robots collaborate with humans intuitively, safely, and effectively? His work focuses on robot-interpretable human models, machine learning and computational intelligence for HRC, human-robot trust modelling, brain-robot interfaces, cognitive conflict, model-based assistance-as-needed paradigms, role arbitration, human intention recognition, safety frameworks, human-robot teaming, optimisation of human-robot team, human behaviour change in HRC, and sociotechnical systems principles for human-robot teaming.

Dikai’s research in field robotics addresses two fundamental questions: (1) How can robots move and support themselves effectively within complex structures such as steel bridges and truss structures? (2) How can robots operate autonomously in complex structural environments? His research focuses on robot sensing and perception, robot learning, computational intelligence-based optimisation of robotic systems, collision avoidance, real-time motion planning, design methodologies, coverage planning, multi-robot systems, and robot control. This body of work has contributed to a new research field--Infrastructure Robotics.

Besides conducting fundamental robotics research, Dikai has extensive expertise in translating research into real-world applications across a range of industry sectors, including transport, civil infrastructure, manufacturing, construction, healthcare and aged care, maritime and underwater operations, energy, and logistics. Examples include autonomous robots for steel bridge maintenance (BBC News-http://alturl.com/dfv9z); bio-inspired climbing robots for inspection of complex steel structures (ABC-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bFU9yiFb4&t=10s; Video: https://youtu.be/-xLOhqFuESc; The Sydney Morning Herald: http://alturl.com/bo8ph); intelligent robotic co-worker for human-robot collaborative abrasive blasting (http://alturl.com/sfnhv); smart hoist for patient transfer; autonomous underwater robots for underwater structure cleaning and maintenance (http://alturl.com/s2nbh); legged climbing robots for cleaning, vacuuming and painting the internal surfaces of a confined space (http://alturl.com/sib8o); and autonomous mobile robots for construction automation (video 1:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qw7kmW9ZJE; video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAQiBRd64-8&t=1s).

Since 2006, Dikai’s research has received three best paper awards from international conferences, 15 research/engineering excellence awards and one High Commendation, including the 2024 IEEE IROS Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies (for contributions to the field of Infrastructure Robotics), 2019 UTS Medal for Research Impact, the 2019 ASME DED Leonardo da Vinci Award (USA), the 2019 BHERT Award for Outstanding Collaboration in Research & Development, the 2016 Australian Engineering Excellence Award (category: Engineering Innovation Excellence Award), and the 2015 Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Award (category: Industry Application). 

Dikai has successfully won 15 ARC grants, 11 contract research projects, two IRT foundation grants, one Enterprise Connect grant and two UTS Partnership grants. As Lead Chief Investigator (CI), he has secured more than $22 million in research funding.

Dikai’s research has been covered by various media outlets, such as BBC, ABC, SBS, TVBS (Taiwan), Sydney Morning Herald, 7News, AFR, and The Robot Report (USA).

Current Professional Memberships:

• Senior Member, Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
• Member, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• Member, Engineers Australia