Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar: Towards Safer and Smarter Robot-Assisted Operations in the Built Environment (Dr. Yizhi Liu)

This week's CEE seminar speaker is Dr. Yizhi Liu, Assistant Professor in CEE at SU! The seminar will take place in Link Hall 369. The seminar is open to all.

The construction and infrastructure industry continues to face challenges related to safety, productivity, labor shortage, and the difficulty of operating in hazardous environments. In response to these persistent challenges, robotic technologies are increasingly being explored for construction and civil infrastructure applications. However, much remains to be learned about how to develop robotic systems that can operate safely, effectively, and adaptively in real-world built environments. This talk will explore the development and application of safer and smarter robot-assisted operations through the integration of multimodal sensing, artificial intelligence, and advanced robotic systems. Topics include worker-robot co-adaptation in construction to improve collaboration safety and efficiency; human-humanoid teaming in construction to support more flexible and scalable task execution; and advanced robotic systems for challenging built environments to enable critical civil and infrastructure operations in hazardous conditions. Together, these efforts advance robotic technologies for construction and infrastructure and contribute to safer, smarter, and more adaptive operations across the built environment.

Dr. Yizhi Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University. He holds a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering from Penn State; three master’s degrees, including an M.S. in Robotics from Columbia University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Penn State, and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan; a graduate certificate in Data Science; and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and Management from Tianjin University. His research addresses critical challenges in the civil and construction industries, including labor shortages, stagnant productivity, and safety risks, through innovations in advanced technologies such as robotics, wearable sensing, and artificial intelligence. His current research focuses on developing AI-enabled robotic systems that assist human workers in performing complex construction and infrastructure tasks in dynamic and hazardous built environments. To date, Dr. Liu has published more than 40 research papers in leading journals and conferences in the field of construction automation and robotics. He has secured over $2 million in research funding as PI or Co-PI from major sponsors, including the National Science Foundation, NVIDIA Academic Grant Program, NYSERDA, and NY-Thrive. His work has also received broader visibility through university and national media coverage.