Publications

  1. Seeing the Bigger Picture: 3D Latent Mapping for Mobile Manipulation Policy Learning
    S. Kim, W. Chung, Y. Tian, Z. Dai, A. Shukla, H. Su and N. Atanasov
    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2026.
    [bib] [pdf] [arXiv] [project]
  2.     @inproceedings{Kim_BiggerPicture_ICRA26,
            author = {Sunghwan Kim and Woojeh Chung and Yulun Tian and Zhirui Dai and Arth Shukla and Hao Su and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Seeing the Bigger Picture: 3D Latent Mapping for Mobile Manipulation Policy Learning}},
            booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
            year = {2026},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03885}
        }
        
  3. $\nabla$-SDF: Learning Euclidean Signed Distance Functions Online with Gradient-Augmented Octree Interpolation and Neural Residual
    Z. Dai, Q. Qian, T. Fan, N. Atanasov
    IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Under Review, 2026.
    [bib] [pdf] [arXiv] [project]
  4.     @misc{Dai_GradSDF_UR26,
            author = {Zhirui Dai and Qihao Qian and Tianxing Fan and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{$\nabla$-SDF: Learning Euclidean Signed Distance Functions Online with Gradient-Augmented Octree Interpolation and Neural Residual}},
            year = {2026},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.1899}
        }
        
  5. Real-Time Learning of Signed Distance Function via Kernel Regression with Uncertainty Quantification
    Z. Dai, T. Fan, M. Amani, J. Seo, K. M. B. Lee, H. Oh and N. Atanasov
    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Under Review, 2026.
    [bib] [pdf] [project]
  6.     @misc{Dai_KernelSDF_UR26,
            author = {Zhirui Dai and Tianxing Fan and Mani Amani and Jaemin Seo and Kyungmin B. Lee and Hyondong Oh and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Real-Time Learning of Signed Distance Function via Kernel Regression with Uncertainty Quantification}},
            year = {2026}
        }
        
  7. Learning Scene-Level Signed Directional Distance Function with Ellipsoidal Priors and Neural Residuals
    Z. Dai, H. Shin, Y. Tian, K. M. B. Lee and N. Atanasov
    IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI), Minor Revision, 2026.
    [bib] [pdf] [arXiv] [project]
  8.     @misc{Dai_SDDF_TPAMI26,
            author = {Zhirui Dai and Hojoon Shin and Yulun Tian and Ki Myung Brian Lee and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Learning Scene-Level Signed Directional Distance Function with Ellipsoidal Priors and Neural Residuals}},
            year = {2026},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.20066}
        }
        
  9. Learning Scene-Level Signed Directional Distance Function for Aerial Autonomy
    Z. Dai, H. Shin, Y. Tian, K. M. B. Lee and N. Atanasov
    Workshop on Leveraging Implicit Methods for Aerial Autonomy at RSS, 2025.
    [Best Paper Award]
    [bib] [pdf] [project]
  10.     @inproceedings{Dai_SDDF_RSS25,
            author = {Dai, Zhirui and Shin, Hojoon and Tian, Yulun and Lee, Ki Myung Brian and Atanasov, Nikolay},
            title = {{Learning Scene-Level Signed Directional Distance Function for Aerial Autonomy}},
            booktitle = {Workshop on Leveraging Implicit Methods for Aerial Autonomy at RSS},
            year = {2025}
        }
        
  11. Seeing the Bigger Picture: 3D Latent Mapping for Mobile Manipulation Policy Learning
    S. Kim, W. Chung, Y. Tian, Z. Dai, A. Shukla, H. Su and N. Atanasov
    Workshop on Mobile Manipulation and Workshop on Learned Robot Representations at RSS, 2025.
    [Best Paper Nomination]
    [bib] [pdf] [project]
  12.     @inproceedings{Kim_BiggerPicture_RSS25,
            author = {Sunghwan Kim and Woojeh Chung and Yulun Tian and Zhirui Dai and Arth Shukla and Hao Su and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Seeing the Bigger Picture: 3D Latent Mapping for Mobile Manipulation Policy Learning}},
            booktitle = {Workshop on Mobile Manipulation and Workshop on Learned Robot Representations at RSS},
            year = {2025}
        }
        
  13. LTLCodeGen: Code Generation of Syntactically Correct Temporal Logic for Robot Task Planning
    B. Rabiei, M. Kumar A. R., Z. Dai, S. L. S. R. Pilla, Q. Dong and N. Atanasov
    IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 19240-19247, 2025.
    [bib] [pdf] [doi] [arXiv] [project]
  14.     @inproceedings{Rabiei_LTLCodeGen_IROS25,
            author = {Rabiei, Behrad and Kumar A. R., Mahesh and Dai, Zhirui and Pilla, Surya Lakshmi Subba Rao and Dong, Qiyue and Atanasov, Nikolay},
            title = {{LTLCodeGen: Code Generation of Syntactically Correct Temporal Logic for Robot Task Planning}},
            booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},
            year = {2025},
            pages = {19240-19247},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.07902},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS60139.2025.11246351}
        }
        
  15. Optimal Scene Graph Planning with Large Language Model Guidance
    Z. Dai, A. Asgharivaskasi, T. Duong, S. Lin, M.-E. Tzes, G. J. Pappas and N. Atanasov
    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), pp. 14062-14069, 2024.
    [bib] [pdf] [doi] [arXiv] [project]
  16.     @inproceedings{Dai_LLMPlanning_ICRA24,
            author = {Zhirui Dai and Arash Asgharivaskasi and Thai Duong and Shusen Lin and Maria-Elizabeth Tzes and George J. Pappas and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Optimal Scene Graph Planning with Large Language Model Guidance}},
            booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
            year = {2024},
            pages = {14062-14069},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.09182},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA57147.2024.10610599}
        }
        
  17. Sensor-Based Distributionally Robust Control for Safe Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments
    K. Long, Y. Yi, Z. Dai, S. Herbert, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
    The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2025.
    [bib] [pdf] [doi] [arXiv] [project]
  18.     @article{Long_DROSafeNavigation_IJRR25,
            author = {Kehan Long and Yinzhuang Yi and Zhirui Dai and Sylvia Herbert and Jorge Cortés and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Sensor-Based Distributionally Robust Control for Safe Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments}},
            journal = {The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)},
            year = {2025},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.18251},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/02783649251352000}
        }
        
  19. Safe Bubble Cover for Motion Planning on Distance Fields
    K. M. B. Lee, Z. Dai, C. L. Gentil, L. Wu, N. Atanasov, T. Vidal-Calleja
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2408.13377, 2024.
    [bib] [pdf] [arXiv]
  20.     @misc{Lee_SafeBubble_arXiv,
            author = {Ki Myung Brian Lee and Zhirui Dai and Cedric Le Gentil and Lan Wu and Nikolay Atanasov and Teresa Vidal-Calleja},
            title = {{Safe Bubble Cover for Motion Planning on Distance Fields}},
            year = {2024},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.13377}
        }
        
  21. BEV-Net: Accessing Social Distancing Compliance By Joint People Localization and Geometric Reasoning
    Z. Dai, Y. Jiang, Y. Li, B. Liu, A. B. Chan, N. Vasconcelos
    IEEE/CVF International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), 2021.
    [bib] [pdf] [supp] [doi] [arXiv]
  22.     @InProceedings{Dai_2021_ICCV,
            author = {Dai, Zhirui and Jiang, Yuepeng and Li, Yi and Liu, Bo and Chan, Antoni B. and Vasconcelos, Nuno},
            title = {BEV-Net: Assessing Social Distancing Compliance by Joint People Localization and Geometric Reasoning},
            booktitle = {Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV)},
            month = {October},
            year = {2021},
            pages = {5401-5411},
            doi = {10.1109/ICCV48922.2021.00535},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.04931}
        }