Hanlin Niu

Hanlin Niu is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Manchester, affiliated with the School of Engineering's Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE). He holds a PhD from Cranfield University and a bachelor's degree from Tianjin University. His research focuses on autonomous systems, including collision avoidance algorithms, path planning, deep reinforcement learning, and formal verification. He has extensive industrial experience with projects funded by EPSRC, Innovate UK, and others.

• Current Position: Honorary Research Associate at University of Manchester
• Key Projects: Digital Twin-based Teleautonomous Systems (EPSRC), Robotics and AI in Nuclear (RAIN)
• Prior Experience: Postdoc at Cardiff University (robotics/computer vision)

Research Interests: Collision avoidance, path planning for USVs/UAVs, deep learning for autonomous systems, and formal verification of decision-making systems. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to industry innovation and infrastructure.

Notable Contributions: Developed collision avoidance algorithms for ASV Global's USVs, Kuka iiwa robot arm solutions, and multi-drone platforms. Authored 14 peer-reviewed publications, including high-impact papers on path planning and reinforcement learning.