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I am a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at the Biomimetics & Dexterous Manipulation Laboratory (BDML) at Stanford University, advised by Prof. Mark Cutkosky. I am honored to be selected as an inaugural recipient of the Stanford Robotics Scholars Fellowship, where I am co-advised by Prof. Oussama Khatib. During my master's program, I also worked at the Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine (CHARM) Lab, advised by Prof. Allison Okamura. I received my M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2025 and my B.Eng. degree in Robotics Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) in 2023. I was a research assistant at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from 2022 to 2024, working with Prof. Jiewen Lai and Prof. Hongliang Ren. I care deeply about building a welcoming and inclusive research community. If you'd like to chat about research, career paths, or anything else, feel free to reach out—especially if you're from an underrepresented group in STEM. I'm always happy to connect and help where I can.
Email: tianao [at] stanford.edu
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I am interested in medical robotics, tactile sensing, soft robotics, and sim-to-real applications. Most of my research focuses on sensing-driven and learning-based approaches for safe interaction and navigation in medical and clinical environments. |
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Jiewen Lai*, Tian-Ao Ren*(Co-first author), Pengfei Ye, Yanjun Liu, Jingyao Sun, Hongliang Ren International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2025 Paper TL;DR: Gravity-aware control for portable soft robots using one IMU and real-time simulation. |
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Tian-Ao Ren, Jorge Garcia, Seongheon Hong, Jared Grinberg, Hojung Choi, Julia Di, Hao Li, Dmitry Grinberg, Mark R. Cutkosky Design of Medical Device Conference (DMD), 2026 (Oral) arXiv TL;DR: Vision-tactile and force sensing for reliable subsurface tendon detection. |
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Jiewen Lai*, Tian-Ao Ren*(Co-first author), Wenchao Yue, Shijian Su, Jason Chan, Hongliang Ren IEEE Transaction on Industrial Informatics(T-II), 2023 Supply Video / Paper TL;DR: Transfers SOFA-trained soft-robot navigation to the real world. |
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Jiewen Lai*, Yanjun Liu*, Tian-Ao Ren, Yan Ma, Tao Zhang, Jeremy Teoh, Mark R. Cutkosky, Hongliang Ren Nature Communications, 2026 Paper / Project Website
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Julia Di, Kenneth A. W. Hoffmann, Tony G. Chen, Tian-Ao Ren, Mark R. Cutkosky IEEE Aerospace Conference 2026, 2026
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Jiewen Lai, Tian-Ao Ren(Co-first author), Pengfei Ye, Yanjun Liu, Jingyao Sun, Hongliang Ren International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2025 Paper TL;DR: Gravity-aware control for portable soft robots using one IMU and real-time simulation. |
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Tian-Ao Ren, Jorge Garcia, Seongheon Hong, Jared Grinberg, Hojung Choi, Julia Di, Hao Li, Dmitry Grinberg, Mark R. Cutkosky Design of Medical Device Conference (DMD), 2026 (Oral) arXiv TL;DR: Vision-tactile and force sensing for reliable subsurface tendon detection. |
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Emj Rennich, Tian-Ao Ren, Jihyeon Kim, Julia Di, Tony G. Chen, Mark R. Cutkosky IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics (T-FR), 2025 TL;DR: Gecko-inspired adhesives enable gentle grasping in extreme cold with thermal recovery. |
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Chikit Ng, Huxin Gao, Tian-Ao Ren, Jiewen Lai, Hongliang Ren IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), 2025 Best Paper Award TL;DR: Contact-aware reinforcement learning enables robust endoscope navigation in dynamic stomachs. |
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Chengyi Xing*, Hao Li*, Yi-Lin Wei, Tian-Ao Ren, Tianyu Tu, Yuhao Lin, Elizabeth Schumann, Wei-Shi Zheng, Mark Cutkosky Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Accepted project page / arXiv Wearable FBG tactile sensors transfer human hand skills to robotic hands. |
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Tian-Ao Ren, Wenyan Liu, Tao Zhang, Lei Zhao, Hongliang Ren, Jiewen Lai IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), 2024 (Oral) Paper TL;DR: Dual stereo vision reconstructs millimeter-scale soft robots with notch-level detail. |
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Guankun Wang, Tian-Ao Ren, Jiewen Lai, Long Bai, and Hongliang Ren Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing(MBEC), 2023 Paper TL;DR: IoU-guided blending and style transfer improve sim-to-real segmentation for robotic intubation. |
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Jiewen Lai, Tian-Ao Ren*(Co-first author), Wenchao Yue, Shijian Su, Jason Chan, Hongliang Ren IEEE Transaction on Industrial Informatics(T-II), 2023 Supply Video / Paper TL;DR: Transfers SOFA-trained soft-robot navigation to the real world. |
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ME 310: Global Engineering Design Innovation (GEDI), Stanford University, Spring 2025 Stanford: Cadence Boronkay, Jorge Garcia, Tian-Ao (Teo) Ren, Yug Shah NTNU: Aleksander Auflem, Brage Bartnes, Jonas Rossavik Johannessen, Eirik E. Semb Sponsored by Hamilton Company A compact, semi-automated Petri dish streaking system for veterinary laboratories. InoQ handles dish loading, lid removal, sample inoculation, sterilization, and restacking in a small benchtop footprint. |
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Course Assistant in ME 327: Design and Control of Haptic Systems, Stanford University, Spring 2025 Course Assistant for Stanford Robotics Seminar, Stanford University, 2026–Present Mentorship: Jorge Garcia(M.S. at Stanford) |
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Stanford Bio-X Travel Award, 2026 Best Paper Award, IEEE ROBIO 2025 Best Poster Award, IEEE ICRA Workshop 2023 Outstanding Graduates in Beijing, 2023 National Scholarship of China, 2022 |
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