Yue Hu

Yue Hu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo, where she directs the Active & Interactive Robotics Lab. Prior to joining The University of Waterloo, Yue had a largely international experience. She obtained her master's degree in Advanced Robotics from the University of Genova, Italy, and Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France, in 2013. She then carried out her PhD in robotics at Heidelberg University, Germany, receiving her degree in 2017. She was a postdoc first at Heidelberg University, then at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), in Italy. Between 2018 and 2021 she was first a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technologies (AIST) in Japan, and then an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT). Yue is one of the co-chairs of the IEEE-RAS Technical Committee on Model-based Optimization for Robotics, an Associate Vice-President of the IEEE-RAS Members Activities Board (MAB), and an advisor for the organization Women in AI & Robotics. Her research interests include physical-social human-robot interaction, collaborative robots, privacy in robotics, cybersecurity in robotics, humanoid robots, and optimal control.

• Robotics

• Collaborative Robots

• Human-Robot Interaction

• Humanoid Robots

• Privacy in Robotics

• Cybersecurity in Robotics

• Human Motion Analysis

• Optimal control

• 2017, Doctorate Computer science (Dr. rer. nat.), Heidelberg University, Germany

• 2013, Master of Science European Master in Advanced Robotics, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, University of Genova, France, Italy

• 2011, Bachelor's Electronics Engineering, University of Genova, Italy

• 2023, Best Paper Award, International Conference on Social Robotics

• 2022, IEEE-RAS Most Active Technical Committee Award

• 2018, Japan Society for Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow

• 2017, Heidelberg Graduate School of Mathematical and Computational Methods for the Sciences (HGS MathComp) Fellow

• 2017, Summa Cum Laude (distinction) Doctoral Examination, Heidelberg University

• 2024–present Associate Vice President, Members Activities Board, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS)

• 2025 Publication chair - IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots

• 2024 Publicity co-chair - IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots

• 2024-2025 Publicity co-chair - Robotics Science and Systems (RSS)

• 2023 Publication chair - IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots

• 2022 Award Committee - IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication

• 2019–present Co-chair of the IEEE-RAS Technical Committee for Model-based Optimization for Robotics.

• ME 262 - Introduction to Microprocessors and Digital Logic
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024
• ME 640 - Autonomous Mobile Robotics
  • Taught in 2024
• MTE 544 - Autonomous Mobile Robots
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Mahdi A., Dong Z., Lin J.F.-S., Hu Y., Hirata Y., and Mombaur K., Real-Time Sit-to-Stand Phase Classification With a Mobile Assistive Robot From Close Proximity Utilizing 3D Visual Skeleton Reco, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Volume 10, 2160-2167, Canada, 2025.

• Abdulazeem N., Sichert N., Feng J.Y., and Hu Y., Quantifying Human Mental State in Interactive pHRI: Maintaining Balancing, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Volume 10, 2958-2965, Canada, 2025.

• Yang Y.-T., Hu Y., and Dautenhahn K., Towards Robot-Assisted Learning for Refugee Children and Their Families - Interviews with Professionals, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 127, 329-343, Canada, 2025.

• Mahdi A., Dong Z., Lin J.F.-S., Hu Y., Hirata Y., and Mombaur K., Enabling Safe Sit-To-Stand Support with Mobile Robots: 3D Visual Pose Estimation in Close Quarters and Support Adaptation, Biosystems and Biorobotics, Volume 31, 524-528, Canada, 2025.

• Abdulazeem N., and Hu Y., Exploring the Impact of Robots' Facial Emotional Expressions on Physical Exercise Across Different Age Groups, International Journal of Social Robotics, Volume 17, 1033-1053, Canada, 2025.

• Tang C., Barradas D., Hengartner U., and Hu Y., Uncovering Robot Joint-Level Controller Actions from Encrypted Network Traffic, IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, Volume 127, 121-135, Canada, 2025.

• Tang C., Feng Y., and Hu Y., RoboSync: Efficient Real-Time Operating System for Social Robots with Customizable Behaviour, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, Volume 127, 204-216, Canada, 2024.

• Abdulazeem N., and Hu Y., The Impact of Robots' Facial Emotional Expressions on Light Physical Exercises, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, Volume 127, 216-229, Canada, 2024.

• Wensing P.M., Posa M., Hu Y., Escande A., Mansard N., and Prete A.D., Optimization-Based Control for Dynamic Legged Robots, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Volume 40, 43-63, United States, 2024.

• Abe N., Hu Y., Benallegue M., Yamanobe N., Venture G., and Yoshida E., Human Understanding and Perception of Unanticipated Robot Action in the Context of Physical Interaction, ACM Transactions on Human Robot Interaction, Volume 13, France, 2024.

• Hanks G., Venture G., and Hu Y., Comparing Skill Transfer Between Full Demonstrations and Segmented Sub-Tasks for Neural Dynamic Motion Primitives, Machines, Volume 12, Canada, 2024.

• Abdulazeem N., and Hu Y., Human Factors Considerations for Quantifiable Human States in Physical Human-Robot Interaction: A Literature Review, Sensors, Volume 23, Canada, 2023.

• Hu Y., Abe N., Benallegue M., Yamanobe N., Venture G., and Yoshida E., Toward Active Physical Human-Robot Interaction: Quantifying the Human State During Interactions, IEEE Transactions on Human Machine Systems, Volume 52, 367-378, Canada, 2022.

• Yamamoto M., Hu Y., Coronado E., and Venture G., Impression evaluation of robot's behavior when assisting human in a cooking task, 2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication Ro Man 2021, 743-748, Japan, 2021.

• Hu Y., Benallegue M., Venture G., and Yoshida E., Interact with Me: An Exploratory Study on Interaction Factors for Active Physical Human-Robot Interaction, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Volume 5, 6764-6771, Japan, 2020.

• Researchers awarded funding for cybersecurity innovations
• MME surgical robotics collaboration debuts at top international robotics conference
• Researchers make final of robotics innovation competition
• Seven researchers receive Graham Seed Fund awards
• Faculty researchers awarded $900K from government