Professor Yang Gao FIET FRAeS

Biography
Awards & Leadership
Research Expertise
   a. perception & visual GNC
   b. reconfigurable autonomy
   c. bio-inspired mechanism
News & Media

Biography

Professor Yang Gao joined HKUST from mid-2025 as the Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, where she is also the Founding Director of the Centre for AI Robotics in Space Sustainability (CAIRSS). Before joining HKUST, she spent over 20 years in the UK, working at King’s College London as the Professor of Robotics and Head of Centre for Robotics Research, before which at University of Surrey as the Professor of Space Autonomous Systems where she also founded and led the multi-award winning Space Technology for Autonomous & Robotic systems Laboratory (STAR-LAB ). Prior to moving to the UK from Singapore in 2004, Prof Gao was an awardee of the prestigious Singapore Millennium Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship working on intelligent and autonomous vehicles. She gained the B.Eng. (First Class Honors) degree and Ph.D. degree from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2000 and 2003 respectively.

Prof Gao specializes in robotic sensing, perception, visual GNC and biomimetic mechanisms for space and other industry applications for extreme environments. She brings over 20 years of research experience in developing robotics and autonomous systems, in which she has been the Principal Investigator of inter/nationally teamed projects funded by UK Research Innovation (UKRI), Royal Academy of Engineering, European Commission, European Space Agency (ESA), UK Space Agency (UKSA), as well as industries. Prof Gao is actively involved in design and development of real-world space missions including ESA ExoMars, Proba3 and VMMO (lunar ice mapper), UK's CLEAR, MoonLITE and Moonraker, and CNSA Chang'E3. Her work has also been applied to several non-space sectors including nuclear, oil/gas and agriculture through technology transfer and spin-offs.

Prof Gao has edited and co-authored 4 books, including 2 textbooks by Wiley-VCH and IET, 1 research book by McGraw-Hill, and 1 proceeding book by Springer. She also co-authored over 180 scientific papers in internationally refereed books, journals and conference proceedings.

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Awards & Leadership

Prof Gao is the elected Fellow of Institute of Engineering and Technology and Royal Aeronautical Society. She had been named by the Times Higher Education top ten young leading academics in the UK who are making a very significant contribution to their disciplines in 2008, received the Mulan Award for Contributions to Science, Technology and Engineering in 2019, and received Distinguished Global Leadership Award in 2025. Research work under her leadership and supervision has received many international recognition, including IAF 3AF Edmond Brun Silver Medal in 2013, COSPAR Outstanding Paper Award in 2016, UKSEDS Lunar Rover Competition First Prize in 2017, Winner of ESA SysNova Challenge on Lunar CubeSat Exploration in 2018, IEEE/ASME-AIM Best Paper Award Finalist in 2019, Top 3 in ESA/Stanford Pose Estimation Challenge in 2019, First Prize of Wiley Poster Award at IEEE-ICRA Space Workshop in 2020, and First Prize of 14^th Sino-UK Entrepreneurship Competition 2022, among others.

Prof Gao is the Editor-in-Chief of Wiley Journal of Field Robotics, the Section Editor, Associate Editor or Guest Editor of other international journals such as Springer's Current Robotics Reports, Frontiers' Robotics and AI, IEEE-CIM, and IEEE-AESM, and the Chair/Co-Chair/Member of technical committees such as IMechE Engage in Space Committee, IEEE-CIS Task Force and IEEE-RAS Technical Committee on Space Robotics.

Prof Gao serves major funding review panels or committees for UKRI Future Leadership Fellowship, European Science Foundation, and Royal Society International Fellowship, etc. She is also the Mentor for the Mulan Foundation as well as the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Space4Women program. 

Prof Gao was the Conference General Chair of TAROS-2017 (the longest running UK-hosted international conference on AI robotics), the Conference Co-Chair of Light Conference 2018, the Conference Publicity Co-Chair of IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM-2019), and the Keynotes or Invited Speaker of conferences and events (such as ESA/UKSA/RAeS Space Energy, iSpaRo, ESA AI-STAR, IEEE-UK/Ireland RAS Prestigious Lecture, IEEE ICRA-Space Workshop, IEEE-CDC, iSAIRAS, UK Space Conference, World Congress of Robotics, IET Seminars, UK-RAS International Robotics Showcase, EMSTA Prestige Seminar, UK Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration Series, RiTA, and so on). 

Prof Gao had been Associate Dean (International) of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at University of Surrey in 2016-2021, leading international agenda and strategic development for the faculty while heading the faculty international committee and serving the university global engagement committee.

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Research Expertise

a) Sensing, Perception & Visual GNC

This research leads to low-computation, high-accuracy 3D mapping and perception for future spacecraft hence autonomous GNC in next-generation missions, ranging from formation flying, on-orbit servicing and manufacturing, to planetary exploration and in-situ resource utilization. Real-time testing and validation have been carried out using realistic simulators, lab-based testbeds or field trials, see demo videos at YouTube Playlists for orbital applications and planetary applications .

Major funded projects and contributions to real-world space missions: ESA ExoMars mission’s PanCam payload and Phase A study; ESA Proba3 mission’s FLLS payload; UKSA funded CREST-1, NSTP2, and CREST-3 projects; Airbus funded OOA project; CNSA Chang’E3 mission’s PanCam data analytics; UKRI/UKSA funded Future AI & Robotics for Space (FAIR-SPACE) project; UKSA funded space debris removal mission CLEAR Phase B.

Major journal papers and book chapters: see link

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b) Reconfigurable Autonomy

The research leads to technologies for domain-independent reconfigurable software architectures for future autonomous systems. It builds on autonomous software agents with abilities to learn and reason. Such technologies are particularly useful to address issues like decision-making, task planning and scheduling, hardware/software reconfiguration and self-verification for growingly complex systems and to support future manned and unmanned space missions, as well as other industrial domains such as energy and agriculture.

Major UKRI-EPSRC funded research projects: FAIR-SPACE RAI hub grant; Industrial sixth Sense grant; Autonomous and Intelligent Systems Programme; Impact Acceleration Account; Strategic Collaboration Award; Capital Equipment Grant.

Major journal papers and book chapters: see link

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c) Bio-inspired Mechanism

The research leads to technologies for energy-optimised locomotion mechanisms and control. We pioneer the R&D for bio-inspired Dual Reciprocating Drilling (DRD) technology - also known as the ‘wasp drill’ - allowing deep drilling with flexible deployment mechanism in low-gravity environments, and low-mass sampling tool suitable for small space vehicles. (COSPAR Outstanding Paper Award 2016; Finalist of IEEE/ASME's AIM Best Paper Award 2019; Exhibition at National Science Museum 'Antenna' gallery). We also pionner or invented the innovative surface Mobile Active Rover Chassis for Enhanced Locomotion (MARCEL), capable of negotiating with loose soil and rugged terrains using minimal actuation. Real-time testing and validation have been carried out using lab-based testbeds or field trials, see demo videos at YouTube Playlists for planetary subsurface applications and planetary surface applications .

Major funded projects and contributions to real-world missions: Kent Line Rental Scheme on 1m Lateral Cuts for Utility Sector; ESA ExoMars mission’s sampling payload testing; ESA Lunar Polar Sample Return (LPSR) mission’s L-GRASP payload testing; CNSA’s Chang’E3 mission terrain image analytics; ESA’s ACT grant on Bionics and Space Systems; NPI/OHB grant on innovative deep drilling; RAEng project on low-cost sampling; UKRI/UKSA funded FAIR-SPACE project.

Major journal papers and book chapters: see link

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