

Yulun Tian
Ph.D. candidate at MIT AeroAstro
Email:
yulun [at] mit [dot] edu
Hi There! I'm Yulun.
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, advised by Professor Jonathan How. I am passionate about developing provably correct algorithms and real-world systems to enable future multi-agent perception and navigation. Beyond that, I am also broadly interested in robot autonomy and machine learning.
For a complete list of my publications, please visit my Google Scholar page.
EXPERIENCE
Fall 2017 - Present
Research Assistant
Aerospace Controls Lab, MIT
I currently work as a research assistant at MIT's Aerospace Controls Lab (ACL). My research focuses on developing new algorithms, theoretical guarantees, and real-world systems for collaborative simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).
June 2020 - Aug 2020
Research Intern
Reality Labs, Meta
I interned at Facebook Reality Labs during the summer of 2020. My research project investigates robust translation averaging methods for large-scale structure-from-motion (SfM) applications.
Spring 2017
Teaching Assistant
UC Berkeley
I served as an undergraduate student instructor for EE 122 - Communication Networks. My main duties include holding regular office hours, designing exam questions, and helping with class logistics.
Spring 2016 - Spring 2017
Undergraduate Researcher
UC Berkeley
I worked as an undergraduate research assistant with Ming Jin and Professor Costas Spanos. Our projects aim to use agile robots to accomplish tasks in the emerging field of smart buildings.
Summer 2016
Software Engineering Intern
Oracle
I joined Oracle's Solaris Platform QE group as a software engineering intern.
RESEARCH
Distributed Pose Graph Optimization
-
Distributed Certifiably Correct Pose-Graph Optimization
[Paper] [Video Presentation][Code]
Y. Tian, K. Khosoussi, D.M. Rosen, J.P. How
IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO), 2021
2021 Honorable Mention for the King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Paper Award -
Asynchronous and Parallel Distributed Pose Graph Optimization [Paper]
Y. Tian, A. Koppel, A.S. Bedi, J.P. How
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2020
2020 Honorable Mention for the IEEE RA-L Best Paper Award
Distributed Metric-Semantic SLAM
Forest Search and Rescue using multiple UAVs

Resource-Aware Collaborative SLAM
-
Near-Optimal Budgeted Data Exchange for Distributed Loop Closure Detection [Paper]
Y. Tian, K. Khosoussi, M. Giamou, J.P. How, J. Kelly
Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2018 -
Resource-Aware Algorithms for Distributed Loop Closure Detection with Provable Performance Guarantees [Paper]
Y. Tian, K.Khosoussi, J.P. How
Int. Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR) 2018
Invited to special issue of IJRR
SKILLS

C/C++
Python
SQL
MATLAB
OpenCV
Spark
Robot Operating System (ROS)
PyTorch/TensorFlow
Google Web Toolkit (GWT)
Fall 2019-Present
Ph.D
Aeronautics & Astronautics, MIT
Courses: Nonlinear Optimization, Optimization Algorithms for Machine Learning, Advances in Computer Vision, Semidefinite Optimization
2017-2019
M.S.
Aeronautics & Astronautics, MIT
Courses: Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making, Optimal Control and Estimation, Machine Learning, Algorithms for Inference, Real Analysis
2013-2017
B.A. High Distinction
Computer Science, UC Berkeley
Courses: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, Optimization Models, Systems and Signals, Operating Systems, Communication Networks, Databases, Computer Security