PhD (Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China)

MSc (Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China)

BEng (Department of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China)

Fangxun Zhong is currently an assistant professor at the School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen),  PI for the national young talent program, and the guest associate research fellow of Shenzhen Research Institute. He received the Ph.D. degree from Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering at CUHK in 2021. His main research interests include embodied intelligence and robot autonomy in surgical applications, robot motion planning and control in complex environment, medical robotics, learning-driven 3D perception, and motion rehabilitation robots, with research outputs having successfully conducted clinical trials. He has published more than 40 papers in refereed journals and conferences, including 26 journal papers. In particular, he has published 13 first-/corresponding-authored papers in top robotics journals like IJRR, IEEE T-RO, etc., and is now serving as a technical reviewer for journals including IEEE T-RO, T-ASE, RA-L, RA-M, etc. Dr. Zhong has been a PI for multiple contract-based projects, and a co-PI for the National Key Research and Development Program of China (NKDRP). He is also a technical program committee member for IEEE RCAR 2021, 2024, and an organizing committee member and associate editor for IEEE/RSJ IROS 2025.

Selected:

Journals (* denotes corresponding authorship)

• G. Sun, F. Zhong, P. Li, L. Yue, Z. Chen, X. Li, Y-H Liu. "Smooth Surface-to-Surface Contact Control for Rope-Base Soft-tip Manipulator", IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering 22 (-), 16297 - 16308, 2025.

• X. Zhang, X. Ma, T. Jia, and F. Zhong. "Autonomous robotic surgery: research status and future prospect." J Clin Urol, 40(1), 1-5, 2025.

• S. Li, Z. Wang, R. Dai, Y. Wang, F. Zhong*, and Y-H Liu. "Efficient Underwater Object Detection With Enhanced Feature Extraction and Fusion", IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 21(6), 4904-4914, 2025.

• B. Li, B. Lu, H. Lin, Y. Wang, F. Zhong*, Q. Dou, Y. Liu. “On the Monocular 3D Pose Estimation for Arbitrary Shaped Needle in Dynamic Scenes: An Efficient Visual Learning and Geometry Modeling Approach”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, 6(2), 460 – 474, 2024.

• B. Li, Y. Lu, W. Chen, B. Lu, F. Zhong*, Q. Dou, Y. Liu. “GMM-based Heuristic Decision Framework for Safe Automated Laparoscope Control”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 9(2), 1969-1976, 2024.

• F. Zhong, B. Li, W. Chen, Y. Liu. “Robot-Camera Calibration in Tightly Constrained Environment Using Interactive Perception”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 39(6), 4952-4970, 2023.

• F. Zhong, Y. Liu. “Integrated Planning and Control of Robotic Surgical Instruments for Task Autonomy”, The International Journal of Robotics Research, 42(7):504-536, 2023.

• F. Zhong, Z. Wang, W. Chen, K. He, Y. Wang, Y. Liu. “Hand-Eye Calibration of Robotic Surgical Instrument for Autonomous Surgery Using Interactive Manipulation”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2(3), 2020.

• F. Zhong, P. Li, J. Shi, Z. Wang, J. Wu, JYK. Chan, N. Leung, I. Leung, MCF. Tong, Y. Liu. “Foot-controlled Robot-Enable EnDOscope Manipulator (FREEDOM) for Sinus Surgery : Design, Control and Evaluation”, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 67(6), 1530-1541, 2020.

• F. Zhong, Y. Wang, Z. Wang, Y. Liu. “Dual-Arm Robotic Needle Insertion With Active Tissue Deformation for Autonomous Suturing”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 4(3), 2669-2676, 2019.

• B. Yang, C. Sui, F. Zhong, Y. Liu. “Modal-graph 3D shape servoing of deformable objects with raw point clouds”, The International Journal of Robotics Research 42 (14), 1213-1244, 2023.

• J Wu, W Chen, D Guo, G Ma, Z Wang, Y He, F Zhong, B. Lu, Y. Wang, T. Cheung, Y. Liu. “Robot-Enabled Uterus Manipulator for Laparoscopic Hysterectomy With Soft RCM Constraints : Design, Control, and Evaluation”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, 4(3), 656-666, 2023.

• B. Yang, B. Lu, W. Chen, F. Zhong, Y. Liu. “Model-free 3-d shape control of deformable objects using novel features based on modal analysis”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics 39 (4), 3134-3153, 2023.

• W. Chen, J. Zhou, SS. Cheng, Y. Lu, F. Zhong, Y. Gao, Y. Wang, L. Xue, C.F. Tong, Y. Liu. “Tele-operated oropharyngeal swab (TOOS) robot enabled by TSS soft hand for safe and effective sampling”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics 3(4), 1040-1053, 2021.

• A. Ghalamzan, K. Nazari, H. Hashempour, F. Zhong. “Deep-LfD: Deep robot learning from demonstrations”, Software Impacts, 100087, 2021.

• F. Zhong, Y. Liu. “Image-Based 3D Pose Reconstruction of Surgical Needle for Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Suturing”, Chinese Journal of Electronics 27 (3), 476-482, 2018.

Conferences

• J. Guo, F. Zhong, R. Xiong, Y. Liu, Y. Wang, Y. Liao. “A visual navigation perspective for category-level object pose estimation”, European Conference on Computer Vision, 123-141, 2022.

• Z. Wang, B. Lu, Y. Long, F. Zhong, T.H. Cheung, Q. Dou, Y. Liu. “Autolaparo: A new dataset of integrated multi-tasks for image-guided surgical automation in laparoscopic hysterectomy”, International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, 486-496, 2022.

• F. Zhong, D. Navarro-Alarcon, Z. Wang, Y. Liu, T. Zhang, H.M. Yip, H. Wang. “Adaptive 3d pose computation of suturing needle using constraints from static monocular image feedback”, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 5521-5526, 2016.

• D. Navarro-Alarcon, Z. Wang, H.M. Yip, Y. Liu, F. Zhong, T. Zhang, J. Shi, H. Wang, “Robust image-based computation of the 3d position of rcm instruments and its application to image-guided manipulation”, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 4115-4121, 2016.

Patents

• 钟仿洵，刘云辉。“一种机械臂自主手眼标定算法”，ZL202310062493.0, 2023.

• Y. Liu, C.F. Tong, F. Zhong, Z Wang, H.M. Yip. ”Endoscope Manipulator and Method for Controlling the Same”, U.S.Patent. 16/533,866, 2020.