Embodied Spatial AI Lab

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

Building next-generation embodied spatial intelligence systems for robots that perceive, reason, and act in complex real-world environments.

About

Spatial intelligence for embodied robots

EmSAIL Group focuses on next-generation embodied spatial intelligence systems for robotics operating in complex real-world environments. Our goal is to integrate spatial perception, representation, reasoning, and action into a unified embodied intelligence pipeline.

6Research directions
AI + RoboticsCore focus
HKUST(GZ)Location

Research

Research Directions

Spatial Perception

Robust mapping, localization, and spatial understanding for real-world robotic systems.

Embodied Models

Predictive models that support planning, reasoning, and autonomous decision-making.

Robot Policy Learning

Learning generalizable robot skills from demonstrations, interaction, and simulation.

People

Team

Principal Investigator

Prof. Yan Li

Principal Investigator

Research interests: Embodied Spatial AI, Robot Learning, 3D Vision

Researchers & Students

C. Lyu

Chengyu Lyu

Research Assistant

Research interests: Robot Policy Learning
S. Feng

Shuo Feng

Research Assistant

Research interests: Vision-Language-Navigation (VLN)
Y. Zhao

Yong ZHAO

Visiting Master Student

Research interests: Gaussian Splatting, SLAM
C. LIU

Chuan LIU

Visiting Master Student

Research interests: Gaussian Splatting, SLAM

Publications

Selected Publications

2026

Publication list coming soon

Add paper title, venue, authors, PDF, code, and project page links here.

Projects

Research Projects

Embodied Spatial Mapping

Unified mapping and representation for embodied agents.

Robot Foundation Models

Vision-language-action models for general-purpose robot control.

Simulation-to-Real Learning

Reliable transfer from virtual training to physical robots.

News

Latest Updates

EmSAIL Lab website launched.

We are recruiting PhD students, MPhil students, research assistants, and interns.

Join & Collaboration

We are recruiting motivated students and collaborators.

Students with strong backgrounds in robotics, computer vision, machine learning, spatial intelligence, or embedded systems are encouraged to apply.

Contact Us