Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Boyuan Chen's research focuses on Robotics, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning. He is also broadly interested in AI for science. At Duke, he leads the General Robotics Lab.
He is interested in developing "generalist robots" that learn, act, and improve by perceiving and interacting with the complex and dynamic world. Ultimately, he hopes that robots and machines can be equipped with high-level cognitive skills to assist people and unleash human creativity.
Boyuan Chen obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Columbia University with Hod Lipson.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Assistant Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Contact Information
- Office Location: 144 Hudson Hall, Box 90300, Durham, NC 27708
- Email Address: boyuan.chen@duke.edu
- Websites:
Education
- B.S. Jilin University (China), 2016
- M.S. Columbia University, 2018
- Ph.D. Columbia University, 2022
Research Interests
Robotics, computer vision, machine learning, AI for scienceCourses Taught
- COMPSCI 391: Independent Study
- COMPSCI 394: Research Independent Study
- COMPSCI 590: Advanced Topics in Computer Science
- COMPSCI 891: Special Readings in Computer Science
- ECE 392: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE 493: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE 494: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE 590: Advanced Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE 899: Special Readings in Electrical Engineering
- EGRMGMT 591: Special Readings in Engineering Management
- ME 391: Undergraduate Projects in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 392: Undergraduate Projects in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 394: Engineering Undergraduate Fellows Projects
- ME 491: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 492: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 591: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
- ME 592: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
- NEUROSCI 493: Research Independent Study 1
In the News
- Boyuan Chen: Bold Thinking on Developing Self-Aware Robots (Oct 29, 2022 | Prat…
- New Duke MEMS Faculty Member Boyuan Chen Trains AI to Advance Physics (Jul 26, …
- New Engineering Faculty Member Boyuan Chen Helps Build a Robot That Learns to U…
- Boyuan Chen: Making General-Purpose Robots That Are Smarter and Self-Aware (Jul…
Representative Publications
- Chen, B., K. Huang, S. Raghupathi, I. Chandratreya, Q. Du, and H. Lipson. “Automated discovery of fundamental variables hidden in experimental data.” Nature Computational Science 2, no. 7 (July 1, 2022): 433–42. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-022-00281-6.
- Chen, Boyuan, Robert Kwiatkowski, Carl Vondrick, and Hod Lipson. “Fully body visual self-modeling of robot morphologies.” Science Robotics 7, no. 68 (July 2022): eabn1944. https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.abn1944.