Boyuan Chen
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
Contact Information
- Office Location: 144 Hudson Hall, Box 90300, Durham, NC 27708
- Email Address: boyuan.chen@duke.edu
- Websites:
Education
- Ph.D. Columbia University, 2022
- M.S. Columbia University, 2018
- B.S. Jilin University (China), 2016
Research Interests
Robotics, computer vision, machine learning, AI for science
Courses 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 291: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE 391: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- 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
- EGR 393: Research Projects in 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
- This Innovative Curriculum Includes Dancing Robots (Apr 27, 2023 | Pratt School of Engineering)
- Boyuan Chen: Bold Thinking on Developing Self-Aware Robots (Oct 29, 2022 | Pratt School of Engineering)
- New Duke MEMS Faculty Member Boyuan Chen Trains AI to Advance Physics (Jul 26, 2022 | Columbia University)
- New Engineering Faculty Member Boyuan Chen Helps Build a Robot That Learns to Understand Itself (Jul 25, 2022 | Columbia University)
- Boyuan Chen: Making General-Purpose Robots That Are Smarter and Self-Aware (Jul 18, 2022 | Duke Engineering News)
Representative Publications
- Chen, B; Huang, K; Raghupathi, S; Chandratreya, I; Du, Q; Lipson, H, Automated discovery of fundamental variables hidden in experimental data, Nature Computational Science, vol 2 no. 7 (2022), pp. 433-442 [10.1038/s43588-022-00281-6] [abs].
- Chen, B; Kwiatkowski, R; Vondrick, C; Lipson, H, Fully body visual self-modeling of robot morphologies., Sci Robot, vol 7 no. 68 (2022) [10.1126/scirobotics.abn1944] [abs].