Seeking truth for good: A Group of DKUers’ “Unmanned Driving” Journey

At Duke Kunshan University, Tianyi Zhang is a 2024 master’s student in Medical Physics, who majored in Electronic Information Engineering as an undergraduate and participated in DJI product development. Meanwhile, Renzo Balcazar Tapia is a 2025 undergraduate student in Data Science who comes from Peru, with research interests in algorithms and has won numerous awards in International Mathematical Olympiads. On the journey of learning and life, they were originally two clearly demarcated parallel lines. However, the college innovation and entrepreneurship project “Research on Autonomous Localization and Navigation Technology Algorithm of Robot” has brought these two parallel lines together, embarking on a road of scientific research. Both aim to establish a robot control algorithm that enables machines to possess machine control capabilities and to sense their surroundings, navigate autonomously around obstacles, and contribute to the development of the “unmanned driving” key field. Sharing the same vision, they have collided in this project experience with “parallel yet intersecting” scientific results, blending into a fruitful and colorful harvest of innovation.

Left: Tianyi Zhang; Right: Renzo Balcazar Tapia

Even after meeting them, it is hard to believe that such two persons would be on the same team.

One is a graduate student from China who chose Electronic Information Engineering, and then crossed disciplines to enroll in Duke Kunshan University’s Medical Physics master’s program. The other comes from a country in another hemisphere, known for the mysterious Machu Picchu and the lush Amazon rainforest, yet he chose to study at a distant university with no direct flights, where the seasons are the opposite of his homeland. He continued his strong passion for mathematics since childhood and chose Data Science as his undergraduate major. It can be said that for the past twenty years they have had no contact and lived almost parallel lives. However, in the “Research on Autonomous Localization and Navigation Technology Algorithm of Robot” project incubated by the DKU Innovation Incubator, they had a point of intersection, a joint in a robot project. This is both within reason and utterly unexpected.

Immediate Rapport to Long-term Cooperation

All of this may be thanks to a wonderful coincidence. Last year, the DKU VEX robotics competition team “BlueBear” was busy preparing for competition. Renzo, who originally knew nothing about VEX competitions, happened to pass by due to a club activity, and after communicating with the team’s operator, his strong curiosity led him to join the team as the algorithm lead. And Tianyi was the software lead of this team. Finally, the team’s ingenuity and sweat eventually won them the second prize in the Science and Technology Qinghe 2023 National VEX Robotics Elite Competition College Group.

But the story does not end there. Dr. Li Fang, the assistant director of DKU Innovation Incubator who previously guided them in the competition, encouraged them not to stop at “answering” but also to try “asking” questions. Based on the work already done in robot competitions, perhaps they could also use the robot-related hardware already purchased to explore and solve some new problems in academics or innovation. This suggestion opened up new ideas for them. Could a more three-dimensional innovation structure spring up on a one-way line of “Problem-Answer”?

In the competition, Tianyi quickly clicked with Renzo, and together with six other classmates: Bouchra Daddaoui, Albert Li, Ha Nguyen Ngoc Khanh, Nizar Talty, Tobias Garcia, and Yuhan Wei formed a team to tackle a challenging problem they encountered in the contest: target detection and intelligent path planning.

Crossing from Competition to Research

Precise target detection is a significant issue faced by unmanned driving and other unmanned traffic systems. On one hand, the information acquired by sensors is always limited, and the real-world conditions differ from the perfect scenarios often presumed in competitions. No matter how advanced the image recognition or increasingly accurate vehicular radar is, it cannot truly “see” the objects hidden behind obstacles. On the other hand, the real challenge lies not just in “seeing” but also in “thinking”—how to predict the future movement of other objects using old sensor data and to plan routes more rationally, filtering out non-essential information to avoid potential collisions. Both of these rely heavily on the assistance of artificial intelligence.

However, reality is not always smooth sailing. Unanticipated problems lay in wait on the path ahead. As mentioned earlier, the team’s starting point was the VEX robotics hardware they already possessed. Initially, they aimed to improve upon issues encountered during robot competitions, enhancing their positioning algorithms and the efficiency of path planning. But they soon discovered that the software’s limited flexibility of VEX equipment could not meet their improvement needs, and there were no clear paths for modifying existing software. They needed to explore how to integrate their hardware with commonly used algorithms on public platforms. This was challenging even for Tianyi, who had mature industry experience, let alone for a group of undergraduates who might have only touched on the topic a few months ago.

Additionally, as members of an innovative entrepreneurship project, their role was fundamentally different from that of a university competition team. Tianyi admits that in competitions, they may only need to solve predefined problems or work within a given framework and hardware conditions. But as an innovation team, they had no set goals, no scoring standards, and needed to seek out usable resources themselves. All available resources could serve as tools for improvement, but they also had to consider the cost-effectiveness of these resources.

The path ahead was undoubtedly vast, but like crossing a continuous mountain range, the daunting heights were ultimately unavoidable. The struggle of constantly exploring, seeking new knowledge in the wilderness of hidden information, and then facing setbacks and redirection was scattered throughout this research journey.

But the team never considered giving up. Their original intention in choosing the “autonomous positioning and navigation technology algorithm” for research stemmed from reflection, concern, and attention to unmanned driving technology itself. In recent years, as unmanned driving technology has rapidly developed, it has brought with it a series of safety and ethical tests. The team deeply recognized that the stability and accuracy of unmanned driving technology needed more verification and practice. They hoped their research could contribute to accumulating experience and perfecting technology for unmanned driving, propelling a smarter, more convenient, and safer future.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support and Academic Research Guidance

At the beginning of the project, the support from DKU Innovation Incubator and academic advisor Professor Bing Luo was crucial. The incubator’s assistance not only saved on hardware investments but also allowed the limited funds to be more targeted for the purchase of special parts. Renzo is particularly grateful to the DKU Innovation Lab, which became the team’s second home during the summer. The lab’s high-performance computers, complete set of 3D printing equipment, and other tools greatly met the early project’s needs for computational power and hardware. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship team also provided strong support for other material purchases, with Dr. Li Fang, actively helping in the regular project exchanges to resolve issues in hardware procurement. For Tianyi, this kind of “on-demand” help provided an almost luxurious convenience.

Under the support and guidance of the school, team members wholeheartedly dedicate their efforts to the pivotal field of “autonomous driving.” The project’s GitHub repository showcases tangible progress, with the codebase rapidly accumulating. Green squares on the graph document the team members’ round-the-clock endeavors.

More Companions and a Longer Journey

Tianyi, Renzo, and other team members do not believe the project is only defined by a one or two-year construction period. They look forward to the project’s successful implementation and the opening of more possibilities in the future. Besides the project, the team members are also part of the DKU robotics club, which started with the VEX competition and aims to foster a self-sustaining, robust robotics learning environment and community within the university. Even though DKU does not offer majors directly related to robotics competitions, they hope to establish a mature platform that encourages young people to gain new inspiration from the tracks laid by their predecessors and to continue exploring.

This team has grown from its formation, and its development and expansion were not merely coincidental. When asked why he chose to pursue a master’s degree in medical physics despite a background in a different field, Tianyi mentioned that during his undergraduate studies, he wanted to explore multiple domains using programming skills. Renzo is still involved in selecting members for Peru’s national team participating in international mathematics competitions such as the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) each year. For him, choosing data science is a continuation of his passion for mathematics. Other team members also started from scratch, learning about robotics, path planning, and handling data from various sensors. These diverse paths and subplots represent the students of DKU quietly persevering or taking unconventional routes on their academic journeys—perhaps challenging, but not necessarily unique, and definitely not lonely.

Renzo, who is about to enter his senior year, is ready to explore further with his team. Professor Bing Luo, who has previously assisted the team, is enthusiastic about continuing to mentor him. Tianyi, on the other hand, is likely to enter the industry after graduation. While the demands of a busy job may make it challenging for him to iterate and evolve algorithms with his undergraduate partners, the GitHub project page and WeChat group will remain open.

This is the story of a group of young people who strive to pluck the distant and brilliant stars of their ideals from the sky. Although they may not shout it aloud, on the campus of DKU, their belief in working hard to make the world a better place shines like the North Star, guiding the journey’s course.