Qiyu Li

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Research Jun. 2025 – Present

Learning-Based Fiber Sensing for Continuum Manipulators

Machine learning on distributed optical-fiber strain data to tell where a surgical manipulator is being touched, and how hard.

What I did

  • Built an ML workflow on distributed OFDR strain data for continuum manipulators, combining ROS/Vicon data collection with real-time shape-reconstruction pipelines.
  • Co-developed a cascade learning system using Gradient Boosting for contact detection and a CNN-FiLM model for contact localization and force estimation in constrained environments.
  • Evaluated the sensing pipeline on real robot experiments using ODiSI strain streams and calibration-based curvature reconstruction.

Built with

  • ROS
  • Vicon
  • Gradient Boosting
  • CNN-FiLM
  • OFDR
  • ODiSI