AI Collaboration Helps Others

Zhen Ni, Ph.D., a new assistant professor in the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is helping improve how learning machines make decisions on their own. “My work is about making robots more autonomous, so they would be able to adapt to the different environments and conditions,” Ni said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as neural networks and reinforcement learning, are growing rapidly. Intelligent systems are increasingly used to explore new environments, respond to the unexpected and learn rom each experience. Now, Ni is developing control systems to aid robots to teach themselves lessons from challenges. “Our control systems allow processing of data faster and more efficiently,” he said. “But more importantly, we are optimizing the learning and adaptivity for autonomous decision making.”

He grew up assembling and dissembling toy helicopters and automobiles. “I guess it’s the same for many boys, trying to look at things from the inside, to understand the mechanics and the principals in machines,” he said.

Ni received a degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; and a doctorate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rhode Island in 2015. For four years, he was assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at South Dakota State University. He received the prestigious International Neural Networks Society Aharon Katzir Young Investigator Award in 2019 and his research is supported by the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and industry.

“I developed my independent research there,” he said. “But I wanted to explore some new opportunities. FAU has a big emphasis on artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, which attracted me. ... Now I would like to help people on campus or outside of campus who have engineering problems that may need optimization, such as intelligent decision-making or adaptivity learning capacity. I hope to collaborate with others and contribute my expertise.”