Dr Jie Xu

Research Interests

Jie’s research interests lie in the application of robotics in construction, including robotic construction informatics (i.e. BIM-enabled robotics), robotics construction performance management (e.g. energy efficiency, etc.), digital fabrication with concrete (with special focuses on quality control and process optimisation), automated large-scale building component handling and assembly (e.g. self-assembled, bio-inspired etc.), and sensing for infrastructure.

Strategic Themes

Apply multiple sensors to acquire road damage condition data with satisfactory performance based on benchmarking experiments

Develop simulation platforms for undertaking realistic robotic maintenance and repair based on material simulation data

Develop a mobile robotic 3D printing strategy for road maintenance and repair and optimise the performance of robotic processes

Research Project

Digital Roads of the Future Initiative. The initiative is a University of Cambridge-industrial collaboration exploring how digital twins, smart materials, data science, and robotics can

work together to develop a connected physical and digital road infrastructure system. Jie is a lead for the Automation and Robotics aspect of the initiative. For more information of the aspect, please see: https://drf.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/automation-and-robotics

Biography

Dr Jie Xu is a Senior Research Associate (Research Assistant Professor) at the Division of Civil Engineering of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. He is leading the Automation and Robotics team in the Digital Roads of the Future (DRF) initiative. Prior to this, he was a post-doctoral research associate in Professor Richard Buswell’s group at Loughborough University to deliver two EPSRC-funded significant projects (worth £2.2 mil in total) that delivered the next generation of 3D Concrete Printing technology - Hybrid Concrete Printing. He was responsible for providing robotic toolpath programs for 3D printing and milling operations, sensor-integrated robotic system development, geometric quality control and process monitoring. His work led to the realization of a world-first full-scale concrete structural assembly with dry joints and integrated building services through precision manufacturing. Jie received his PhD in Engineering (Construction) Management from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in Dec 2019 and BEng in Civil Engineering (road and bridge) in 2013. During his PhD, he developed a patented novel variable size nozzle device with new volumetric printing principles to efficiently fabricate precise complex architectural geometries and he also worked as a research assistant on a Chinese National Key R&D Program to explore BIM-driven robotic applications for typical construction operations. Due to his academic excellence and leadership, he was given the prestigious Leadership Scholars Award by Committee of 100 (USA) in Dec 2019 (32 awards across the country).