Zhongtao (Tony) Guan

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Hi, I’m Tony, a PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT, advised by Prof. Kevin Chen. I received (President’s List) my bachelor’s degree in Electronic Information Engineering from ShanghaiTech University, advised by Prof. Yu Liu, and Jiahao Chen.

My research interests are autonomous systems co-design, aerial robotics, microrobotics, and hybrid locomotion. I am interested in developing an execution and decision-making system for micro robots that can achieve athletic abilities, robustness, and intelligence in the real world through the conjunction of perception, control, and mechatronic design.

selected publications

  1. sensor_2026.gif
    Controlled Flight of an Insect-Scale Flapping-Wing Robot via Integrated Onboard Sensing and Computation
    Yi-Hsuan Hsiao*, Quang Phuc Kieu*, Zhongtao Guan*, and 6 more authors
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.08328, 2026
    Pre-accept at Science Robotics
    arXiv
  2. SA2025.gif
    Hybrid locomotion at the insect scale: Combined flying and jumping for enhanced efficiency and versatility
    Yi-Hsuan Hsiao*, Songnan Bai*, Zhongtao Guan*, and 4 more authors
    Science Advances, 2025
    Video
  3. Cury.gif
    Preliminary Result of Cury: A Backdrivable Leg Design using Linear Actuators
    Zhongtao Guan, Yiming Chen, Junlei Zhu, and 3 more authors
    IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2024
    PDF Video Poster
  4. PESGM2023.jpg
    Accurate Single-Ended Fault Location for Cable-OHL Hybrid Transmission Lines
    Zhongtao Guan, Jun Wan, Yu Liu, and 3 more authors
    PESGM, 2023
    PDF

news

Sep 01, 2026 Awarded the MathWorks Fellowship (2026–2027) at MIT.
Feb 01, 2026 Our paper on controlled flight of an insect-scale flapping-wing robot with integrated onboard sensing and computation is pre-accepted at Science Robotics. Preprint on arXiv.
Jun 01, 2025 Graduated from ShanghaiTech University with a B.Eng. in Electronic Information Engineering with the honor of President’s List).
Apr 09, 2025 Our work on hybrid locomotion at the insect scale is published in Science Advances, and was covered by MIT News, IEEE Spectrum, Tech Briefs, and Veritasium.