Dynamics, Astronautics &
Neural Intelligence Lab
Advancing AI-Powered Intelligent Systems
Enabling robots to generalise to unseen tasks through Vision-Language-Action (VLA) and world models.
From embodied intelligence to autonomous systems for real-world and space environments.
DANi Lab at the University of Leicester conducts research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and space systems. Our goal is to build robust and generalisable robotic systems capable of operating in complex, uncertain environments.
Research Themes
- Embodied Intelligence & World Models
Learning predictive representations of the physical world to support planning, reasoning, and decision-making in real environments. - Vision-Language-Action (VLA) Systems
Integrating perception, language, and control to enable robots to understand tasks and generalise across diverse scenarios. - Autonomous Systems & Control
Developing reliable and safe decision-making frameworks for robotics in safety-critical domains, including space and manufacturing.
Applications:
- Intelligent robotic manufacturing
- In-orbit servicing and manufacturing (ISAM)
Lab Members
DANiLab is a growing research group of PhD students and collaborators working on AI, robotics, and autonomous systems.
PI:
Dr Daniel Hao
Research Fellow:
Dr Umer Masood Chaudry
Funded by UKSA
PhD Candidates:
Hanxin Zhang
Abdulqader Dhafer
Gemma McLean
Ansel Ong
Co-supervising PhD Candidates:
- Mingshuo Xu
- Lin Qi
- Tom Buteux
Alumni:
Dr Roin (Lijia) Deng, Dr Hengde Zhu
Our PG and UG Students DriverLeics Team: https://driverleics.github.io/
*Dr Hao’s research funders:
PI (Leicester) – NSTP PLATOR with Surrey Space Centre
