Overview
Background
- Dr Nguyen is a Lecturer in Robotics at the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland. His research focuses on advancing autonomous robot capabilities in complex, large-scale environments through 1) principled and scalable fusion of complementary sensing modalities with distilled prior knowledge from learning processes for localisation & mapping, and 2) cooperative strategies for multi-robot systems. These research directions address challenging scenarios such as inspection, exploration, and manipulation, where robust localisation & mapping form a solid foundation upon which collaborative schemes can unlock new levels of efficiency and scalability.
- Dr Nguyen was previously a Research Assistant Professor at the Centre for Advanced Robotics Technology Innovation (CARTIN), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), following the Wallenberg–NTU Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, where he led collaborative research efforts between NTU and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. He received his PhD from the School of EEE, NTU, with the best thesis (Doctoral Innovation Award) in 2020. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) from Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology in 2014. He is an active member of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), and is currently an Associate Editor of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) in the area of Localisation & Mapping.
Availability
- Dr Thien-Minh Nguyen is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Automation and Control Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
- Doctor of Philosophy of Control Systems, Robotics and Automation, Nanyang Technological University
Research impacts
Dr Nguyen has been active in developing novel localization, mapping, and sensor fusion methods for robotic applications. He has also developed several high-quality datasets that support the broader research community. During his fellowship at KTH and NTU, Dr Nguyen led a collaborative effort across three universities to develop MCD, a complex, large-scale dataset spanning three distinct campuses in Eurasia. The dataset features three survey-grade prior maps, continuous-time ground truth with centimetre-level accuracy, and tens of thousands of annotated LiDAR point clouds, supporting research in SLAM and semantic segmentation. He also developed CARIC, a lightweight digital twin model designed to benchmark cooperative inspection methods for heterogeneous aerial robot swarms.
Over the years, Dr Nguyen’s work has been published in leading robotics and computer vision venues, including:
- IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO)
- IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
- International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
- IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
- IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
- Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)
Dr Nguyen is a frequent reviewer for T-RO, RA-L, IJRR, ICRA, and IROS. He serves as an Associate Editor for RA-L in the area of Localization and Mapping and has held similar roles for ICRA 2025 and 2026.
Works
Search Professor Thien-Minh Nguyen’s works on UQ eSpace
2026
Journal Article
ProbPer-LiLo: probabilistic persistency modeling for life-long mapping
Ali, Waqas, Cai, Yixi, Jensfelt, Patric and Nguyen, Thien-Minh (2026). ProbPer-LiLo: probabilistic persistency modeling for life-long mapping. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 11 (3), 2530-2537. doi: 10.1109/LRA.2026.3653311
2026
Journal Article
Aerial target encirclement and interception with noisy range
Liu, Fen, Yuan, Shenghai, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Meng, Wei and Xie, Lihua (2026). Aerial target encirclement and interception with noisy range. Automatica, 183 112600, 112600. doi: 10.1016/j.automatica.2025.112600
2025
Journal Article
Tire wear aware trajectory tracking control for Multi-axle Swerve-drive Autonomous Mobile Robots
Hu, Tianxin, Xu, Xinhang, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Liu, Fen, Yuan, Shenghai and Xie, Lihua (2025). Tire wear aware trajectory tracking control for Multi-axle Swerve-drive Autonomous Mobile Robots. Journal of Automation and Intelligence, 4 (4), 243-253. doi: 10.1016/j.jai.2025.05.003
2025
Journal Article
EGS-SLAM: RGB-D Gaussian Splatting SLAM with events
Chen, Siyu, Yuan, Shenghai, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Huang, Zhuyu, Shi, Chenyang, Jin, Jing and Xie, Lihua (2025). EGS-SLAM: RGB-D Gaussian Splatting SLAM with events. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 10 (10), 10003-10010. doi: 10.1109/lra.2025.3598665
2025
Journal Article
Graph optimality-aware stochastic LiDAR bundle adjustment with progressive spatial smoothing
Li, Jianping, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Cao, Muqing, Yuan, Shenghai, Hung, Tzu-Yi and Xie, Lihua (2025). Graph optimality-aware stochastic LiDAR bundle adjustment with progressive spatial smoothing. IEEE Transactions On Intelligent Transportation Systems, 26 (11), 19076-19091. doi: 10.1109/tits.2025.3597242
2025
Journal Article
Cooperative aerial robot inspection challenge: a benchmark for heterogeneous multi-uncrewed-aerial-vehicle planning and lessons learned
Cao, Muqing, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Yuan, Shenghai, Anastasiou, Andreas, Zacharia, Angelos, Papaioannou, Savvas, Kolios, Panayiotis, Panayiotou, Christos G., Polycarpou, Marios M., Xu, Xinhang, Zhang, Mingjie, Gao, Fei, Zhou, Boyu, Chen, Ben M. and Xie, Lihua (2025). Cooperative aerial robot inspection challenge: a benchmark for heterogeneous multi-uncrewed-aerial-vehicle planning and lessons learned. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 2-13. doi: 10.1109/mra.2025.3584341
2025
Conference Publication
ULOC: learning to localize in complex large-scale environments with ultra-wideband ranges
Thien-Minh Nguyen,, Yang, Yizhuo, Tien-Dat Nguyen,, Yuan, Shenghai and Xie, Lihua (2025). ULOC: learning to localize in complex large-scale environments with ultra-wideband ranges. 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation-ICRA-Annual, Atlanta, GA, United States, 19-23 May 2025. New York, NY, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/icra55743.2025.11128859
2025
Conference Publication
Large-scale UWB anchor calibration and one-shot localization using gaussian process
Yuan, Shenghai, Lou, Boyang, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Yin, Pengyu, Cao, Muqing, Xu, Xinghang, Li, Jianping, Xu, Jie, Chen, Siyu and Xie, Lihua (2025). Large-scale UWB anchor calibration and one-shot localization using gaussian process. 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation-ICRA-Annual, Atlanta, GA, United States, 19-23 May 2025. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/icra55743.2025.11127688
2025
Conference Publication
Coordinate-consistent localization via continuous-time calibration and fusion of UWB and SLAM observations
Nguyen, Tien-Dat, Nguyen, Thien-Minh and Nguyen, Vinh-Hao (2025). Coordinate-consistent localization via continuous-time calibration and fusion of UWB and SLAM observations. International Symposium on Electrical and Electronics Engineering, ISEE 2025, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, 23-24 October 2025. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/isee68370.2025.11223429
2025
Conference Publication
HelmetPoser: a helmet-mounted IMU dataset for data-driven estimation of human head motion in diverse conditions
Li, Jianping, Leng, Qiutong, Liu, Jinxin, Xu, Xinhang, Jin, Tongxin, Cao, Muqing, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Yuan, Shenghai, Cao, Kun and Xie, Lihua (2025). HelmetPoser: a helmet-mounted IMU dataset for data-driven estimation of human head motion in diverse conditions. 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Atlanta, GA, United States, 19-23 May 2025. Washington, DC, United States: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/icra55743.2025.11128564
2025
Journal Article
Robust loop closure by textual cues in challenging environments
Jin, Tongxing, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Xu, Xinhang, Yang, Yizhuo, Yuan, Shenghai, Li, Jianping and Xie, Lihua (2025). Robust loop closure by textual cues in challenging environments. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 10 (1), 812-819. doi: 10.1109/lra.2024.3511397
2025
Conference Publication
Autonomous 3D Moving target encirclement and interception with range measurement
Liu, Fen, Yuan, Shenghai, Nguyen, Thien-Minh and Su, Rong (2025). Autonomous 3D Moving target encirclement and interception with range measurement. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2025), Hangzhou, China, 19-25 October 2025. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/iros60139.2025.11246819
2024
Journal Article
A data-driven control method for ground locomotion on sloped terrain of a hybrid aerial-ground robot
Xu, Xinhang, Yang, Yizhuo, Cao, Muqing, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Cao, Kun and Xie, Lihua (2024). A data-driven control method for ground locomotion on sloped terrain of a hybrid aerial-ground robot. Journal of Automation and Intelligence, 3 (4), 219-229. doi: 10.1016/j.jai.2024.08.001
2024
Journal Article
AV-FDTI: audio-visual fusion for drone threat identification
Yang, Yizhuo, Yuan, Shenghai, Yang, Jianfei, Nguyen, Thien Hoang, Cao, Muqing, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Wang, Han and Xie, Lihua (2024). AV-FDTI: audio-visual fusion for drone threat identification. Journal of Automation and Intelligence, 3 (3), 144-151. doi: 10.1016/j.jai.2024.06.002
2024
Journal Article
Eigen is all you need: efficient lidar-inertial continuous-time odometry with internal association
Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Xu, Xinhang, Jin, Tongxing, Yang, Yizhuo, Li, Jianping, Yuan, Shenghai and Xie, Lihua (2024). Eigen is all you need: efficient lidar-inertial continuous-time odometry with internal association. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 9 (6), 5330-5337. doi: 10.1109/lra.2024.3391049
2024
Journal Article
HCTO: Optimality-aware LiDAR inertial odometry with hybrid continuous time optimization for compact wearable mapping system
Li, Jianping, Yuan, Shenghai, Cao, Muqing, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Cao, Kun and Xie, Lihua (2024). HCTO: Optimality-aware LiDAR inertial odometry with hybrid continuous time optimization for compact wearable mapping system. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 211, 228-243. doi: 10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2024.04.004
2024
Conference Publication
MCD: diverse large-scale multi-campus dataset for robot perception
Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Yuan, Shenghai, Nguyen, Thien Hoang, Yin, Pengyu, Cao, Haozhi, Xie, Lihua, Wozniak, Maciej, Jensfelt, Patric, Thie, Marko, Ziegenbein, Justin and Blunder, Noel (2024). MCD: diverse large-scale multi-campus dataset for robot perception. IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), Seattle, WA, United States, 16-22 June 2024. Washington, DC, United States: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/cvpr52733.2024.02105
2024
Conference Publication
PSS-BA: LiDAR bundle adjustment with progressive spatial smoothing
Li, Jianping, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Yuan, Shenghai and Xie, Lihua (2024). PSS-BA: LiDAR bundle adjustment with progressive spatial smoothing. 2024 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 4-18 October 2024. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/iros58592.2024.10802614
2024
Conference Publication
HD-maps as prior information for globally consistent mapping in gps-denied environments
Ali, Waqas, Jensfelt, Patric and Nguyen, Thien-Minh (2024). HD-maps as prior information for globally consistent mapping in gps-denied environments. 27th Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference, Edmonton, Canada, 24-27 September 2024. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/itsc58415.2024.10920221
2024
Conference Publication
MMAUD: A Comprehensive Multi-Modal Anti-UAV Dataset for Modern Miniature Drone Threats
Yuan, Shenghai, Yang, Yizhuo, Nguyen, Thien Hoang, Nguyen, Thien-Minh, Yang, Jianfei, Liu, Fen, Li, Jianping, Wang, Han and Xie, Lihua (2024). MMAUD: A Comprehensive Multi-Modal Anti-UAV Dataset for Modern Miniature Drone Threats. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Yokohama, Japan, 13-17 May 2024. Washington, DC, United States: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/icra57147.2024.10610957
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Thien-Minh Nguyen is:
- Available for supervision
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Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Thien-Minh Nguyen directly for media enquiries about:
- AI
- Robotics
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