Bin Hu

Assistant Professor
Office: 301, ENGR4 (SAB2) at Sugar Land
Phone: (713)743-5366
Engineering Technology | Electrical and Computer Engineering
Cullen College of Engineering
University of Houston
14000 University Blvd.
Sugar Land, Texas 77479-0800

Dr. Bin Hu directs the Networked Autonomous and Intelligent Learning (NAIL) Lab. The NAIL Lab focuses on cutting-edge research in learning-based control, optimization, and machine learning, with applications spanning cybersecurity, autonomous robotics, human-machine automation, IoT systems, and vehicular networks. Our lab develops intelligent autonomous systems that can learn, adapt, and operate safely in complex, dynamic environments.

Learn more about our NAIL Lab team, facilities, research demonstrations, and outreach activities.

Multiple Openings

We have multiple openings for students who are interested in control, optimization and machine learning, and/or their applications in robotics and autonomous vehicles. If you are interested, please send your CV and transcript to Dr. Hu via email.

News

Jun 17, 26	Our paper Formation-Aware Adaptive Conformalized Perception for Safe Leader-Follower Multi-Robot Systems has been accepted for presentation at the 2026 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2026), September 27 – October 1, 2026, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. (Acceptance Rate: 36%). [Project Page]
Jun 17, 26	Our paper Neural-ESO: A Dual-Pathway Architecture for Provably Robust Learning-Based Control has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). [Video Demo]
May 16, 26	Congratulations to Tony Tran on successfully defending his M.S. thesis and graduating from the NAIL Lab! Tony is starting his next chapter as a Machine Learning Engineer at CFD Research Corporation. Wishing him every success in this exciting new journey!
May 11, 26	Our NVIDIA Academic Grant Program award has been featured in UH Engineering News: ET’s Hu Receives NVIDIA Academic Grant Program Award. Thanks to UH Cullen College of Engineering for highlighting our research on heterogeneous multi-robot waste detection.
May 06, 26	I am honored to have received a NASA Early Career Faculty Award (ECF25) for my project, “Safety-Enabled and Efficient Onboard Planning for Autonomous Spacecraft via Physics-Informed Reinforcement Learning.” The award provides $741,899 over three years. I am grateful for NASA’s support of this research.
Mar 22, 26	Our paper ELASTIC: Efficient Once For All Iterative Search for Object Detection on Microcontrollers has been accepted by IEEE Transactions on Computers ! Congratulations to Tony Tran and all co-authors!

View All News

Selected Publications (★ PhD student, ♦ Master student, † equal contribution)

IROS

Formation-Aware Adaptive Conformalized Perception for Safe Leader-Follower Multi-Robot Systems

Richie R. Suganda^★, and Bin Hu

In Proceedings of the 2026 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (Acceptance Rate: 36%) (IROS) Sep , 2026

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF 🚀 Project

@inproceedings{suganda2026formation,
  title = {Formation-Aware Adaptive Conformalized Perception for Safe Leader-Follower Multi-Robot Systems},
  author = {Suganda★, Richie R. and Hu, Bin},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (Acceptance Rate: 36%)},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  address = {Pittsburgh, PA, USA},
}

IEEE TC

ELASTIC: Efficient Once For All Iterative Search for Object Detection on Microcontrollers

Tony Tran^♦, Qin Lin, and Bin Hu

IEEE Transactions on Computers (IEEE TC) Sep , 2026

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF 💻 Code 🚀 Project

@article{tran2026elastic,
  title = {ELASTIC: Efficient Once For All Iterative Search for Object Detection on Microcontrollers},
  author = {Tran♦, Tony and Lin, Qin and Hu, Bin},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Computers},
  year = {2026},
  pages = {1-8},
  keywords = {Optimization;Iterative methods;Computer architecture;Object detection;Neck;Search problems;Detectors;Tiny machine learning;Microcontrollers;Costs;Neural Architecture Search;TinyML;Object Detection;Population Passthrough;Iterative Evolutionary Architecture Search},
  doi = {10.1109/TC.2026.3678184},
  graph = {ELASTIC_new.png},
}

WACV

SOLAR: Switchable Output Layer for Accuracy and Robustness in Once-for-All Training

Shaharyar Ahmed Khan Tareen^★, Lei Fan, Xiaojing Yuan, Qin Lin, and Bin Hu

In Proc. IEEE/CVF Winter Conf. on Applications of Computer Vision (Round 2 New Submission Acceptance Rate: 26.88%) (WACV) Sep , 2026

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF 💻 Code 🚀 Project

@inproceedings{tareen2026solar,
  title = {SOLAR: Switchable Output Layer for Accuracy and Robustness in Once-for-All Training},
  author = {Tareen★, Shaharyar Ahmed Khan and Fan, Lei and Yuan, Xiaojing and Lin, Qin and Hu, Bin},
  booktitle = {Proc. IEEE/CVF Winter Conf. on Applications of Computer Vision (Round 2 New Submission Acceptance Rate: 26.88%)},
  year = {2026},
  address = {Tucson, Arizona, USA},
  graph = {SOLAR_concise.png},
}

IEEE THMS

Human Perception of AI Capabilities at Classifying Perturbed Roadway Signs

Katherine R Garcia, Jing Chen, Yanru Xiao, Scott Mishler, Cong Wang, and Bin Hu

IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems (IEEE THMS) Sep , 2025

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF

@article{garcia2025human,
  title = {Human Perception of AI Capabilities at Classifying Perturbed Roadway Signs},
  author = {Garcia, Katherine R and Chen, Jing and Xiao, Yanru and Mishler, Scott and Wang, Cong and Hu, Bin},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems},
  volume = {55},
  number = {4},
  pages = {499--507},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1109/THMS.2025.3573173},
}

ICRA

Distributed Perception Aware Safe Leader Follower System via Control Barrier Methods

Richie R Suganda^★, Tony Tran^♦, Miao Pan, Lei Fan, Qin Lin, and Bin Hu

In Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (Acceptance Rate: 38.67%) (ICRA) Sep , 2025

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF 🚀 Project

@inproceedings{suganda2024distributed,
  title = {Distributed Perception Aware Safe Leader Follower System via Control Barrier Methods},
  author = {Suganda★, Richie R and Tran♦, Tony and Pan, Miao and Fan, Lei and Lin, Qin and Hu, Bin},
  booktitle = {Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (Acceptance Rate: 38.67%)},
  year = {2025},
  address = {Atlanta, US},
}

IEEE TAC

Optimal Transmission Power and Controller Design for Networked Control Systems Under State-Dependent Markovian Channels

Bin Hu, and Tua A Tamba

IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (IEEE TAC) Sep , 2022

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF

@article{hu2022optimal,
  title = {Optimal Transmission Power and Controller Design for Networked Control Systems Under State-Dependent Markovian Channels},
  author = {Hu, Bin and Tamba, Tua A},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control},
  year = {2022},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}

ICDCS

Energy Minimization for Federated Asynchronous Learning on Battery-Powered Mobile Devices via Application Co-running

Cong Wang, Bin Hu, and Hongyi Wu

In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (Acceptance Rate: 19.9%) (ICDCS) Sep , 2022

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF

@inproceedings{wang2022energy,
  title = {Energy Minimization for Federated Asynchronous Learning on Battery-Powered Mobile Devices via Application Co-running},
  author = {Wang, Cong and Hu, Bin and Wu, Hongyi},
  booktitle = {2022 IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (Acceptance Rate: 19.9%)},
  year = {2022},
}

AUTOM

Stochastic stability analysis for Vehicular Networked Systems with State-dependent bursty fading channels: A self-triggered approach

Bin Hu

Automatica (AUTOM) Sep , 2021

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib 📕 PDF

@article{hu2021stochastic,
  title = {Stochastic stability analysis for Vehicular Networked Systems with State-dependent bursty fading channels: A self-triggered approach},
  author = {Hu, Bin},
  journal = {Automatica},
  volume = {123},
  pages = {109352},
  year = {2021},
  publisher = {Pergamon},
}

IEEE THMS

Automation error type and methods of communicating automation reliability affect trust and performance: An empirical study in the cyber domain

Jing Chen, Scott Mishler, and Bin Hu

IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems (IEEE THMS) Sep , 2021

📊 Graph 🔖 Bib

@article{chen2021automation,
  title = {Automation error type and methods of communicating automation reliability affect trust and performance: An empirical study in the cyber domain},
  author = {Chen, Jing and Mishler, Scott and Hu, Bin},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems},
  volume = {51},
  number = {5},
  pages = {463--473},
  year = {2021},
  publisher = {IEEE},
}