Robotics research

Thien Hoang Nguyen

Research Lead, ELO2 Project
Australian Centre for Robotics · University of Sydney

I study how robots estimate their motion and choose useful actions from uncertain sensor measurements. My research centres on multi-sensor localisation, probabilistic mapping and planning. I work with physical systems to understand how these methods behave outside controlled settings.

My current work concerns global path planning for the Roo-ver lunar rover. Previously, I led sensing and robotic integration for Integrated AgriSense with soil scientists and NSW farmers. I completed my PhD at Nanyang Technological University, where I developed UWB-aided localisation methods and later worked with Hyundai on warehouse robotics.

Portrait of Thien Hoang Nguyen
Sydney, Australia
ORCID
Research areasPlanning under uncertaintyRobotic environmental sensingLocalisation & sensor fusion

Selected publications

All publications →
  1. T-FR

    A Semi-Autonomous Robotic System for In Situ Soil Sampling, Analysis, and Mapping in Precision Agriculture

    Thien Hoang Nguyen, Erik Muller, Michael R. Rubin, Xiaofei Wang, Fiorella Sibona, Alex McBratney, Salah Sukkarieh

    IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, 3, 22–39 · 2026

    BibTeX for A Semi-Autonomous Robotic System for In Situ Soil Sampling, Analysis, and Mapping in Precision Agriculture
    @article{nguyen2025soilsampling,
      title = {A Semi-Autonomous Robotic System for In Situ Soil Sampling, Analysis, and Mapping in Precision Agriculture},
      author = {Nguyen, Thien Hoang and Muller, Erik and Rubin, Michael R. and Wang, Xiaofei and Sibona, Fiorella and McBratney, Alex and Sukkarieh, Salah},
      journal = {IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics},
      year = {2026},
      volume = {3},
      pages = {22--39},
      doi = {10.1109/TFR.2025.3641874},
    }
    
  2. RA-L

    Multivariate Active Learning and Adaptive Sampling With Multi-Kernel Gaussian Processes

    Thien Hoang Nguyen, Nathan Wallace, Nicholas Harrison, Salah Sukkarieh

    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 10(7), 6584–6591 · 2025

    BibTeX for Multivariate Active Learning and Adaptive Sampling With Multi-Kernel Gaussian Processes
    @article{nguyen2025activelearning,
      month = jul,
      title = {Multivariate Active Learning and Adaptive Sampling With Multi-Kernel Gaussian Processes},
      author = {Nguyen, Thien Hoang and Wallace, Nathan and Harrison, Nicholas and Sukkarieh, Salah},
      journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
      year = {2025},
      doi = {10.1109/LRA.2025.3570127},
      volume = {10},
      number = {7},
      pages = {6584--6591}
    }
    
  3. CVPR

    MCD: Diverse Large-Scale Multi-Campus Dataset for Robot Perception

    Thien-Minh Nguyen, Shenghai Yuan, Thien Hoang Nguyen, Pengyu Yin, Haozhi Cao, Lihua Xie, Maciej Wozniak, Patric Jensfelt, Marko Thiel, Justin Ziegenbein, Noel Blunder

    IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 22304–22313 · 2024

    BibTeX for MCD: Diverse Large-Scale Multi-Campus Dataset for Robot Perception
    @inproceedings{nguyen2024mcd,
      month = jun,
      day = {16},
      title = {MCD: Diverse Large-Scale Multi-Campus Dataset for Robot Perception},
      author = {Nguyen, Thien-Minh and Yuan, Shenghai and Nguyen, Thien Hoang and Yin, Pengyu and Cao, Haozhi and Xie, Lihua and Wozniak, Maciej and Jensfelt, Patric and Thiel, Marko and Ziegenbein, Justin and Blunder, Noel},
      booktitle = {IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)},
      year = {2024},
      doi = {10.1109/CVPR52733.2024.02105},
      pages = {22304--22313},
    }
    
  4. T-RO

    Relative Transformation Estimation Based on Fusion of Odometry and UWB Ranging Data

    Thien Hoang Nguyen, Lihua Xie

    IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 39(4), 2861–2877 · 2023

    BibTeX for Relative Transformation Estimation Based on Fusion of Odometry and UWB Ranging Data
    @article{nguyen2023relpose,
      month = aug,
      title = {Relative Transformation Estimation Based on Fusion of Odometry and UWB Ranging Data},
      author = {Nguyen, Thien Hoang and Xie, Lihua},
      journal = {IEEE Transactions on Robotics},
      year = {2023},
      doi = {10.1109/TRO.2023.3264946},
      volume = {39},
      number = {4},
      pages = {2861--2877},
    }
    

Selected news

All news →
  • Appointed Associate Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, working in localisation and mapping.

  • Joined the ELO2 Consortium as Research Lead for global path planning on Roo-ver, Australia’s first lunar rover 🌙

  • Our soil-sampling and analysis paper appears in the 2026 volume of IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics.