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Research appointments, education, awards and professional service.

Contact Information

Name Thien Hoang Nguyen
Professional Title Research Lead, ELO2 Project
Email thienhoang.nguyen@sydney.edu.au

Professional Summary

Robotics researcher working on autonomous navigation, multi-sensor fusion, and perception for extreme and unstructured environments. Currently working on global path planning for Australia’s first lunar rover (Roo-ver).

Experience

  • 2026 -

    Sydney, Australia

    Research Lead, ELO2 Project
    ACFR, University of Sydney
    Research Lead for global path planning on the Roo-ver lunar rover (Moon to Mars Initiative, ELO2 Consortium).
  • 2024 - 2026

    Sydney, Australia

    Vonwiller Postdoctoral Research Associate
    ACFR, University of Sydney
    Led sensing, spatial mapping and robotic integration for Integrated AgriSense. Worked with soil scientists and NSW farmers. Evaluated a semi-autonomous prototype through a three-day pasture trial with 30 samples and laboratory comparisons.
  • 2022 - 2024

    Singapore

    Project Officer / Research Fellow
    CARTIN, Nanyang Technological University
    Low-cost multi-modality sensor fusion for localization in large manufacturing environments (Hyundai collaboration at HMGICS).
  • 2020 - 2020

    Remote

    Google Summer of Code Lead Developer
    ArduPilot (Google Summer of Code)
    Enhancements of non-GPS navigation and object avoidance with RealSense depth cameras.
  • 2019 - 2019

    Remote

    Google Summer of Code Lead Developer
    ArduPilot (Google Summer of Code)
    VIO tracking camera integration for GPS-less localization with PX4/ArduPilot.
  • 2017 - 2018

    Singapore

    Project Officer
    ST Engineering — NTU Corporate Laboratory
    Autonomous vision-UWB-aided landing UAV system.
  • 2017 - 2017

    Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Embedded Engineer
    PIFLAB Co., Ltd
    Hardware and software for UAV startup RTRobotics and smart farming startup MimosaTEK.

Education

  • 2018 - 2023

    Singapore

    Ph.D.
    Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
    Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    • Thesis: “Ultra-wideband-aided Localization for Autonomous Robots”
  • 2012 - 2017

    Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    B.Eng (Hons.)
    Vietnam National University — HCMUT
    Automation and Control
    • Salutatorian
    • Thesis: “Modelling, Analysis and System Development of a Singlecopter”

Awards

  • 2023
    3rd Place, 2023 ICCV SLAM Challenge
    ICCV
  • 2021
    2nd Place, 2021 Hilti SLAM Challenge
    Hilti
  • 2018
    Finalist (7/28), 2018 SAUVC
    SAUVC
  • 2016
    First Prize & Best Presentation, 2016 Vietnam MCU Design Contest
    Texas Instruments
  • 2016
    Best Paper Award, FEEE-SRC 2016
    HCMUT FEEE
  • 2015
    Finalist, 2015 Vietnam Maker Contest with Intel Galileo
    VMIG
  • 2015
    Best Promising Prize, 2015 TI Innovation Challenge
    Texas Instruments
  • 2015
    Best of the Best, II-VI AmCham Engineering Scholarship
    II-VI Foundation

Intellectual Property

Mobile Sample Analysis System for Real-time In-situ Soil Nutrient Measurements: Lead inventor. Submitted IP, The University of Sydney (2025). Led sensing and mechanical design, algorithms, software, integration and invention drafting.
UWB Anchor Deployment: Lead inventor. Published international patent application WO2022086446A1, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2022).

Skills

Languages: C, C++, Python, MATLAB
Robotics Tools: ROS1, ROS2, MAVLink, PX4, ArduPilot, Git
Simulation: Gazebo, Unity, AirSim, Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL)

Interests

Autonomous Navigation: GPS-denied navigation, path planning, stochastic optimisation, terrain analysis
Multi-Sensor Fusion: Visual-inertial odometry, LiDAR, UWB ranging, SLAM
Field Robotics: Precision agriculture, soil sensing, adaptive sampling, Gaussian processes

Service

Associate Editor, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters: August 2026–present. Localisation and mapping.
Grant Assessor, NSERC Alliance-Mitacs Accelerate: Canada, October 2025.
Grant Assessor, BARD: US–Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund, September 2025.
Reviewer: IEEE T-RO, T-FR, RA-L, ICRA, IROS, Scientific Reports

Teaching

PhD Co-supervisor, Daniel Guirguis: Current. Science Autonomy for Robotics, University of Sydney. Lead supervisor Professor Salah Sukkarieh; fellow co-supervisor Dr Jianglin Qiao.
PhD Co-supervisor: 2026–present. Co-supervise Nguyen Tran on robust global localisation with lead supervisor Dr Stewart Worrall.
Honours Technical Advisor: February 2026–present. Advise six Honours students on state estimation, localisation, path planning and system integration.
High School Work Experience Supervisor: December 2025. Supervised high school students in prototyping a soil sample mass measuring mechanism.
Master Student Supervision: Day-to-day research guidance for Martijn van der Markt, TU Eindhoven, 2024–January 2025. Co-author of the published soil-moisture study.
Technical Mentor: ACFR Junior Engineers on SLAM and ROS1/ROS2 integration.