Agile Sensing and Intelligence Group (ASIG) Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence University of Groningen, The Netherlands & Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden ASIG-X (Github)  |  YouTube  |  Contact: kailai.li [at] rug [dot] nl

The Agile Sensing and Intelligence Group (ASIG), led by Kailai Li, is a research group based at the University of Groningen (RUG) in the Netherlands with an extension at Linköping University (LiU) in Sweden. We constantly look for strong candidates for PhD/postdoc/internship/thesis. Shoot us an email with a brief intro if you are interested, and we will start from this!

• 2024-05: We have now vancancy for PhD position in Multisensory Autonomy for Intelligent Mobile Systems at Bernoulli Institute, University of Groningen. Check it out and join us!
  
• 2024-04: We have released ser2res, a miniature open-source rviz2 plugin for resetting displays with service in ROS2. Ziyu is main author for implementation. Check out our code there!
  
• 2024-04: We have now launched our group's website here and Github account under ASIG-X. Our future opensource projects will be released here exclusively. Stay tuned!
  

Research Profile

Our major research interests lie in agile sensing and trustworthy inference in the general domain of understanding physical and cyber-physical systems, with applications to sensor fusion, robotic perception, and learning dynamical systems. We are also interested in developing planning and control methods for uncertain dynamical systems and have the ambition to methodologically unify these aspects through new representations and models with real-world validation. Check out some of our open-source robotic systems below

• LiLi-OM (The first solid-state LiDAR-inertial odometry and mapping system)
  
• SFUISE (The first continuous-time UWB-inertial motion estimation system)
  

People

• Kailai Li (Group leader, Assistant professor at University of Groningen)
  
• Ziyu Cao (PhD student at Linköping University)
  
• Elias William (Master's student at Linköping University)
  

Granted Projects

• Cybersecurity with Focus on Realiable Sensing and Autonomy
  Subject area including 1 Asst. Prof, 2 PhD students and 2 postdocs funded by WASP, Sweden [link]
  Acquired amount: about 20M SEK in total. Project duration: 2024-2028
  (Granted but declined by Kailai Li)
  
• Computational Agile Sensing and Inference for Intelligent Systems
  Funded within the ZENITH Program by Linköping University, Sweden [link]
  Acquired amount: 600,000 SEK/year for 5 years. Project duration: 2024-2028. [Project Page]
  
• POMAS – Pose Estimation and Mapping Using Heterogeneous Sensor Networks
  Funded within the Software Campus Program by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany [link]
  In cooperation with Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG as industrial partner
  Acquired amount: 100,000 EUR. Project duration: 2020-2022.
  

Distinctions

• 2023: Best Student Paper Finalist at the 31st European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2023 [link]
• 2022: Jean-Pierre Le Cadre Best Paper Award: First Runner-Up by the International Society for Information Fusion (ISIF) at FUSION 2022 [link]

Publications

2024

• Gaussian Process on the Product of Directional Manifolds
  Ziyu Cao, Kailai Li
  2024 European Control Conference (ECC), Stockholm, Sweden (to appear) [arXiv] [code]

2023

• On Embedding B-Splines in Recursive State Estimation
  Kailai Li
  arXiv preprint, arXiv:2307.00637, 2023 [arXiv]
• Weighted Total Least Squares for Quadratic Errors-in-Variable Regression
  Peng Liu, Kailai Li, Gustaf Hendeby, Fredrik Gustafsson
  Proceedings of the 2023 31st European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), Helsinki, Finland (Accepted)
  Best Student Paper Finalist [link]
• Continuous-Time Ultra-Wideband-Inertial Fusion
  Kailai Li, Ziyu Cao, Uwe D Hanebeck
  IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 4338-4345, July 2023 [arXiv] [IEEE] [video] [code and data]

2022

• Optimal Sensor Placement for Multilateration Using Alternating Greedy Removal and Placement
  Daniel Frisch, Kailai Li, Uwe D Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI), Cranfield, United Kingdom [IEEE]
• The State Space Subdivision Filter for SE(3)
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2022 25th International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Linköping, Sweden [IEEE]
• Circular Discrete Reapproximation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2022 25th International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Linköping, Sweden [IEEE]
  Jean-Pierre Le Cadre Best Paper Award First Runner-Up by International Society for Information Fusion (ISIF)

2021

• On-Manifold Recursive Bayesian Estimation for Directional Domains
  Kailai Li, PhD Thesis, Department of Informatics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, December 2021 [PDF]
  Graded with highest distinction (summa cum laude)
• Hyperspherical Dirac Mixture Reapproximation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.10411, 2021 [arXiv]
• Conditional Densities and Likelihoods for Hypertoroidal Densities Based on Trigonometric Polynomials
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI), Karlsruhe, Germany [IEEE]
• Deep Likelihood Learning for 2-D Orientation Estimation Using a Fourier Filter
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Sun City, South Africa [IEEE] [code]
• The State Space Subdivision Filter for Estimation on SE(2)
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Sensors 2021, 21(18), 6314 [MDPI]
• Towards High-Performance Solid-State-LiDAR-Inertial Odometry and Mapping
  Kailai Li, Meng Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 5167-5174, July 2021 [arXiv] [IEEE] [video] [code and data]
• Progressive von Mises–Fisher Filtering Using Isotropic Sample Sets for Nonlinear Hyperspherical Estimation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Sensors 2021, 21(9), 2991 [MDPI]
• Unscented Dual Quaternion Particle Filter for SE(3) Estimation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  IEEE Control Systems Letters, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 647-652, April 2021 & 2020 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Jeju, South Korea [IEEE]

2020

• Nonlinear von Mises–Fisher Filtering Based on Isotropic Deterministic Sampling
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI), Karlsruhe, Germany [IEEE]
• Estimating Correlated Angles Using the Hypertoroidal Grid Filter
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI), Karlsruhe, Germany [IEEE]
• Optimal Reduction of Dirac Mixture Densities on the 2-Sphere
  Daniel Frisch, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 1282-1287, 2020 & 21st IFAC World Congress, Berlin, Germany [ScienceDirect]
• The Spherical Grid Filter for Nonlinear Estimation on the Unit Sphere
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 2354-2360, 2020 & 21st IFAC World Congress, Berlin, Germany [ScienceDirect]
• Improved Pose Graph Optimization for Planar Motions Using Riemannian Geometry on the Manifold of Dual Quaternions
  Kailai Li, Johannes Cox, Benjamin Noack, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 9541-9547, 2020 & 21st IFAC World Congress, Berlin, Germany [ScienceDirect]
• Hyperspherical Unscented Particle Filter for Nonlinear Orientation Estimation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 2347-2353, 2020 & 21st IFAC World Congress, Berlin, Germany [ScienceDirect]
• Dual Quaternion Sample Reduction for SE(2) Estimation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2020 23rd International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Rustenburg, South Africa [IEEE] [video]
• A Hyperhemispherical Grid Filter for Orientation Estimation,
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2020 23rd International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Rustenburg, South Africa [IEEE]
• Highly Parallelizable Plane Extraction for Organized Point Clouds Using Spherical Convex Hulls
  Hannes Möls, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Paris, France [IEEE] [video]
• Grid-Based Quaternion Filter for SO(3) Estimation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2020 European Control Conference (ECC), St. Petersburg, Russia [IEEE]

2019

• Stereo Visual SLAM Based on Unscented Dual Quaternion Filtering
  Simon Bultmann, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2019 22nd International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Ottawa, Canada [IEEE] [video]
• Hyperspherical Deterministic Sampling Based on Riemannian Geometry for Improved Nonlinear Bingham Filtering
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2019 22nd International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Ottawa, Canada [IEEE]
• Fourier Filters, Grid Filters, and the Fourier-Interpreted Grid Filter
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2019 22nd International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Ottawa, Canada [IEEE]
• Geometry-Driven Deterministic Sampling for Nonlinear Bingham Filtering
  Kailai Li, Daniel Frisch, Benjamin Noack, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2019 European Control Conference (ECC), Naples, Italy [IEEE]
• Geometry-Driven Stochastic Modeling of SE(3) States Based on Dual Quaternion Representation
  Kailai Li, Florian Pfaff, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS), Taipei, Taiwan [IEEE]
• Comparative Study of Track-to-Track Fusion Methods for Cooperative Tracking with Bearings-only Measurements
  Susanne Radtke, Kailai Li, Benjamin Noack, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS), Taipei, Taiwan [IEEE]
• Association Likelihoods for Directional Estimation
  Florian Pfaff, Kailai Li, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS), Taipei, Taiwan [IEEE]
• Variable Step-Size Discrete Dynamic Programming for Vehicle Speed Trajectory Optimization
  Ziqi Ye, Kailai Li, Michael Stapelbroek, Rene Savelsberg, Marco Günther, Stefan Pischinger
  IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 476-484, Feb. 2019 [IEEE]

2018

• Nonlinear Progressive Filtering for SE(2) Estimation
  Kailai Li, Gerhard Kurz, Lukas Bernreiter, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2018 21st International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Cambridge, United Kingdom [IEEE]
• Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Using a Novel Dual Quaternion Particle Filter
  Kailai Li, Gerhard Kurz, Lukas Bernreiter, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2018 21st International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Cambridge, United Kingdom [IEEE]
• Wavefront Orientation Estimation Based on Progressive Bingham Filtering
  Kailai Li, Daniel Frisch, Susanne Radtke, Benjamin Noack, Uwe D. Hanebeck
  Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE ISIF Workshop on Sensor Data Fusion: Trends, Solutions, Applications (SDF), Bonn, Germany [IEEE]