Shuchen Sun in front of the Palace of Westminster in London

Robotics · Embodied Intelligence · Vision-Language-Action Models

Shuchen Sun 孙树辰

MSc Robotics & Artificial Intelligence graduate from University College London, working on generalizable robot learning, long-horizon embodied reasoning, and deployable VLA systems.

Research Profile

Toward general-purpose embodied intelligence

Research focuses on memory-augmented Vision-Language-Action systems that connect short-term perception with long-term task reasoning. Current work centers on temporally aware decision-making, multi-task robot learning, policy generalization, and robust deployment in complex real-world environments.

Vision-Language-Action Models Robot Learning Reinforcement Learning Multi-scale Memory Visual SLAM In-Context Learning

Research Experience

Appointments and Projects

Mar 2026 - Aug 2026

Institute for General Decision Intelligence

Research Intern

Research and engineering in embodied intelligence, VLA deployment, and general-purpose robot learning. Collaborated with USTC on the Robotic Chemist project, leading the design of a VLA-based system for long-horizon chemical experimentation with multi-scale memory and autonomous planning.

Jul 2025 - Dec 2025

Huawei London Research Center

Research Intern

Conducted reinforcement learning research for embodied robotic control in BEHAVIOR-1K, designing scalable PPO training pipelines with reward shaping, multi-modal observations, and curriculum strategies for long-horizon household manipulation tasks.

Feb 2025 - Sept 2025

MSc Thesis Project, University College London

In-Context Learning with Multi-Task LoRA for Generalizable VLA

Developed a deployable VLA framework combining in-context learning and parameter-efficient fine-tuning on a Qwen3-8B backbone. Proposed a multi-task LoRA design with shared low-rank subspaces, orthogonal task-specific heads, and cross-task regularization.

Dec 2021 - Dec 2022

Ocean University of China

Undergraduate Research

Selected as an Outstanding Project under the National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. Contributed SLAM algorithms for robust indoor navigation and natural human-robot interaction in catering service robotics.

Education

Academic Training

University College London

MSc Robotics & Artificial Intelligence

Sept 2024 - Sept 2025 · Merit overall, thesis distinction

Heriot-Watt University

BEng Robotics, Joint Program

Sept 2023 - June 2024 · First Class Honours

Ocean University of China

BEng Computer Science and Technology

Sept 2020 - June 2024 · GPA 4.2/5

Selected Work

Publication and Competition Pipeline

Embodied AI for Science

Ongoing work with USTC on long-horizon embodied manipulation using VLA models, multi-scale memory, and hierarchical decision-making.

NeurIPS 2025 Competition

Team member at Huawei London Research Centre, focusing on multi-task reinforcement learning and policy optimization within BEHAVIOR-1K.

Technical Skills

Research Toolkit

Programming and Frameworks

Python, PyTorch, Transformers, HuggingFace PEFT, Accelerate, ROS, MATLAB, Java, Git, Linux

Robotics and Simulation

PyBullet, RLBench, PyRep, CoppeliaSim, Gazebo

Machine Learning

Computer vision, object detection, PEFT, MoE, in-context learning, reinforcement learning, VLA models

Languages

Chinese native, English fluent, IELTS 7.0

Honours

Scholarships and Recognition

  • College Scholarship, top 20%, Ocean University of China, 2023
  • University-Level Scholarship for Academic Achievement, Ocean University of China, 2022
  • National-Level Outstanding Project, University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program, 2022

Beyond Research

Photography, football, and late-night soundtracks

Beyond the lab, a quieter rhythm takes shape: city walks, open coastlines, architecture marked by time, football as ritual, and music threading through papers, code, and experiments.

Edinburgh city skyline from above
Edinburgh skyline
Stone church spire against a blue sky
Stone and sky
Green sea cliff above blue water
Cliff edge
Coastal castle ruins on green cliffs
Coastal ruins
Shuchen Sun crossing Abbey Road in London
Abbey Road
Brighton Palace Pier from the beach
Brighton pier
Beach and coastline in Nice
Nice coast
Glacier, mountains, and water in Iceland
Views of Iceland
Eiffel Tower lit at night through tree branches
Eiffel at night
Real Madrid stadium interior
Greatest club
Pink blossom photographed with a Nikon Z5
Nikon walks
Wooden boat moving through a green canal
Canal light