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Lu Feng

Lu Feng contributes to research discovery and scholarly infrastructure.

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Published work

19 published item(s)

preprint2026arXiv

AutoResearchClaw: Self-Reinforcing Autonomous Research with Human-AI Collaboration

Automating scientific discovery requires more than generating papers from ideas. Real research is iterative: hypotheses are challenged from multiple perspectives, experiments fail and inform the next attempt, and lessons accumulate across cycles. Existing autonomous research systems often model this process as a linear pipeline: they rely on single-agent reasoning, stop when execution fails, and do not carry experience across runs. We present AutoResearchClaw, a multi-agent autonomous research pipeline built on five mechanisms: structured multi-agent debate for hypothesis generation and result analysis, a self-healing executor with a \textsc{Pivot}/\textsc{Refine} decision loop that transforms failures into information, verifiable result reporting that prevents fabricated numbers and hallucinated citations, human-in-the-loop collaboration with seven intervention modes spanning full autonomy to step-by-step oversight, and cross-run evolution that converts past mistakes into future safeguards. On ARC-Bench, a 25-topic experiment-stage benchmark, AutoResearchClaw outperforms AI Scientist v2 by 54.7%. A human-in-the-loop ablation across seven intervention modes reveals that precise, targeted collaboration at high-leverage decision points consistently outperforms both full autonomy and exhaustive step-by-step oversight. We position AutoResearchClaw as a research amplifier that augments rather than replaces human scientific judgment. Code is available at https://github.com/aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw.

preprint2022arXiv

A Study on Learning and Simulating Personalized Car-Following Driving Style

Automated vehicles are gradually entering people's daily life to provide a comfortable driving experience for the users. The generic and user-agnostic automated vehicles have limited ability to accommodate the different driving styles of different users. This limitation not only impacts users' satisfaction but also causes safety concerns. Learning from user demonstrations can provide direct insights regarding users' driving preferences. However, it is difficult to understand a driver's preference with limited data. In this study, we use a model-free inverse reinforcement learning method to study drivers' characteristics in the car-following scenario from a naturalistic driving dataset, and show this method is capable of representing users' preferences with reward functions. In order to predict the driving styles for drivers with limited data, we apply Gaussian Mixture Models and compute the similarity of a specific driver to the clusters of drivers. We design a personalized adaptive cruise control (P-ACC) system through a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) model. The reward function with the model to mimic drivers' driving style is integrated, with a constraint on the relative distance to ensure driving safety. Prediction of the driving styles achieves 85.7% accuracy with the data of less than 10 car-following events. The model-based experimental driving trajectories demonstrate that the P-ACC system can provide a personalized driving experience.

preprint2022arXiv

Cosmological search for sterile neutrinos after Planck 2018

Sterile neutrinos can affect the evolution of the universe, and thus using the cosmological observations can search for sterile neutrinos. In this work, we use the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data from the Planck 2018 release, combined with the latest baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), type Ia supernova (SN), and Hubble constant ($H_0$) data, to constrain the cosmological models with considering sterile neutrinos. In order to test the influences of the properties of dark energy on the {results} of searching for sterile neutrinos, in addition to the $Λ$ cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) model, we also consider the $w$CDM model and the holographic dark energy (HDE) model. We find that the existence of sterile neutrinos {is not preferred} when the $H_0$ local measurement is not included in the data combination. When the $H_0$ measurement is included in the joint constraints, it is found that $ΔN_{\rm eff}>0$ is {favored} at about 2.7$σ$ level for the $Λ$CDM model and at about 1-1.7$σ$ level for the $w$CDM model. However, $m_{ν,{\rm{sterile}}}^{\rm{eff}}$ still cannot be well constrained and only upper limits can be given. In addition, we find that the HDE model is definitely ruled out by the current data. We also discuss the issue of the Hubble tension, and we conclude that involving sterile neutrinos in the cosmological models cannot truly resolve the Hubble tension.

preprint2022arXiv

Enjoy the Ride Consciously with CAWA: Context-Aware Advisory Warnings for Automated Driving

In conditionally automated driving, drivers decoupled from driving while immersed in non-driving-related tasks (NDRTs) could potentially either miss the system-initiated takeover request (TOR) or a sudden TOR may startle them. To better prepare drivers for a safer takeover in an emergency, we propose novel context-aware advisory warnings (CAWA) for automated driving to gently inform drivers. This will help them stay vigilant while engaging in NDRTs. The key innovation is that CAWA adapts warning modalities according to the context of NDRTs. We conducted a user study to investigate the effectiveness of CAWA. The study results show that CAWA has statistically significant effects on safer takeover behavior, improved driver situational awareness, less attention demand, and more positive user feedback, compared with uniformly distributed speech-based warnings across all NDRTs.

preprint2022arXiv

Logic-based Reward Shaping for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement learning (RL) relies heavily on exploration to learn from its environment and maximize observed rewards. Therefore, it is essential to design a reward function that guarantees optimal learning from the received experience. Previous work has combined automata and logic based reward shaping with environment assumptions to provide an automatic mechanism to synthesize the reward function based on the task. However, there is limited work on how to expand logic-based reward shaping to Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL). The environment will need to consider the joint state in order to keep track of other agents if the task requires cooperation, thus suffering from the curse of dimensionality with respect to the number of agents. This project explores how logic-based reward shaping for MARL can be designed for different scenarios and tasks. We present a novel method for semi-centralized logic-based MARL reward shaping that is scalable in the number of agents and evaluate it in multiple scenarios.

preprint2022arXiv

Multi-Objective Controller Synthesis with Uncertain Human Preferences

Complex real-world applications of cyber-physical systems give rise to the need for multi-objective controller synthesis, which concerns the problem of computing an optimal controller subject to multiple (possibly conflicting) criteria. The relative importance of objectives is often specified by human decision-makers. However, there is inherent uncertainty in human preferences (e.g., due to artifacts resulting from different preference elicitation methods). In this paper, we formalize the notion of uncertain human preferences and present a novel approach that accounts for this uncertainty in the context of multi-objective controller synthesis for Markov decision processes (MDPs). Our approach is based on mixed-integer linear programming and synthesizes an optimally permissive multi-strategy that satisfies uncertain human preferences with respect to a multi-objective property. Experimental results on a range of large case studies show that the proposed approach is feasible and scalable across varying MDP model sizes and uncertainty levels of human preferences. Evaluation via an online user study also demonstrates the quality and benefits of the synthesized controllers.

preprint2022arXiv

Photometric redshifts and Galaxy Clusters for DES DR2, DESI DR9, and HSC-SSP PDR3 Data

Photometric redshift (photo-z) is a fundamental parameter for multi-wavelength photometric surveys, while galaxy clusters are important cosmological probers and ideal objects for exploring the dense environmental impact on galaxy evolution. We extend our previous work on estimating photo-z and detecting galaxy clusters to the latest data releases of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) imaging surveys, Dark Energy Survey (DES), and Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) imaging surveys and make corresponding catalogs publicly available for more extensive scientific applications. The photo-z catalogs include accurate measurements of photo-z and stellar mass for about 320, 293, and 134 million galaxies with $r<23$, $i<24$, and $i<25$ in DESI DR9, DES DR2, and HSC-SSP PDR3 data, respectively. The photo-z accuracy is about 0.017, 0.024, and 0.029 and the general redshift coverage is $z<1$, $z<1.2$, and $z<1.6$, respectively for those three surveys. The uncertainties of the logarithmic stellar mass that is inferred from stellar population synthesis fitting is about 0.2 dex. With the above photo-z catalogs, galaxy clusters are detected using a fast cluster-finding algorithm. A total of 532,810, 86,963, and 36,566 galaxy clusters with the number of members larger than 10 are discovered for DESI, DES, and HSC-SSP, respectively. Their photo-z accuracy is at the level of 0.01. The total mass of our clusters are also estimated by using the calibration relations between the optical richness and the mass measurement from X-ray and radio observations. The photo-z and cluster catalogs are available at ScienceDB (https://www.doi.org/10.11922/sciencedb.o00069.00003) and PaperData Repository (https://doi.org/10.12149/101089).

preprint2022arXiv

Planning for Automated Vehicles with Human Trust

Recent work has considered personalized route planning based on user profiles, but none of it accounts for human trust. We argue that human trust is an important factor to consider when planning routes for automated vehicles. This paper presents a trust-based route planning approach for automated vehicles. We formalize the human-vehicle interaction as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) and model trust as a partially observable state variable of the POMDP, representing the human&#39;s hidden mental state. We build data-driven models of human trust dynamics and takeover decisions, which are incorporated in the POMDP framework, using data collected from an online user study with 100 participants on the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. We compute optimal routes for automated vehicles by solving optimal policies in the POMDP planning, and evaluate the resulting routes via human subject experiments with 22 participants on a driving simulator. The experimental results show that participants taking the trust-based route generally reported more positive responses in the after-driving survey than those taking the baseline (trust-free) route. In addition, we analyze the trade-offs between multiple planning objectives (e.g., trust, distance, energy consumption) via multi-objective optimization of the POMDP. We also identify a set of open issues and implications for real-world deployment of the proposed approach in automated vehicles.

preprint2022arXiv

Toward Policy Explanations for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Advances in multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) enable sequential decision making for a range of exciting multi-agent applications such as cooperative AI and autonomous driving. Explaining agent decisions is crucial for improving system transparency, increasing user satisfaction, and facilitating human-agent collaboration. However, existing works on explainable reinforcement learning mostly focus on the single-agent setting and are not suitable for addressing challenges posed by multi-agent environments. We present novel methods to generate two types of policy explanations for MARL: (i) policy summarization about the agent cooperation and task sequence, and (ii) language explanations to answer queries about agent behavior. Experimental results on three MARL domains demonstrate the scalability of our methods. A user study shows that the generated explanations significantly improve user performance and increase subjective ratings on metrics such as user satisfaction.

preprint2021arXiv

DeepTake: Prediction of Driver Takeover Behavior using Multimodal Data

Automated vehicles promise a future where drivers can engage in non-driving tasks without hands on the steering wheels for a prolonged period. Nevertheless, automated vehicles may still need to occasionally hand the control back to drivers due to technology limitations and legal requirements. While some systems determine the need for driver takeover using driver context and road condition to initiate a takeover request, studies show that the driver may not react to it. We present DeepTake, a novel deep neural network-based framework that predicts multiple aspects of takeover behavior to ensure that the driver is able to safely take over the control when engaged in non-driving tasks. Using features from vehicle data, driver biometrics, and subjective measurements, DeepTake predicts the driver&#39;s intention, time, and quality of takeover. We evaluate DeepTake performance using multiple evaluation metrics. Results show that DeepTake reliably predicts the takeover intention, time, and quality, with an accuracy of 96%, 93%, and 83%, respectively. Results also indicate that DeepTake outperforms previous state-of-the-art methods on predicting driver takeover time and quality. Our findings have implications for the algorithm development of driver monitoring and state detection.

preprint2021arXiv

Predictive Monitoring with Logic-Calibrated Uncertainty for Cyber-Physical Systems

Predictive monitoring -- making predictions about future states and monitoring if the predicted states satisfy requirements -- offers a promising paradigm in supporting the decision making of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Existing works of predictive monitoring mostly focus on monitoring individual predictions rather than sequential predictions. We develop a novel approach for monitoring sequential predictions generated from Bayesian Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) that can capture the inherent uncertainty in CPS, drawing on insights from our study of real-world CPS datasets. We propose a new logic named \emph{Signal Temporal Logic with Uncertainty} (STL-U) to monitor a flowpipe containing an infinite set of uncertain sequences predicted by Bayesian RNNs. We define STL-U strong and weak satisfaction semantics based on if all or some sequences contained in a flowpipe satisfy the requirement. We also develop methods to compute the range of confidence levels under which a flowpipe is guaranteed to strongly (weakly) satisfy an STL-U formula. Furthermore, we develop novel criteria that leverage STL-U monitoring results to calibrate the uncertainty estimation in Bayesian RNNs. Finally, we evaluate the proposed approach via experiments with real-world datasets and a simulated smart city case study, which show very encouraging results of STL-U based predictive monitoring approach outperforming baselines.

preprint2021arXiv

Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning via Shielding

Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) has been increasingly used in a wide range of safety-critical applications, which require guaranteed safety (e.g., no unsafe states are ever visited) during the learning process.Unfortunately, current MARL methods do not have safety guarantees. Therefore, we present two shielding approaches for safe MARL. In centralized shielding, we synthesize a single shield to monitor all agents&#39; joint actions and correct any unsafe action if necessary. In factored shielding, we synthesize multiple shields based on a factorization of the joint state space observed by all agents; the set of shields monitors agents concurrently and each shield is only responsible for a subset of agents at each step.Experimental results show that both approaches can guarantee the safety of agents during learning without compromising the quality of learned policies; moreover, factored shielding is more scalable in the number of agents than centralized shielding.

preprint2021arXiv

Towards Personalized Explanation of Robot Path Planning via User Feedback

Prior studies have found that explaining robot decisions and actions helps to increase system transparency, improve user understanding, and enable effective human-robot collaboration. In this paper, we present a system for generating personalized explanations of robot path planning via user feedback. We consider a robot navigating in an environment modeled as a Markov decision process (MDP), and develop an algorithm to automatically generate a personalized explanation of an optimal MDP policy, based on the user preference regarding four elements (i.e., objective, locality, specificity, and corpus). In addition, we design the system to interact with users via answering users&#39; further questions about the generated explanations. Users have the option to update their preferences to view different explanations. The system is capable of detecting and resolving any preference conflict via user interaction. The results of an online user study show that the generated personalized explanations improve user satisfaction, while the majority of users liked the system&#39;s capabilities of question-answering and conflict detection/resolution.

preprint2020arXiv

Constraints on active and sterile neutrinos in an interacting dark energy cosmology

We investigate the impacts of dark energy on constraining massive (active/sterile) neutrinos in interacting dark energy (IDE) models by using the current observations. We employ two typical IDE models, the interacting $w$ cold dark matter (I$w$CDM) model and the interacting holographic dark energy (IHDE) model, to make an analysis. To avoid large-scale instability, we use the parameterized post-Friedmann approach to calculate the cosmological perturbations in the IDE models. The cosmological observational data used in this work include the Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the type Ia supernovae data, the direct measurement of the Hubble constant, the weak lensing data, the redshift-space distortion data, and the CMB lensing data. We find that the dark energy properties could influence the constraint limits of active neutrino mass and sterile neutrino parameters in the IDE models. We also find that the dark energy properties could influence the constraints on the coupling strength parameter $β$, and a positive coupling constant, $β>0$, can be detected at the $2.5σ$ statistical significance for the IHDE+$ν_s$ model by using the all-data combination. In addition, we also discuss the &#34;Hubble tension&#34; issue in these scenarios. We find that the $H_0$ tension can be effectively relieved by considering massive sterile neutrinos, and in particular in the IHDE+$ν_s$ model the $H_0$ tension can be reduced to be at the $1.28σ$ level.

preprint2020arXiv

Optical turbulence at Ali, China -- Results from the first year of lunar scintillometer observations

The location of an astronomical observatory is a key factor that affects its scientific productivity. The best astronomical sites are generally those found at high altitudes. Several such sites in western China and the Tibetan plateau are presently under development for astronomy. One of these is Ali, which at over 5000 m is one of the highest astronomical sites in the world. In order to further investigate the astronomical potential of Ali, we have installed a lunar scintillometer, for the primary purpose of profiling atmospheric turbulence. This paper describes the instrument and technique, and reports results from the first year of observations. We find that ground layer (GL) turbulence at Ali is remarkably weak and relatively thin. The median seeing, from turbulence in the range 11- 500 m above ground is 0.34 arcsec, with seeing better than 0.26 arcsec occurring 25 per cent of the time. Under median conditions, half of the GL turbulence lies below a height of 62 m. These initial results, and the high altitude and relatively low temperatures, suggest that Ali could prove to be an outstanding site for ground-based astronomy.

preprint2020arXiv

Site testing campaign for the Large Optical/infrared Telescope of China: Overview

The Large Optical/infrared Telescope (LOT) is a ground-based 12m diameter optical/infrared telescope which is proposed to be built in the western part of China in the next decade. Based on satellite remote sensing data, along with geographical, logistical and political considerations, three candidate sites were chosen for ground-based astronomical performance monitoring. These sites include: Ali in Tibet, Daocheng in Sichuan, and Muztagh Ata in Xinjiang. Up until now, all three sites have continuously collected data for two years. In this paper, we will introduce this site testing campaign, and present its monitoring results obtained during the period between March 2017 and March 2019.

preprint2020arXiv

Site-testing at Muztagh-ata site I: Ground Meteorology and Sky Brightness

Site-testing is crucial for achieving the goal of scientific research and analysis of meteorological and optical observing conditions is one of the basic tasks of it. As one of three potential sites to host 12-meter Large Optical/infrared Telescope (LOT), Muztagh-ata site which is located on the Pamirs Plateau in west China&#39;s Xinjiang began its site-testing task in the spring of 2017. In this paper, we firstly start with an introduction to the site and then present a statistical analysis of the ground-level meteorological properties such as air temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, recorded by automatic weather station with standard meteorological sensors for two-year long. We also show the monitoring results of sky brightness during this period.

preprint2020arXiv

Site-testing at Muztagh-ata site II: Seeing statistics

In this article, we present a detailed analysis of the statistical properties of seeing for the Muztagh-ata site which is the candidate site for hosting future Chinese Large Optical/infrared Telescope (LOT) project. The measurement was obtained with Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) from April 2017 to November 2018 at different heights during different periods. The median seeing at 11 meters and 6 meters are very close but different significantly from that on the ground. We mainly analyzed the seeing at 11 meters monthly and hourly, having found that the best season for observing was from late autumn to early winter and seeing tended to improve during the night only in autumn. The analysis of the dependence on temperature inversion, wind speed, direction also was made and the best meteorological conditions for seeing is given.

preprint2020arXiv

Towards Transparent Robotic Planning via Contrastive Explanations

Providing explanations of chosen robotic actions can help to increase the transparency of robotic planning and improve users&#39; trust. Social sciences suggest that the best explanations are contrastive, explaining not just why one action is taken, but why one action is taken instead of another. We formalize the notion of contrastive explanations for robotic planning policies based on Markov decision processes, drawing on insights from the social sciences. We present methods for the automated generation of contrastive explanations with three key factors: selectiveness, constrictiveness, and responsibility. The results of a user study with 100 participants on the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform show that our generated contrastive explanations can help to increase users&#39; understanding and trust of robotic planning policies while reducing users&#39; cognitive burden.