Publications

Highly Selective Conference Papers 

Accepted and Published

1. Mukesh Ghimire, Lei Zhang, Zhe Xu, Yi Ren, State-Constrained Zero-Sum Differential Games with One-Sided Information, International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML),  Vienna, Austria, 2024, acceptance rate 27.5%.

2. Shayan Meshkat Alsadat, Nasim Baharisangari and Zhe Xu, Distributed On-the-Fly Control of Multi-Agent Systems With Unknown Dynamics: Using Limited Data to Obtain Near-optimal Control, L4DC (6th Annual Learning for Dynamics & Control Conference), Oxford, 2024.

3. Lei Zhang, Mukesh Ghimire, Zhe Xu, Wenlong Zhang and Yi Ren, Pontryagin Neural Operator for Solving General-Sum Differential Games with Parametric State Constraints, L4DC (6th Annual Learning for Dynamics & Control Conference), Oxford, 2024.

4. Jan Corazza, Hadi Partovi Aria, Daniel Neider, Zhe Xu, Expediting Reinforcement Learning by Incorporating Knowledge About Temporal Causality in the Environment, Conference on Causal Learning and Reasoning (CleaR), Los Angeles, 2024. 

5. Jueming Hu, Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Yanze Wang, Zhe Xu, Ufuk Topcu, and Yongming Liu, Reinforcement Learning With Reward Machines in Stochastic Games, European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI), 2023, acceptance rate 24%.

6. Rajarshi Roy, Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Nasim Baharisangari, Daniel Neider, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Learning Interpretable Temporal Properties from Positive Examples Only, The Thirty-Seventh AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-23), 2023, acceptance rate 19.6%.

7. Yash Paliwal, Rajarshi Roy, Jean-Raphael Gaglione, Nasim Baharisangari, Daniel Neider, Xiaoming Duan, Ufuk Topcu and Zhe Xu, Reinforcement Learning with Temporal-Logic-Based Causal Diagrams, International IFIP Cross Domain (CD) Conference for Machine Learning & Knowledge Extraction (MAKE), 2023.

8. Lei Zhang, Mukesh Ghimire, Wenlong Zhang, Zhe Xu, and Yi Ren, Approximating Discontinuous Nash Equilibrial Values of Two-Player General-Sum Differential Games, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2023, acceptance rate 43.04%.

9. Christos Verginis, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Non-Parametric Neuro-Adaptive Coordination of Multi-Agent Systems, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2022.

10. Cyrus Neary, Zhe Xu, Bo Wu, and Ufuk Topcu, Reward Machines for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2021, acceptance rate 25%.

11. Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Daniel Neider, Rajarshi Roy, Ufuk Topcu, and Zhe Xu, Learning Linear Temporal Properties from Noisy Data: A MaxSAT Approach,  The 19th International Symposium on Automated Technology for Verification and Analysis (ATVA), 2021, regular paper, acceptance rate 25.3%.

12. Zhe Xu, Bo Wu, Aditya Ojha, Daniel Neider, and Ufuk Topcu, Active Finite Reward Automaton Inference and Reinforcement Learning Using Queries and Counterexamples, International IFIP Cross Domain (CD) Conference for Machine Learning & Knowledge Extraction (MAKE), 2021.

13. Zhe Xu, Yuxin Chen, and Ufuk Topcu,  Adaptive Teaching of Temporal Logic Formulas to Learners with Preferences, The Thirty-Fifth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-21), 2021, acceptance rate 21%.

14. Daniel Neider, Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Ivan Gavran, Ufuk Topcu, Bo Wu, and Zhe Xu, Advice-Guided Reinforcement Learning in a non-Markovian Environment, The Thirty-Fifth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-21), 2021, acceptance rate 21%.

15. Zhe Xu, Ivan Gavran, Yousef Ahmad, Rupak Majumdar, Daniel Neider, Ufuk Topcu, and Bo Wu, Joint Inference of Reward Machines and Policies for Reinforcement Learning, Proc. International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), Special Track on Planning and Learning, June, 2020, acceptance rate 31.9%.

16. Franck Djeumou, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu,  Probabilistic Swarm Guidance with Graph Temporal Logic Specifications, Proc. Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2020, acceptance rate 32%.

17. Murat Cubuktepe, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Policy Synthesis for Factored MDPs with Graph Temporal Logic Specifications, Proc. International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), May 2020, acceptance rate 23%.

18. Zhe Xu and Ufuk Topcu, Transfer of Temporal Logic Formulas in Reinforcement Learning,  Proc. International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), August 2019, acceptance rate 17.9%.

Journal Papers

Accepted and Published

1. Lei Zhang, Mukesh Ghimire, Wenlong Zhang, Zhe Xu, and Yi Ren, Value Approximation for Two-Player General-Sum Differential Games with State Constraints, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2024.

2. Jueming Hu, Yash Paliwal, Hyohun Kim, Yanze Wang, Zhe Xu, Reinforcement Learning with Predefined and Inferred Reward Machines in Stochastic Games, Neurocomputing, 2024.

3. Ren Wang, Zhe Xu, and Alfred Hero, Multi-Trigger-Key: Towards Multi-Task Privacy Preserving In Deep Learning, IEEE Access, 2024.

4. Rishabh Saumil Thakkar, Aryaman Singh Samyal, David Fridovich-Keil, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Hierarchical Control for Cooperative Teams for Competitive Autonomous Racing, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles, 2024.

5. Zeyuan Jin, Nasim Baharisangari, Zhe Xu, Sze Zheng Yong, Data-Driven Model Discrimination of Switched Nonlinear Systems with Temporal Logic Inference, IEEE Open Journal of Control Systems, 2023.

6. Rishabh Saumil Thakkar, Aryaman Singh Samyal, David Fridovich-Keil, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Hierarchical Control for Head-to-Head Autonomous Racing, Field Robotics, 2023.

7. Xiaoming Duan, Zhe Xu, Rui Yan, and Ufuk Topcu, Privacy-Utility Trade-Offs Against Limited Adversaries, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (TAC), 2023.

8. Zhe Xu, Federico Zegers, Nasim Baharisangari, Bo Wu,  Alexander J. Phillips, Warren Dixon, and Ufuk Topcu, Controller Synthesis For Multi-Agent Systems with Intermittent Communication and Metric Temporal Logic Specifications, IEEE Access, 2023.

9. Runhan Sun, Sudarshanan Bharadwaj, Zhe Xu, Ufuk Topcu, and Warren E. Dixon, Reactive Synthesis for Relay-Explorer Consensus with Intermittent Communication, Automatica, Regular paper, 2023.

10. Jueming Hu, Zhe Xu, Weichang Wang, Guannan Qu, Yutian Pang, and Yongming Liu, Decentralized Graph-Based Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Using Reward Machines,  Neurocomputing, 2023.

11. Nasim Baharisangari, Kazuma Hirota, Ruixuan Yan, Agung Julius, and Zhe Xu, Weighted Graph-Based Signal Temporal Logic Inference Using Neural Networks, IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS), 2022.

12. Franck Djeumou, Zhe Xu, Murat Cubuktepe, and Ufuk Topcu, Probabilistic Control of Heterogeneous Swarms Subject to Graph Temporal Logic Specifications: A Decentralized and Scalable Approach, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (TAC), Regular paper, 2022.

13. Yichen Zhang, Chen Chen, Tianqi Hong, Bai Cui, Zhe Xu, Bo Chen, and Feng Qiu, Robust Trajectory-Constrained Frequency Control for Microgrids Considering Model Linearization Error, Applied Energy, 2022.

14. Cyrus Neary, Murat Cubuktepe, Niklas Lauffer, Xueting Jin, Alexander J. Phillips, Zhe Xu, Daoqin Tong, and Ufuk Topcu, Multiscale Heterogeneous Optimal Lockdown Control for COVID-19 Using Geographic Information, Scientific Reports, 2022.

15. Bo Wu, Murat Cubuktepe, Franck Djeumou, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Switched Linear Systems Meet Markov Decision Processes: Stability Analysis and Policy Synthesis,  IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (TAC), 2022.

16. Jean-Raphael Gaglione, Daniel Neider, Rajarshi Roy, Ufuk Topcu, Zhe Xu, MaxSAT-based Temporal Logic Inference from Noisy Data, Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering (NASA journal), 2022.

17. Murat Cubuktepe, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Policy Synthesis of Multi-Agent Systems With Graph Temporal Logic Specifications, IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, vol. 8 (4), pp. 1799–1810, 2021.

18. Bo Wu, Steven Carr, Suda Bharadwaj, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Byzantine-Resilient Distributed Hypothesis Testing With Time-Varying Network Topology, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (TAC), Regular paper, 2021.

19. Zhe Xu, Bo Wu, and Ufuk Topcu, Control Strategies for COVID-19 Epidemic with Vaccination, Shield Immunity and Quarantine: A Metric Temporal Logic Approach, PLOS ONE, 2021.

20. Ruixuan Yan, Zhe Xu, and Agung Julius, Swarm Signal Temporal Logic Inference for Swarm Behavior Analysis, IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters, vol. 4 (3), pp. 3021 - 3028, July, 2019.

21. Zhe Xu and Agung Julius, Robust Temporal Logic Inference for Provably Correct Fault Detection and Privacy Preservation of Switched Systems, IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 13 (3), pp. 3010 - 3021, April, 2019.

22. Zhe Xu, Sayan Saha, Botao Hu, Sandipan Mishra, and Agung Julius, Advisory Temporal Logic Inference and Controller Design in Human-Robot Collaboration,  IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering,  vol. 16 (1), pp. 459 - 477, June, 2018.

23. Zhe Xu, Agung Julius, and Joe H. Chow, Energy Storage Controller Synthesis for Power Systems With Temporal Logic Specifications, IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 13 (1), pp. 748 - 759, October, 2017. 

24. Zhe Xu, Agung Julius, and Joe H. Chow, Robust Testing of Cascading Failure Mitigations Based on Power Dispatch and Quick-Start Storage, IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 12 (4), pp. 3063 - 3074, April, 2017.

25. Zhe Xu, Marc Birtwistle, Calin Belta, and Agung Julius, A Temporal Logic Inference Approach for Model Discrimination, IEEE Life Sciences Letters, vol. 2(3), pp. 19-22, December 2016.

26. Zhe Xu and Agung Julius,  Census Signal Temporal Logic Inference for Multiagent Group Behavior Analysis, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, vol. 15(1), pp. 264-277, October 2016.

27. Chang-Liang Xia, Zhe Xu, and Jia-Xin Zhao, A New Direct Power Control Strategy for NPC Three-Level Voltage Source Rectifiers Using a Novel Vector Influence Table Method, Journal of power electronics, vol. 15(1), pp. 106-115, January 2015.

Under review

1. Xiaoming Duan, Yagiz Savas, Rui Yan, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, On the Detection of Markov Decision Processes,  in  Review,  Automatica.

2. Apoorva Nandakumar, Yan Li, Zhe Xu, Daning Huang, Enhancing Transient Dynamics Stabilization in Islanded Microgrids through Adaptive and Hierarchical Data-Driven Predictive Droop Control, in  Review,  IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

3. Christos Verginis, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Non-Parametric Neuro-Adaptive Formation Control, in  Review, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering.

Refereed Conference Papers and Posters

• Shayan Meshkat Alsadat, Nasim Baharisangari, Yash Paliwal, Zhe Xu, Distributed Reinforcement Learning For Swarm Systems With Reward Machines, IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), Toronto, 2024.

• Nasim Baharisangari, Yash Paliwal, Zhe Xu, Counterfactually-Guided Causal Reinforcement Learning with Reward Machines, IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), Toronto, 2024.

• Nasim Baharisangari, Narendhiran Saravanane, Zhe Xu, Distributed Differentially Private Control Synthesis for Multi-Agent Systems with Metric Temporal Logic Specifications, IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), Toronto, 2024.

• Mukesh Ghimire*, Lei Zhang, Wenlong Zhang, Yi Ren, Zhe Xu, Solving Two-Player General-Sum Game Between Swarms, IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), Toronto, 2024.

• Xiaoming Duan, Nasim Baharisangari, Rui Yan, Zhe Xu, and Melkior Ornik, On a Notion of Resilience for Markov Decision Processes with Reachability Objectives, IFAC World Congress, 2023.

• Jan Corazza, Hadi Partovi Aria, Daniel Neider, Zhe Xu, Expediting Reinforcement Learning by Incorporating Temporal Causal Information, NeurIPS Causal Representation Learning Workshop, 2023.

• Christos Verginis, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Non-Parametric Neuro-Adaptive Control, European Control Conference (ECC), 2023.

• Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Rajarshi Roy, Nasim Baharisangari, Daniel Neider, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Learning Temporal Logic Properties: an Overview of Two Recent Methods, AAAI FSS-22 symposium “Lessons Learned for Autonomous Assessment of Machine Abilities" (LLAAMA), 2022.

• Sunny Amatya, Mukesh Ghimire, Yi Ren, Zhe Xu, and Wenlong Zhang, When Shall I Estimate Your Intent? Costs and Benefits of Intent Inference in Multi-Agent Interactions, IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), 2022.

• Nasim Baharisangari, Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Daniel Neider, Ufuk Topcu, and Zhe Xu, Uncertainty-Aware Signal Temporal Logic Inference, 13th Working Conference on Verified Software: Theories, Tools, and Experiments (VSTTE), 2021.

• Aris Kanellopoulos, Filippos Fotiadis, Chuangchuang Sun, Zhe Xu, Kyriakos G. Vamvoudakis, Ufuk Topcu, and Warren E. Dixon, Temporal-Logic-Based Intermittent, Optimal, and Safe Continuous-Time Learning for Trajectory Tracking, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), December, 2021.

• Zhe Xu and Yichen Zhang, Provably Correct Controller Synthesis of Switched Stochastic Systems with Metric Temporal Logic Specifications: A Case Study on Power Systems,  IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), December, 2021.

• Zhe Xu and Xiaoming Duan, Robust Pandemic Control Synthesis with Formal Specifications: A Case Study on COVID-19 Pandemic, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), December, 2021.

• Ren Wang, Tianqi Chen, Zhe Xu, and Pengzhi Gao, Robust Low-Rank Tensor Recovery From Quantized and Corrupted Measurements, Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, 2021.

• Rajarshi Roy, Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Daniel Neider, Ufuk Topcu, and Zhe Xu, A MaxSAT Approach to Inferring Explainable Temporal Properties, ICML (International Conference on Machine Learning) Workshop on Theoretic Foundation, Criticism, and Application Trend of Explainable AI, 2021.

• Aditya Ojha, Zhe Xu, Bo Wu, Daniel Neider, and Ufuk Topcu, Active Automaton Inference for Reinforcement Learning using Queries and Counterexamples, ICML (International Conference on Machine Learning) Workshop on Theoretic Foundation, Criticism, and Application Trend of Explainable AI, 2021.

• Daniel Neider, Jean-Raphaël Gaglione, Ivan Gavran, Ufuk Topcu, Bo Wu, and Zhe Xu, Advice-Guided Reinforcement Learning in a non-Markovian Environment, LWDA (Learning, Knowledge, Data, Analytics) 2021 conference.

• Farzan Memarian, Zhe Xu, Bo Wu, Min Wen, and Ufuk Topcu, Active Task-Inference-Guided Deep Inverse Reinforcement Learning, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2020.

• Michael Hibbard, Yagiz Savas, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Minimizing  the  Information  Leakage  of  High-Level  Task  Specifications, 21st IFAC World Congress, 2020.

• Zhe Xu, Kasra Yazdani, Matthew T. Hale, and Ufuk Topcu, Differentially Private Controller Synthesis With Metric Temporal Logic Specifications, IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), 2020.

• Bo Wu, Steven Carr, Suda Bharadwaj, Zhe Xu, and Ufuk Topcu, Resilient Distributed Hypothesis Testing With Time-Varying Network Topology, IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), 2020.

• Zhe Xu,  Federico Zegers, Bo Wu, Warren Dixon, and Ufuk Topcu, Controller Synthesis For Multi-Agent Systems with Intermittent Communication: A Metric Temporal Logic Approach,  57th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2019.

• Zhe Xu,  Alexander Nettekoven, A. Agung Julius, and Ufuk Topcu, Graph Temporal Logic Inference for Classification and Identification,  IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), December 2019.

• Zhe Xu,  Melkior Ornik, A. Agung Julius, and Ufuk Topcu, Information-Guided Temporal Logic Inference with Prior Knowledge,  Proc. IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), July 2019.

• Zhe Xu,  Yi Deng, and Agung Julius, Robust Temporal Logic Inference for Hybrid System Observation– An Application on Occupancy Detection of Smart Buildings,  Proc. IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), June 2018.

• Zhe Xu, Agung Julius, and Joe H. Chow, Coordinated Control of Wind Turbine Generator and Energy Storage System for Frequency Regulation under Temporal Logic Specifications,  Proc.  IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), June 2018.

• Zhe Xu, Sayan Saha, and Agung Julius, Provably correct design of observations for fault detection with privacy preservation,  in Proc. IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), December 2017.

• Zhe Xu, Agung Julius, and Joe H. Chow, Optimal energy storage control for frequency regulation under temporal logic specifications, in Proc. IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), May 2017.

• Zhe Xu, Agung Julius, and Joe H. Chow, Verification of Cascading Failures based on Generator Power Dispatch, in Proc. IEEE PES General Meeting, July, 2016.

• Zhe Xu, Calin Belta, and Agung Julius, Temporal Logic Inference with Prior Information: An Application to Robot Arm Movements,  in Proc. IFAC Conference on Analysis and Design of Hybrid Systems (ADHS), October 2015.

• Zhe Xu, Marc Birtwistle, Calin Belta, and Agung Julius, Temporal logic inference for model discrimination: an application on the ERK pathway, in Proc. Foundations of Systems Biology in Engineering (FOSBE), Boston, MA, 2015.

Unrefereed papers

• Jie You and Zhe Xu, Robust Control of Unicycle Robots for Source Seeking, 2014.

Patent

         New Direct Power Control Strategy for NPC Three-Level Converters using a novel vector  influence table method, CN103595283A.