Bernie H. Zhu

I am a Ph.D. student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of ashington, advised by Prof. Banghua Zhu. My research focuses on foundation models and general-purpose robots.
Before joining UW, I was a mechanical engineer in Africa ❓ How come? It's a long story. Let's save it for when we can talk in person. Prior to that, I was a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University Advised by Prof. Christopher G. Atkeson and Prof. Katerina Fragkiadaki and UCSD Advised by Prof. Hao Su . I graduated with High Honors from Zhejiang University, where I earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a minor in Electronic Engineering.

My work is TRASH ℹ️ After several failed attempts to create my CMU username, "trash" unexpectedly worked, so I had to come up with an acronym for it. Teaching Robotic Agents Skills of Humans

Physical AI
General-purpose robots
Foundation models
Reinforcement learning

News

[04/30/2026] SafeLab was accepted at ICML 2026. [12/02/2024] Yet paper on ADA was accepted at HRI 2025 and nominated for the Best Systems Paper Award. [03/13/2024] Another demo on ADA won the Best Demo Award at HRI 2024. [11/03/2023] I won the UW CSE baking competition. Here is a of me with the 🏆. Check out the recipe. [08/30/2023] A paper on ADA was accepted at CoRL 2023. [07/10/2023] I attended RSS 2023 to present our workshop paper. [07/12/2022] My F-1 visa was approved at the Consulado General de Estados Unidos en Hermosillo! [02/13/2022] I moved to Casablanca, Morocco, the first stop on my worldwide wandering. [02/23/2020] SAPIEN was accepted at CVPR 2020. [10/30/2019] I attended CoRL 2019 to give a presentation. Huge thanks to the organizers for providing a wheelchair. [09/07/2019] S4G was accepted at CoRL 2019. [06/16/2019] I attended CVPR 2019, my first conference. [03/02/2019] CrowdPose was accepted at CVPR 2019.

Publications

*Equal contribution

Miscellaneous

Trivia

My last name, Zhu (朱), is pronounced "jew," not "zoo." My signature above includes both my Chinese and English names I'm known for my photographic memory, which gives me an edge in games and memory-heavy tests :-D I lost my hearing completely in my early 20s but regained part of it after learning to read lips. Speaking a bit louder would be appreciated I traveled around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. I love adventure and can offer local tour guidance in Mexico and beyond

Hobbies

Cooking I cook in a Western style with Chinese flavors. One day, I'll open my own restaurantChef BZ Asian Fusion Cuisine 厨子很忙™

Games I excel at strategy games, board games, and poker games ℹ️I was kicked out 3 times in a day for winning too much at blackjack♠️ in Las Vegas😂

Music I enjoy classical and electronic music, especially trance and techno. Some favorites: Click the helmet to toggle Daft Punk Mode I play piano and suona Suona is a traditional Chinese double-reed wind instrument often used in folk music and ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.

Trading I consider myself a proficient trader in options and day trading. I achieved a 20x return 🚀Thank you NVDA! in 2 weeks during mid-2024