Publications · Kehan Long

Journal Articles
Conference Proceedings
Dissertation
Workshop Papers

Journal Articles

Neural Configuration-Space Barriers for Manipulation Planning and Control
K. Long, K. M. B. Lee, N. Raicevic, N. Attasseri, M. Leok and N. Atanasov
IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (TASE), Vol. 23, pp. 10173-10185, 2026.
bib doi arXiv

          @article{Long_NCSB_TASE26,
            author = {Kehan Long and Ki Myung Brian Lee and Nikola Raicevic and Niyas Attasseri and Melvin Leok and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Neural Configuration-Space Barriers for Manipulation Planning and Control}},
            journal = {IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (TASE)},
            year = {2026},
            volume = {23},
            pages = {10173-10185},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/TASE.2026.3695092}
          }

Sensor-Based Distributionally Robust Control for Safe Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments
K. Long, Y. Yi, Z. Dai, S. Herbert, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), Vol. 45(2), pp. 328-351, 2026.
bib doi arXiv

          @article{Long_DROSafeNavigation_IJRR26,
            author = {Kehan Long and Yinzhuang Yi and Zhirui Dai and Sylvia Herbert and Jorge Cortés and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Sensor-Based Distributionally Robust Control for Safe Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments}},
            journal = {The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)},
            year = {2026},
            volume = {45},
            number = {2},
            pages = {328-351},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/02783649251352000}
          }

Distributionally Robust Policy and Lyapunov-Certificate Learning
K. Long, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
IEEE Open Journal of Control Systems (OJ-CSYS), Vol. 3, pp. 375-388, 2024.
bib doi arXiv

          @article{Long_DROCLFControl_OJCSYS24,
            author = {Kehan Long and Jorge Cortés and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Distributionally Robust Policy and Lyapunov-Certificate Learning}},
            journal = {IEEE Open Journal of Control Systems (OJ-CSYS)},
            year = {2024},
            volume = {3},
            pages = {375-388},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCSYS.2024.3440051}
          }

Feasibility Analysis and Regularity Characterization of Distributionally Robust Safe Stabilizing Controllers
P. Mestres, K. Long, N. Atanasov and J. Cortés
IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS), Vol. 8, pp. 91-96, 2024.
bib doi arXiv

          @article{Mestres_DROFeasibility_LCSS24,
            author = {Pol Mestres and Kehan Long and Nikolay Atanasov and Jorge Cortés},
            title = {{Feasibility Analysis and Regularity Characterization of Distributionally Robust Safe Stabilizing Controllers}},
            journal = {IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS)},
            year = {2024},
            volume = {8},
            pages = {91-96},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/LCSYS.2023.3348688}
          }

Safe Control Synthesis With Uncertain Dynamics and Constraints
K. Long, V. Dhiman, M. Leok, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Vol. 7(3), pp. 7295-7302, 2022.
bib doi arXiv

          @article{Long_SafeControl_RAL22,
            author = {Long, Kehan and Dhiman, Vikas and Leok, Melvin and Cortés, Jorge and Atanasov, Nikolay},
            title = {{Safe Control Synthesis With Uncertain Dynamics and Constraints}},
            journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
            year = {2022},
            volume = {7},
            number = {3},
            pages = {7295-7302},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2022.3182544}
          }

Learning Barrier Functions with Memory for Robust Safe Navigation
K. Long, C. Qian, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), Vol. 6(3), pp. 4931-4938, 2021.
bib doi arXiv

          @article{Long_LearningCBF_RAL21,
            author = {Kehan Long and Cheng Qian and Jorge Cortés and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Learning Barrier Functions with Memory for Robust Safe Navigation}},
            journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
            year = {2021},
            volume = {6},
            number = {3},
            pages = {4931-4938},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2021.3070250}
          }

Conference Proceedings

SERF: Spatiotemporal Environment and Robot Feature Map for Long-Horizon Mobile Manipulation
S. Kim, B. Pak, K. Long, Y. Tian and N. Atanasov
Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), 2026. (Spotlight)
bib project arXiv code

          @inproceedings{Kim_SERF_CoRL26,
            author = {Sunghwan Kim and Byeonghyun Pak and Kehan Long and Yulun Tian and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{SERF: Spatiotemporal Environment and Robot Feature Map for Long-Horizon Mobile Manipulation}},
            booktitle = {Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)},
            year = {2026},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.12956}
          }

Certifying Stability of Reinforcement Learning Policies using Generalized Lyapunov Functions
K. Long, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), 2025.
bib doi arXiv

          @inproceedings{Long_GLF_NeurIPS25,
            author = {Long, Kehan and Cortés, Jorge and Atanasov, Nikolay},
            title = {Certifying Stability of Reinforcement Learning Policies using Generalized {L}yapunov Functions},
            booktitle = {Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
            year = {2025},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.10947},
            doi = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=N67DlqK5C4}
          }

Neural Configuration Distance Function for Continuum Robot Control
K. Long, H. Parwana, G. Fainekos, B. Hoxha, H. Okamoto and N. Atanasov
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2025.
bib doi arXiv

          @inproceedings{Long_ContinuumCDF_IROS25,
            author = {Kehan Long and Hardik Parwana and Georgios Fainekos and Bardh Hoxha and Hideki Okamoto and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {Neural Configuration Distance Function for Continuum Robot Control},
            booktitle = {IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)},
            year = {2025},
            pages = {358-364},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.13865},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS60139.2025.11246945}
          }

Stabilization of Nonlinear Systems through Control Barrier Functions
P. Mestres, K. Long, M. Leok, N. Atanasov and J. Cortés
IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2024.
bib doi arXiv

          @inproceedings{Mestres_CBFStabilization_CDC24,
            author={Mestres, Pol and Long, Kehan and Leok, Melvin and Atanasov, Nikolay and Cortés, Jorge},
            booktitle={2024 IEEE 63rd Conference on Decision and Control (CDC)}, 
            title={Stabilization of Nonlinear Systems through Control Barrier Functions}, 
            year={2024},
            volume={},
            number={},
            pages={8858-8863}          
          }

Safe Stabilizing Control for Polygonal Robots in Dynamic Elliptical Environments
K. Long, K. Tran, M. Leok and N. Atanasov
American Control Conference (ACC), 2024.
bib doi arXiv

          @inproceedings{long2024safe_polygonal,
            title={Safe Stabilizing Control for Polygonal Robots in Dynamic Elliptical Environments},
            author={Long, Kehan and Tran, Khoa and Leok, Melvin and Atanasov, Nikolay},
            booktitle={2024 American Control Conference (ACC)},
            pages={312--317},
            year={2024},
            organization={IEEE}
          }

Distributionally Robust Lyapunov Function Search Under Uncertainty
K. Long, Y. Yi, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
Learning for Dynamics and Control (L4DC), pp. 864-877, 2023.
bib doi arXiv

          @inproceedings{Long_LFSearch_L4DC23,
            author = {Kehan Long and Yinzhuang Yi and Jorge Cortés and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Distributionally Robust Lyapunov Function Search Under Uncertainty}},
            booktitle = {Learning for Dynamics and Control (L4DC)},
            year = {2023},
            pages = {864-877},
            doi = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v211/long23a.html}
          }

Safe and Stable Control Synthesis for Uncertain System Models via Distributionally Robust Optimization
K. Long*, Y. Yi*, J. Cortés and N. Atanasov
American Control Conference (ACC), pp. 4651-4658, 2023.
bib doi arXiv

          @inproceedings{LongYi_DRCCP_ACC23,
            author = {Kehan Long* and Yinzhuang Yi* and Jorge Cortés and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{Safe and Stable Control Synthesis for Uncertain System Models via Distributionally Robust Optimization}},
            booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
            year = {2023},
            pages = {4651-4658},
            doi = {https://doi.org/10.23919/ACC55779.2023.10156525}
          }

Dissertation

Certifiable Robot Control under Uncertainty: Towards Safety, Stability, and Robustness
Kehan Long
PhD Dissertation, University of California San Diego, 2025.
2026 Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal, UC San Diego (awarded by the School of Physical Sciences).
bib pdf

          @phdthesis{Long_Dissertation_2025,
            author = {Long, Kehan},
            title = {{Certifiable Robot Control under Uncertainty: Towards Safety, Stability, and Robustness}},
            school = {University of California San Diego},
            year = {2025},
            type = {PhD Dissertation}
          }

Workshop Papers

4D Latent Mapping for Mobile Manipulation Policy Learning
S. Kim, B. Pak, K. Long, Y. Tian and N. Atanasov
ICRA Workshop on Multi-Modal Spatial AI for Robust Navigation and Open-World Understanding, 2026.
Best Paper Award
ICRA Workshop on Semantics for Reliable Robot Autonomy: From Environment Understanding and Reasoning to Safe Interaction, 2026.
bib

          @misc{Kim_4DLatent_ICRA26,
            author = {Sunghwan Kim and Byeonghyun Pak and Kehan Long and Yulun Tian and Nikolay Atanasov},
            title = {{4D Latent Mapping for Mobile Manipulation Policy Learning}},
            year = {2026},
            note = {Presented at ICRA 2026 Workshops on Multi-Modal Spatial AI and Semantics for Reliable Robot Autonomy}
          }

Contact-Aware Planning and Control of Continuum Robots in Highly Constrained Environments
A. Mangan, K. Long, K. M. B. Lee, M. Potdar, N. Atanasov and T. Morimoto
IEEE RoboSoft Workshop “The Role for Control in Soft Robot Autonomy”, 2026.
Best Poster Award
IEEE RoboSoft Workshop “Minds and Bodies: Co-Design for the Future of Soft Manipulation”, 2026.
Best Poster Award
bib arXiv

          @misc{Mangan_ContactAware_RoboSoft26,
            author = {Aedan Mangan and Kehan Long and Ki Myung Brian Lee and Miheer Potdar and Nikolay Atanasov and Tania K. Morimoto},
            title = {{Contact-Aware Planning and Control of Continuum Robots in Highly Constrained Environments}},
            year = {2026},
            note = {Presented at IEEE RoboSoft Workshops},
            url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.15638}
          }

Certifiable Robot Autonomy Under Uncertainty
K. Long
Robotics: Science and Systems-Pioneers Workshop, 2025.
bib doi pdf

          @misc{Long_CertifiableAutonomy_2025,
            author = {Long, Kehan},
            title = {{Certifiable Robot Autonomy Under Uncertainty}},
            year = {2025},
            url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=ncTTEOBb6X},
            doi = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=ncTTEOBb6X}
          }

A Shared-Autonomy Construction Robotic System for Overhead Works
D. M. Kim, K. M. B. Lee, Y. H. Seo, N. Raicevic, R. B. Li, K. Long, C. S. Yoon, D. M. Kang, B. J. Lim, Y. P. Kim, N. Atanasov, T. Nguyen, S. W. Jun, Y. W. Kim
ICRA Workshop on Future of Construction, 2025.
Best Poster Award (3rd place)
video