Many alumni of the University of Danang (UD), equipped with the knowledge and skills acquired during their undergraduate studies, have continued to demonstrate creativity and academic excellence by pursuing advanced studies and cutting-edge technologies after graduation. Among these outstanding alumni is Ms. Tran Ha Bao Thi, whose passion for intelligent robotic systems has led her to the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Programme in Intelligent Field Robotic Systems (IFRoS).

While studying at the University of Danang - University of Science and Technology (UD-DUT), Bao Thi, a student of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering majoring in Mechatronics Engineering, achieved numerous remarkable milestones. She was the runner-up in the 2019 university entrance examination, received the prestigious Vallet Scholarship in 2022, authored a paper published in a Scopus-indexed international journal, and filed an application for a utility solution, which is currently under examination.

Beyond her outstanding academic performance, Bao Thi was deeply committed to scientific research and actively prepared herself for a future career in engineering and technology. She served as Vice President of the BKSTAR Student Talent Club and earned several notable achievements, including First Prize at the Faculty-level Student Scientific Research Conference (2021–2022 academic year), Second Prize at the University-level Student Scientific Research Conference (2022), and Second Prize at the Second INTE Student Technology Startup Competition in 2022.

These accomplishments became a strong source of motivation, enabling Bao Thi to receive prestigious honors, including the Vietnam Women in Science and Technology Award 2022, before graduating as the valedictorian of the Mechatronics Engineering program in 2024.

Driven by perseverance and the solid foundation she built during her undergraduate years, Bao Thi continued her academic journey in Europe through the Erasmus Mundus master's program, beginning her studies at the University of Girona, Spain.

According to Bao Thi, in addition to completing specialized coursework, the research experience and self-directed learning she had cultivated at UD-DUT enabled her to join a research team developing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). She was responsible for hardware design, simulation development, and system integration for an underwater intervention robot. The project won Second Prize at the RAMI Competition, an international robotics competition held in Italy in 2025.

During her internship and research at the CoE MARBLE Summer School in Croatia, Bao Thi conducted research entitled "Hierarchical LLM-Driven Mission Planning for Heterogeneous Maritime Robot Teams." The paper received the Best Paper Award – Scientific Track: AI in Robotics at the European Robotics Forum, held in Stavanger, Norway, in 2026.

These outstanding achievements laid a solid foundation for her master's thesis, "Towards Autonomous Underwater Intervention through LLM-Generated Behavior Trees for Adaptive Task-Priority Control," conducted at the Ocean Systems Lab, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. Her research focuses on maritime robotics and the application of artificial intelligence to autonomous underwater intervention.

After completing the two-year master's program, Bao Thi graduated with Distinction, achieving an overall GPA of 9.21/10 under the Spanish grading system and 5.0/5.0 under the Croatian grading system. She has also authored and co-authored five scientific papers published in reputable international journals and conference proceedings.

Sharing her perspective, Bao Thi believes that engineering and technology disciplines offer tremendous opportunities to harness the achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In particular, the Mechatronics Engineering program at UD-DUT, with its strong tradition in education and research, provides students with an interdisciplinary foundation spanning mechanical engineering, control systems, robotics, sensors, programming, and system integration.

This comprehensive training equips new generations of students and engineers with the competencies needed to master advanced technologies, including autonomous robots, artificial intelligence applications, underwater robotics, intelligent systems, industrial automation, and smart manufacturing.

In the coming years, Bao Thi will continue her academic journey as a PhD candidate at the Field Robotics Lab, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), under the Norwegian Centre for Embodied AI (NCEI). Her doctoral research, entitled "Generalizable Learning-Based Manipulation for Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator Systems," focuses on developing machine learning methods for underwater robotic systems integrated with robotic manipulators.

Bao Thi's continued pursuit of excellence not only reflects the quality of education and research at the UD-DUT but also serves as an inspiration for students in UD's strategic technology disciplines to pursue scientific research, foster innovation, and contribute to the development of advanced technologies for the future.

UD Media