RLFTSim: Realistic and Controllable Multi-Agent Traffic Simulation
RL-based fine-tuning framework for multi-agent traffic simulation 2nd Place Waymo SimAgent Challenge 2025 Accepted at CVPR 2026
Professional Summary
I am a Ph.D. student in Computing Science at the University of Alberta and a researcher at Noah’s Ark Lab, Huawei Technologies Canada. My research centers on behavior modeling in autonomous driving, with the goal of building traffic agents that simulate and predict real-world driving behavior. My recent work on RL-based fine-tuning for traffic simulation (RLFTSim) won 2nd place in the Waymo SimAgent Challenge 2025 and is accepted at CVPR 2026.
My research covers causal trajectory prediction and inter-agent interaction reasoning (CRiTIC, ICRA 2025), cooperative motion forecasting through vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and spatial reasoning with multimodal large language models (MLLMs). During my Master’s at the Sharif University of Technology, I was part of the CEDRA research group, where I developed a socially-aware SLAM algorithm and the ROS-based software framework for the Arash social robot — a companion robot for children with cancer. I also worked on robotic painting with the UR10 arm robot during a research visit at the University of Trieste.
Education
Ph.D. in Computer Science (in-progress)
University of Alberta
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
Sharif University of Technology
B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering
University of Tehran
Interests
Autonomous Driving
Behavior Modeling
Multi-Agent Traffic Simulation
Robotics
Reinforcement Learning
Agentic AI
Selected Projects
CRiTIC: Causal Attention Gating for Robust Trajectory Prediction
Causal attention gating for robust trajectory prediction Filters non-causal agent interactions in autonomous driving Accepted at ICRA 2025
Arash: A Humanoid Social Robot
Social companion robot for children with cancer Socially-aware SLAM algorithm with pedestrian tracking ROS-based software framework CEDRA lab, Sharif University of Technology
Painter Robot
Non-photorealistic rendering for watercolor painting with UR10 arm robot Painting API using motion planning algorithms (ROS-based) University of Trieste, Italy
Recent Publications
(2026).
RLFTSim: Realistic and Controllable Multi-Agent Traffic Simulation via Reinforcement Learning Fine-Tuning.
Accepted at IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR 2026).
(2026).
Curb Your Attention: Causal Attention Gating for Robust Trajectory Prediction in Autonomous Driving.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2025).
(2026).
CAPS: Context-Aware Priority Sampling for Enhanced Imitation Learning in Autonomous Driving.
Accepted at IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2026).
(2025).
Getting SMARTER for Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving Systems.
2025 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), Oral Presentation.
(2024).
Arash: A social robot buddy to support children with cancer in a hospital environment.
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine.