Dr. Chen Xuguang is emerging as one of China’s most influential deep-sea-equipment engineers, noted for the research that underpins the Pioneer II polymetallic-nodule collector, which in 2024 completed the country’s first 4,000-metre-class mining trial. His work bridges university research and national industrial strategy, giving Beijing a credible pathway from laboratory prototypes to commercial seabed-mining systems.

Educated in ocean engineering and soil-vehicle mechanics, Chen earned his Ph.D. in Engineering from Shandong University in 2011 and now serves as a Professor of Mechanical Systems at the Ocean University of China. Early research on crawler traction and sediment interaction secured multiple national grants — including support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Key R&D Programme — and has produced more than 80 peer-reviewed papers on vehicle mobility, plume mitigation and adaptive control.

That body of work fed directly into the mechanical-systems package of Pioneer II, a 14-ton tracked collector developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and industrial partners. During sea trials in July 2024 the vehicle executed five dives — topping out at 4,102 m — while retrieving 200 kg of polymetallic nodules, crusts and bedrock, and setting domestic records for slope-handling and non-metallic umbilical deployment. Chen’s real-time models of track-sediment interaction informed mission planning and helped keep the machine mobile on ultra-soft abyssal clays, a perennial challenge for commercial-scale collectors.

Interviewed in June 2025 for China’s deep-sea-strategy review, Chen offered an unusually clear endorsement of moving beyond trials: “We are continuously improving toward commercial readiness,” he said, emphasising that a full production system could be fielded once national equipment and environmental standards are finalised. His stance aligns with Beijing’s push to integrate seabed minerals into its wider critical-materials strategy.

Through high-impact publishing, hands-on vehicle work and committee roles on forthcoming national equipment standards, Dr. Chen Xuguang has become a key translator between China’s academic laboratories and its industrial ambitions.