About Me

I am a robotics researcher and currently a Lecturer in Electronic and Robotics Engineering at the University of West London (UWL). My work focuses on integrating advanced machine learning techniques with robotics to address challenges in dynamic and unstructured environments, with applications in manufacturing, human-robot collaboration, and beyond.

As a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Shan Luo’s lab in the Department of Engineering at King’s College London (KCL), I contributed to the EPSRC-funded project “ViTac: Visual-Tactile Synergy for Handling Flexible Materials.” My research centered on developing reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms to enhance robotic manipulation of deformable objects, such as cloth and rope.

I earned my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2022 under the mentorship of Dr. Henry K. Chu and Prof. Li Cheng. My doctoral work specialized in robotic manipulation of deformable objects, addressing key challenges in perception, planning, and control. During my Ph.D., I received funding to visit Prof. Yi Guo’s lab at the Stevens Institute of Technology, USA (2020–2022), where I collaborated on robotics projects involving perception and control.

Contact

Email: zhenxi.cui at uwl.ac.uk