Preserving the present.
Helping robots learn.

I’m Ziyi.
I work on 3D and 4D reconstruction.

I work on reconstruction to preserve the present: the character of a room, the movement of a cat, the details of a moment we might otherwise lose. With 3D and 4D reconstruction, I want to make those places and moments something we can return to and explore.

Those reconstructions can also become places for robots to practise. I use a laboratory and an older adult’s home as reconstructed training environments, following a real → sim → real approach: capture a real space, train in its simulation, and work towards bringing that learning back into the physical world. I’m especially interested in how robots could offer older people both practical care and companionship.

I also make interactive art and useful software. Theater of the Mind lets a person push back against a machine’s labels; Classroom AutoGrader helps teachers explain their rules and students understand their results.