Xintong (Ian) Yang
Research Associate (Postdoc), Cardiff University
Robotic manipulation, differentiable simulation, and reinforcement learning for trustworthy real-world autonomy.
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Bio
I am a research associate in the School of Engineering and the School of Pharmaceutical Science at Cardiff University. I am also the Lab Manager of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Lab (C1.06, Queen's building). I develop robotic systems for reliable manipulation of rigid, deformable, and granular materials based on guided agentic engineering, differentiable physics-based modelling, and learning-based methods. I also develop enzymatic reaction simulator and robotic laboratory systems.
I completed my PhD at Cardiff University in October 2023, where I studied hierarchical reinforcement learning and affordance learning for robotic manipulation. Before that, I received my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from Guangdong University of Technology, China.
Research Interests
- Guided agentic engineering for real-world robot autonomy
- Deformable and granular material manipulation
- Differentiable physics and system identification
- Reinforcement learning for long-horizon manipulation
- Affordance-guided perception and action
- Reliable real-world robotic systems for human-facing applications
Recent News
- DDBot was published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics.
- Celebi's Choice was published at IROS 2025.
- Differentiable physics-based system identification for elastoplastic materials was accepted by IJRR.
- I joined a new BBSRC-funded project at Cardiff University on robotic and automated biology laboratories.
- The AutomaChef preprint became available online.
- The GAM preprint and video demo became available online.