Like most international students, Zheyu found it hard to settle when he first arrived from China. As he looks back on those early days he credits his new friendships as being an integral part of his smooth transition to Australia and university life.

Zheyu wasn’t quite sure which engineering field interested him most so he took on a Bachelor of Engineering and studied a double major in mechatronics along with electronic and communication systems. Since this time he hasn’t looked back.

Currently working on his PhD, Zheyu has settled into Canberra and ANU life.

What are you currently studying at ANU? This is my fifth year at ANU. I’m currently completing my PhD and my research area is Robotics. My main interests are in visual servoing and deep learning. Visual servoing is how you use information from a camera to control the motion of a robot and Deep Learning is a relatively new field of study that describes the way software can simulate the brain’s neural networks and helps improve the process of image recognition that is vital for robots to use the images they obtain from cameras in real time to direct their actions.

When did your interest in Robotics start? There was a ‘wow’ moment in the final year of my undergraduate degree when I had a glimpse of how computer vision, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and other engineering branches join together in robotics and create something that is much bigger than sum of their parts. That moment eventually led to my PhD in Robotics.

What is your recommendation to students starting at ANU? Trust yourselves. The first year might be the hardest for you. As the courses become harder in later years, you will be stronger as well.

What is your favourite space/spot on campus? It must be Hancock Library. It is a perfect spot for study with nearly all the books I need.

Zheyu has recently returned from Japan after winning the Amazon Robotic Challenge with his teammates from the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision (ARCV).