Mr Xiaohang Yang

Profile

Project:  Neural Rendering, Human Body
Supervision: Dr Shanxin Yuan,and Prof Greg Slabaugh.

Why do a PhD?
While working at the Shanghai AI Lab, I realized that despite having many good ideas, my ability to translate these ideas into a comprehensive research or functional application was limited. I had numerous opportunities to observe senior researchers as they broke down projects into smaller research problems, conducted thorough research surveys, coded intensively, and sought the right collaborators. Inspired by their skills, I decided to pursue a PhD to develop these abilities. Additionally, I am eager to delve deeper into human motion research.

What are you researching and what led you work in this field of research?
My research focuses on human motion learning, encompassing motion retargeting, motion generation, and 3D dynamic human reconstruction. These topics can be organized into a sequential pipeline: initially generating motion from text or 3D scenes, then retargeting the motion to artificial characters, and finally extending to real humans by reconstructing realistic human bodies to re-animate them with the generated motions.

What is it like studying at DERI in East London?
DERI is an excellent place to study. The facilities are well-suited for academic work, and there are numerous rooms available for discussions and meetings.

Who has influenced you along the way ?
Having good partners in research is invaluable. Jianfei and Lingtong are exceptionally talented researchers who have helped me immensely. I greatly admire Michael Black’s research, particularly how he and his team tackle difficult problems step by step.

What online resources do you recommend?

• ArXiv; this is a great source for finding the latest papers.
• The recommendation algorithms of video and social apps are quite effective. By consistently searching for AI-related content, I am exposed to interesting research works.

Connect with Xiaohang:
Google Scholar

Education Background information:

• Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Control Science and Engineering (Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Direction) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).

Research