Computer-Aided Manufacturing Group
We are based in the Institute for Manufacturing under the Department of Engineering at University of Cambridge. We develop manufacturing systems that learn how to make things better and to make better things.
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If you are interested in either a Ph.D. or postdoctoral position please get in touch!
Research
LEARNING MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
Developing AI-based approaches to improve manufacturing
Image: Nature Commun. 13, 4654
DIGITALLY TAILORED MEDICAL DEVICES
Additively manufacturing wearable and implantable medical devices that better mimic and integrate with patients/wearers.
Image: Felice Frankel
SECURITY OF PHYSICAL AI SYSTEMS
Ensuring that AI-based systems controlling physical processes act appropriately
People
Sebastian Pattinson
Associate Professor
Sebastian Pattinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. There, he leads the Computer-Aided Manufacturing group in the Institute for Manufacturing. He is also co-founder of Matta, a spin-out developing AI-based software for the manufacturing industry. He was a postdoc in Mechanical Engineering at MIT and received Ph.D. and Masters degrees in Materials Science from Cambridge. His awards include a UK Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard award; US National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship and a Google X Moonshot Fellowship.
Hamza Khattak
NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow
Hamza received his PhD in Physics at McMaster University in 2024, where he studied soft elastomeric substrates and the controlled flow of microdroplets. He continued at McMaster as a teaching and research associate before joining the Pattinson group in 2025. He is currently working on the use of deformable photoelastic sensors in robotic perception, as well control of light-actuated biocompatible robots. His awards include the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science Yearly Highlights.
Haihui Yan
Postdoc
Haihui graduated with an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. During her studies, she completed an internship at Bosch Rexroth in the Application Engineering Department, where she worked upon radial piston motors for hydraulic machinery including agricultural and forestry applications. She also completed her MEng project with Bosch Rexroth focusing on the modelling of a hydraulic valve. Following this, she joined the AgriFoRwArdS CDT to pursue a PhD in Agri-food robotics.
Miaomiao Zou
PhD Student
Miaomiao completed her B.Eng. study of Material Engineering at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) in 2018. As an exchange student, she did her bachelor thesis on dental regenerative materials at NMI, Germany. In 2021, she received her master's degree from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS) where she focused on DLP 3D printing of biomimetic structures for functional devices.
Christos Margadji
PhD Student
Christos is researching the integration of reasoning, imagination and memory into advanced manufacturing processes. He holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from Imperial and brings industry experience through research positions at LLNL, California and IBM, London. His academic excellence has been recognized through multiple awards, including distinctions from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and other scholarships. His vision is to bridge the gap between human-like reasoning capabilities and industrial automation systems.
Andi Kuswoyo
PhD Student
Andi completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in 2017. During his studies, he worked on the analysis and design of composite panels utilising a genetic algorithm for optimisation purposes. Prior to his PhD study, he did his research on the low-cost manufacturing of composite parts and was involved in experiments for material properties evaluation. Following this, he joined the group to pursue a PhD in the topic of data-driven manufacturing processes.
Dick Firdaus
PhD Student
Dick is a PhD student in Engineering at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), Darwin College (joined 2024), and an LPDP Scholar. A certified professional materials engineer and polymer R&D specialist, he spent seven years at REHAU as Head of Chemistry & Materials Development, HSE country coordinator, and global auditor. He co-founded PT ORCA Bioteknologi Nusantara, advises the Indonesian Ministry of Industry’s standardisation centre, and serves on CSWM’s expert board. He holds a BEng in Metallurgy & Materials Engineering from the University of Indonesia (focus: polymer nanocomposites; study stint at Utrecht’s Debye Institute), an MSc in Advanced Materials Science & Engineering from Imperial College London, and a professional materials engineering degree from Institut Teknologi Bandung.
Liyou Zhou
PhD Student
Liyou is pursuing a PhD in robotics funded by the AgriFoRwArdS CDT program. Having graduated with MEng from the University of Cambridge in 2014, Liyou worked in industry on IoT and autonomous driving applications. Liyou is currently focusing on robot learning, including novel simulation techniques, alternative learning strategies and the application of generative models in robotics.
Alumni and Destinations
Cassi Henderson (postdoc) - mOm Incubators
Xijin Hua (Marie Curie postdoc fellow) - Lectureship at University of Exeter
Kerr Samson (postdoc) - Postdoc at Heriot-Watt University
Douglas Brion (PhD student) - CEO and Co-Founder of Matta Labs
Ifwat Ghazali (postdoc) - Senior Lecturer at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
Zehao Ji (PhD student) - Huawei
Xiaohan Li (postdoc) - Postdoc at ETH Zurich
Lefan Wang (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow) - tenure-track faculty at Zhejiang University
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