Elle Miller (3rd-year PhD) is researching how to give robots a sense of touch, integrating tactile sensing into reinforcement learning for intelligent perception and control. Which year of PhD are you in? 3 What is your PhD research about? I'm researching how to give robots a sense of touch. Robots have immense potential to improve the lives of others as physical healthcare assistants, and I think tactile sensing will play a critical role. My PhD looks at how to best integrate tactile sensing into reinforcement learning for intelligent perception and control. What motivated you to undertake doctoral study? I wanted the time and flexibility to deeply understand and explore a topic of my choice. What is a highlight (one or several) of your time as a doctoral researcher so far? Collaborating with researchers in Japan and living in Tokyo! What challenges have you faced in your PhD so far, and how did you overcome them? The PhD felt super daunting in the beginning because I didn't exactly know what I wanted to research. I also didn't have a good background in computer science. But I took time to learn the basics, read, and experiment, and after about one year I figured it out. What’s one key skill or mindset you developed during your PhD that you rely on most? Developing the right perspective. In the beginning, I saw myself as a student trying to publish papers in order to get my PhD. This is not a helpful perspective, and can get in the way of good science. Now, I choose to see myself as a scientist trying to answer some questions in order to progress my field. What advice would you give to someone considering a PhD in Informatics? Go for it! The PhD has been the most fun and rewarding academic experience of my life, and the Informatics community at UoE is amazing. The PhD is what you make of it, completely yours to develop and shape. Is there anything else you’d like to share with prospective students or the wider community? Interested in robotics, reinforcement learning, or dexterity? Check out my recent tactile RL work:Enhancing Tactile-based Reinforcement Learning for Robotic Control Related links Elle Miller on GitHub This article was published on 2025-12-11
