Dr Zhengyang Ling is a Research Associate at the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory working on ”Shoestring” project, which focuses on developing low cost digital manufacture technologies for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Before joining DIAL he was a research fellow in the Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimization at University of Leeds, where he developed wearable devices for perception and navigation, with applications to deaf-blind people under the SUITCEYES project. Zhengyang obtained his PhD degree from the Mechanical Engineering at University of Leeds, and he holds MSc and bachelor degrees from the East China University of Science and Technology. He has more than 3 years working experience in the automotive industry (SAIC motor and ChanganUK). His research interests are mechatronic engineering, sensors and actuators, optical measurement and their applications to digital manufacture, robotics and automotive.