Mauro Comi

A picture of me jumping in front of a lighthouse

Hi there! I am currently a research intern at Google DeepMind and a PhD student in Machine Learning at the University of Bristol (UK). My research interests lie at the intersection of 3D Deep Learning, Neural Fields and 3D Gaussian Splatting, and Robotics Perception (Computer Vision, Tactile Sensing). I have a soft spot for Computer Graphics and Physically-Based Rendering. I am supervised by Prof Nathan Lepora and Dr Laurence Aitchison, and I am fortunate to collaborate with and get guidance from Alessio Tonioni (Google) and Jonathan Tremblay (NVIDIA). Previously, I worked as a Machine Learning research engineer in autonomous driving at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), where I worked and led EU-funded projects on autonomous driving, and developed Deep Reinforcement Learning applications for self-driving vehicles.

I read papers following Andrew Ng’s invaluable tips on How to read research papers (Andrew NG)

Publications

Neural Fields in Robotics: A Survey
Neural Fields in Robotics: A Survey
Muhammad Zubair Irshad, Mauro Comi, Yen-Chen Lin, Nick Heppert, Abhinav Valada, Rares Ambrus, Zsolt Kira, Jonathan Tremblay
Currently in submission, available on Arxiv
Snap-it, Tap-it, Splat-it: Tactile-Informed 3D Gaussian Splatting for Reconstructing Challenging Surfaces
Snap-it, Tap-it, Splat-it: Tactile-Informed 3D Gaussian Splatting for Reconstructing Challenging Surfaces
Mauro Comi, Alessio Tonioni, Max Yang, Jonathan Tremblay, Valts Blukis, Yijiong Lin, Nathan F. Lepora, Laurence Aitchison
3DV 2025
TouchSDF: A DeepSDF Approach for 3D Shape Reconstruction Using Vision-Based Tactile Sensing
TouchSDF: A DeepSDF Approach for 3D Shape Reconstruction Using Vision-Based Tactile Sensing
Mauro Comi, Yijiong Lin, Alex Church, Alessio Tonioni, Laurence Aitchison, Nathan F. Lepora
IEEE RA-L, also 3DVR workshop at CVPR 2023, and Touch processing workshop at NeurIPS 2023
Attention of Robot Touch: Tactile Saliency Prediction for Robust Sim-to-Real Tactile Control
Attention of Robot Touch: Tactile Saliency Prediction for Robust Sim-to-Real Tactile Control
Yijiong Lin, Mauro Comi, Alex Church, Dandan Zhang, Nathan F. Lepora
IROS 2023
A Hybrid-AI approach to Competence Assessment for Automated Driving Functions
A Hybrid-AI approach to Competence Assessment for Automated Driving Functions
Jan-Pieter Paardekooper, Mauro Comi, Corrado Grappiolo, Ron Snijders, Willeke van Vught, Rutger Beekelaar
SafeAI AAAI 2021

Reading group

I run an online 3D Deep Learning reading group, where we discuss papers in 3D Vision for the virtual and physical world. If you are interested or want to join, please visit the reading group website.

Teaching

Talks

Updates



Machine Learning and Side Projects



This is a partial list of my Machine Learning and Data Science projects completed in my free time or for academic courses. Main findings and challenges are highlighted and reported using R Notebooks or IPython Notebooks. My professional projects are not included.


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Tactile-Informed 3D Gaussian Splatting

Reconstructing challenges surfaces with vision and tactile sensing within a 3D Gaussian Splatting framework.


  • PYTHON
  • PYTORCH
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TouchSDF

Implementation of the TouchSDF paper on 3D shape reconstruction using vision-based tactile sensing.


  • PYTHON
  • PYTORCH
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DeepSDF

Implementation of the paper DeepSDF: Learning Continuous Signed Distance Functions for Shape Representation with shape completion functionality.


  • PYTHON
  • PYTORCH
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3D Shape Reconstruction using Vision Based Tactile Perception

Reconstructing 3D object shapes using Graph Neural Networks and robotics tactile sensing.


  • PYTHON
  • PYTORCH3D
  • PYBULLET
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Monte Carlo Path Tracer

Implementation of different standard Monte Carlo approaches in path tracing, and comparison with Next Event Estimation


  • C++
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Q-Learning for Monte Carlo importance sampling

Reinforcement Learning-based approaches applied to the light transport equation for importance sampling


  • C++
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Deep Reinforcement Learning for Games

Deep Q-Learning agent to play the game Snake. Optimized it using Bayesian Optimization


  • PYTHON
  • PYTORCH
  • TENSORFLOW
  • DEEP REINFORCEMENT LEARNING
  • BAYESIAN OPTIMIZATION
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Artificial Intelligence meets Art: Neural Transfer Style

Deep Learning technique to transfer the style of a painting to a chosen image


  • PYTHON
  • TENSORFLOW
  • DEEP LEARNING
  • KERAS
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Monte Carlo Tree Search: Tic Tac Toe

MCTS strategy to play the game Tic tac Toe


  • PYTHON
  • MCTS
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Flight Delay Prediction

Modeling and predicting the delay of 7 million US domestic flights using Big Data Tools.


  • SPARK
  • SCALA
  • R
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Highway patrol

Java application using Flink, implementing functionalities of Speed Radar, Average Speed Control and Accident Reporter on data streams.


  • JAVA
  • FLINK
  • DATA STREAM
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TPC-C Benchmark

Java program using HBase to create, load tables, and implementing four different queries to simulate the activity of any company that manages, sells, and distributes products or services.


  • JAVA
  • HBASE
  • HADOOP
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Raw data processing for diseases prediction

Processing raw data to feed a machine learning model using IBM SPSS Modeler.


  • PYTHON
  • RAW DATA
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About me


  • PhD in Machine Learning (CDT in Interactive AI)

    09/2021 - present

    University of Bristol (Bristol, United Kingdom)

    A four-year PhD program in Machine Learning. I am interested in 3D Deep Learning, robotics perception, and physics simulation.

  • Master thesis researching Q-Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning for Importance Sampling in Physically-based rendering.

    02/2019 - 10/2019

    TU Delft (Delft, The Netherlands)

    Technical University of Eindhoven (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)

    Master thesis researching Q-Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning for Importance Sampling in Physically-based rendering.
    Supervisor: Prof. Elmar Eisemann - TU Delft
    Supervisor: Prof. Decebal Mocanu - TU Eindhoven

  • EIT Digital Double Degree - MSc in Data Science, Distinction

    09/2017 - 10/2019

    Entry University: Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Madrid, Spain)

    Exit University: Technical University of Eindhoven (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)

    A two-year Master double degree programme, coordinated by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Major in Data Science, and Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
    Topics covered:
    • Machine Learning algorithms and Deep Learning (Computer Vision, NLP)
    • Big Data Ecosystem: creation of Big Data application with Spark (Scala), Flink, HBase
    • Advanced statistics with R
    • Innovation and Enterpreneurship, focused on start-ups development.

  • Premaster in Data Science and Business Information Technology

    09/2016–07/2017

    University of Twente

    Enschede, The Netherlands

    Bridge program on Computer Science and Business IT. Among the courses I took, I followed joint courses with Delft University and Standford University.

  • Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

    09/2011 – 02/2015

    Polytechnic University of Milan

    Milan, Italy

    Thesis Project: "Mechanical design and virtual prototyping for thermal turbomachinery"
    • Cost accounting and decision making, economic criteria for the dimensioning of industrial plants and facilities, layout planning
    • C++ and Matlab programming
    • Operations Research and linear planning for optimization
    • Design methods and CAD Softwares (Autodesk Inventor, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, PTC Creo)

  • Research Intern (Student Researcher)

    09/2024 - present

    Google DeepMind

    London, UK

    I did two different Research Internships at Google DeepMind, focusing on 3D Vision and multi-modal learning.

  • Postgraduate Teaching Assistant

    02/2021 - present

    University of Bristol

    Bristol, United Kingdom

    Teaching Assistant for the units:
    • Introduction to AI, MSc unit, 2022-2023
    • Introduction to AI, BSc unit, 2022-2023
    • Introduction to AI, MSc unit, 2021-2022

  • Machine Learning Research Engineer

    03/2019 - 08/2021

    TNO - Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research

    Helmond, The Netherlands

    Focus on researching and applying Machine Learning techniques for autonomous driving:
    • Deep Learning for trajectory prediction and decision making
    • (Inverse and Deep) Reinforcement Learning for planning and decision making
    • Bayesian statistics for uncertainty modelling, Explainable AI and Interpretable AI

  • Machine Learning Intern

    03/2018 - 08/2018

    Zinkcloud

    Madrid, Spain

    Developed Deep Learning algorithms for Image detection in aerospace applications (Python, Tensorflow, Keras).

  • Internship as Product manager assistant and Aerospace Engineer

    02/2015 - 04/2015

    Jenoptik GmbH

    Hamburg, Germany

    • Mechanical design and optimization for aerospace systems (drones, Airbus components)
    • Product Management: market analysis for military and civil helicopters, market research and analysis for unmanned aerial veichle

  • Trainee as Mechanical design Engineer

    09/2014 - 01/2015 (3 Months)

    Stilmas

    Milan, Italy

    Computational Fluid Dynamics and turbomachinery optimization

About me


  • PhD in Machine Learning (CDT in Interactive AI)
    09/2021 - present

    TU Delft (Delft, The Netherlands)

    University of Bristol (United Kingdom)

    A four-year PhD program in Machine Learning. I work on 3D Deep Learning, robotics perception, and physics simulation.

    Master thesis: Deep Reinforcement Learning for importance sampling in Physically-based rendering.
    02/2019 - 10/2019

    TU Delft (Delft, The Netherlands)

    Technical University of Eindhoven (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)

    Master thesis researching Q-Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning for Importance Sampling in Physically-based rendering.
    Supervisor: Prof. Elmar Eisemann - TU Delft
    Supervisor: Prof. Decebal Mocanu - TU Eindhoven

  • EIT Digital Double Degree - MSc in Data Science
    09/2017 - 10/2019

    Entry University: Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Madrid, Spain)

    Exit University: Technical University of Eindhoven (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)

    A two-year Master double degree programme, coordinated by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Major in Data Science, and Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
    Topics covered:
    • Machine Learning algorithms and Deep Learning (Computer Vision, NLP)
    • Big Data Ecosystem: creation of Big Data application with Spark (Scala), Flink, HBase
    • Advanced statistics with R
    • Innovation and Enterpreneurship, focused on start-ups development.

  • Premaster in Data Science and Business Information Technology
    09/2016–07/2017

    University of Twente

    Enschede, The Netherlands

    Bridge program on Computer Science and Business IT. Among the courses I took, I followed joint courses with Delft University and Standford University.

  • Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
    09/2011 – 02/2015

    Polytechnic University of Milan

    Milan, Italy

    Thesis Project: "Mechanical design and virtual prototyping for thermal turbomachinery"
    • Cost accounting and decision making, economic criteria for the dimensioning of industrial plants and facilities, layout planning
    • C++ and Matlab programming
    • Operations Research and linear planning for optimization
    • Design methods and CAD Softwares (Autodesk Inventor, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, PTC Creo)

  • Research Intern (Student Researcher)
    09/2024 - present

    Google DeepMind

    London, United Kingdom

    I did two Research Internships at Google DeepMind, focusing on 3D Vision and multi-modal learning.

  • Postgraduate Teaching Assistant
    02/2021 - present

    University of Bristol

    Bristol, United Kingdom

    Teaching Assistant for the units:
    • Introduction to AI, MSc unit, 2022-2023
    • Introduction to AI, BSc unit, 2022-2023
    • Introduction to AI, MSc unit, 2021-2022

  • Machine Learning Research Engineer
    03/2019 - Present

    TNO - Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research

    Helmond, The Netherlands

    Focus on researching and applying Machine Learning techniques for autonomous driving:
    • Deep Learning for trajectory prediction and decision making
    • (Inverse and Deep) Reinforcement Learning for planning and decision making
    • Bayesian statistics for uncertainty modelling, Explainable AI and Interpretable AI

  • Machine Learning Intern
    03/2018 - 08/2018

    Zinkcloud

    Madrid, Spain

    Developed Deep Learning algorithms for Image detection in aerospace applications (Python, Tensorflow, Keras).

  • Internship as Aerospace Engineer and Product Management assistant
    02/2015 - 04/2015

    Jenoptik GmbH

    Hamburg, Germany

    • Mechanical design and optimization for aerospace systems (drones, Airbus components)
    • Product Management: market analysis for military and civil helicopters, market research and analysis for unmanned aerial veichle

  • Trainee as Mechanical Design Engineer
    09/2014 - 01/2015

    Stilmas

    Milan, Italy

    Computational Fluid Dynamics and turbomachinery optimization

Contact Me


maurocomi92@gmail.com
London, UK
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