Having recently completed his placement with Asset Information Services (AIS), University of Edinburgh PhD student Germán Mora Martín tells us about the project he worked on, the challenges he overcame and how this experience will support his future aspirations.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your research
As a PhD student, I’m working on high-speed 3D imaging with single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensors.
One of the main goals of my research is to exploit the rich information provided by the sensor to perform high-speed and high-performance object detection for applications in robotics or autonomous driving. I feel a combination of optics and artificial intelligence is revolutionising many technologies in an unprecedented manner.
Thanks to The Data Lab, I was offered the possibility to do a 10-day placement with a company working on a topic relevant to my PhD. AIS was my match and I thought what a fantastic opportunity that would be.
What project did you work on with AIS?
The project, Multiple Viewpoints in Computer vision, uses one of the company’s products, R2S, which is a 360° visualisation platform along with artificial intelligence to perform, for example, object detection. If the task is to count how many objects are in a given area, one challenge that arises is that a single object can appear multiple times on different angles and positions.
The project objective was to suggest the best way to identify the same objects from multiple angles, when provided with multiple images of the same area.
What role did you have in the project?
During my placement with AIS, I developed an algorithm that gives a list of possible duplicates of a selected object. Despite being an initial prototype, it is already able to filter a large number of cases. There is room for improvement, but I am optimistic that with further development it will be able to provide robust results.
What challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges during this project has been working remotely. At the beginning, it can be overwhelming to start a new project or meet new people to work with, especially in front of a screen. You might feel lost and the whole experience can be daunting. However, I must say that in my case I felt comfortable very quickly. I felt the support of every member of the team by having daily meetings, providing me with any material that I needed to work with and answering all my questions efficiently.
What did you enjoy most about the experience?
I really feel lucky to have formed part of this experience, since these opportunities do not present themselves every day for a student. It is a sensational feeling to put into practice all the years invested in education to solve a real challenge. Above all, helping a team by sharing my knowledge and contributing in the development of a technology are the most valuable highlights of my placement.
How will this experience with AIS support you in the future?
During this placement, my confidence in Python coding and presenting results to an audience has developed significantly. These skills will be invaluable, not only during my PhD but also for later in my professional career. Experiences like this can provide clarity on crucial decisions, like staying in academia or moving to industry, so I send a massive thank you to AIS for this opportunity!
In the near future, I would like to form part of a company developing ideas related to my background and push them to new boundaries.
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