ITMO University Digest: our developments in 2017. Part 2
We continue to talk about the achievements of scientists, students and employees of the ITMO University and at the same time sum up the interim results of 2017. In the first part of our compilation, we wrote about advances in the natural sciences — chemistry, physics, and also photonics — and developments in the food industry: our scientists are working on ambitious projects from detecting and measuring parameters of space debris motion to edible protein films that extend shelf life of products.
In this part we will talk about new developments related to programming, robotics and the creation of gadgets, as well as unusual and interesting educational initiatives this year.
Photo by Paul Albertella CC-BY
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Prediction of users' geographic preferences based on text and photos from social networks - this development is carried out by a group of scientists from the National University of Singapore and ITMO University. The algorithm proposed by the developers analyzes data from social networks (both information on individual users and clusters of users grouped together according to the selected characteristics) and suggests visiting various city attractions. In the future, development may improve existing recommender systems. The results of the work were published by the authors in the proceedings of the largest international conference on information retrieval, the International ACM Conference on Information Retrieval.
A new, more efficient approach to storing large data - ITMO scientists have developed a modular Exarch data warehouse. The storage is organized taking into account the semantics of the data, which allows for faster access and processing of information. The team presented the results of the research at the International Conference on the ICCBDC 2017 (International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing) in London.
Studies of the new genetic algorithm - Maxim Buzdalov (ITMO University) and Benjamin Doerr (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris) conducted a study in which they studied the possibilities of the recently proposed genetic algorithm. Scientists have determined the conditions under which the algorithm effectively solves the feasibility problem. They published the results of the study in a scientific article , and also presented at the conference in the field of evolutionary computing GECCO (Genetic and Evolutionary Computational Conference) in Berlin, where they received the prize for the best report.
The first computer model of city development in Russia - the specialists of the Institute of High Technology Computer Technologies of the ITMO University developed a model of the development of the satellite city "Yuzhny", in which by 2035 135 thousand people will live. The researchers designed a mathematical model for the development and functioning of the city, taking into account the dynamics of building construction, the commissioning of infrastructure facilities, transport mobility and possible environmental changes. The project was presented at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The system of support of donor events “eDonor” - this project is developed by undergraduate student at ITMO University Roman Malyushkin and his colleagues - students of the department of intellectual technologies in the humanitarian sphere. Roman proposed an automation system as part of organizing donor events. The project won the first place in the Phil.Tech Accelerator Marathon, received approval from the St. Petersburg Donor Foundation and will be implemented not only at the ITMO University, but also in other institutions of the city.
The VR quest from ITMO University students is another student development made by students of the Department of Graphic Technologies together with the Department of High Performance Computing. In one semester, the guys created a VR quest in the science fiction genre with several levels of complexity. The students presented the game in the GameDev-zone of the summer festival VKontakte, as part of the University’s support program for student initiatives related to the development of computer games.
The application for tourism - a team of students of the computer technology department at ITMO University ranked third in the world's largest telecommunications hackathon TADHack (more than 30 cities around the world took part in the hackathon). The team of ITMO University students turned out to be one of the youngest - however, in 24 hours the guys assembled a working company search application for a tourist who came to a new location.
“Smart shoes” with voice control - a team of seven ITMO University students took part in the hackathon for the development of clothing for people with disabilities #wearABLE future. The teams' tasks included the creation of a technological product in the field of the fashion industry using the technologies of the Internet of Things, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics. The guys presented the jury with a prototype of a “smart shoe”: upon a command from a smartphone (or with the help of voice commands) the shoe is “put on” on a foot - just put your foot on the sole. In addition, a heated insole is built into the shoe - it turns on automatically when the temperature of the foot falls below normal values ​​(people with disabilities cannot always feel if their feet are cold or not). In the final hackathon project won first place.
Robot Seldon - this robot has recently stirred up public opinion, unexpectedly hitting the “officials” (and then followed the show “Evening Urgant”). In fact, this is the development of schoolchildren from the creative laboratory of robotics at ITMO University. The robot (according to the "legend" - the first intergalactic convict) is assembled from scrap materials for the competition RoboCup, knows how to play the guitar, sing songs and answer questions. In the future, developers will have to add technical vision and assemble an autonomous musical group of robots with Saldon at the head.
Devices that help monitor posture - undergraduates of the Department of Graphic Technologies at ITMO University Anna Filippova and Anna Ksenofontova participated in the development of working prototypes of posture correction devices within the framework of the international summer school Experimental Interaction Design in Tallinn. This is a vest with a 3D sensor that allows you to adjust the position of the back of a person working at a computer, and a complex of a bracelet and a chip that monitors the amount of time the user spends in a sitting position.
Light dynamic decorations and a smart backpack designed by undergraduates of the Higher School of Light Design at ITMO University Valeria Mikolyuk, Roman Antonov and independent designer Yekaterina Kuklina, presented at the exhibition of the Fashion Futurum international conference held in Moscow. Jewelry made using fiber: the color, the intensity of the glow and its mode can be either pre-programmed by the owner, or - to reflect his emotional state. A smart backpack is equipped with a screen (it broadcasts the arrows “to the right”, “to the left” and the “stop” sign), which may be convenient for the cyclist - so he may not be gesticulating while driving.
The game and education - Maxim Ivanov, the undergraduate of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovation at ITMO University, together with the team, develops educational games for companies and special courses on teaching gaming techniques in education. The course “Games in Education” for teachers ITMO graduates started this April, and before that they held a mini-course for their colleagues from the FTI. The course developers intend to introduce game practices into the educational process of the ITMO University.
Unified platform for online courses - as part of the project of the Ministry of Education and Science “Modern Digital Educational Environment in the Russian Federation” ITMO University is developing a unified platform for online courses, where you can not only search for information about them, but also manage your portfolio (access system to online courses on the principle of "one window"). The project combines the courses of all Russian universities from different educational platforms and allows you to store on the portal information about all the classes and accumulated points. Already this year, 200 online courses will appear on the portal.
The microscope for young researchers - a resident of the ITMO University Technopark, NT-SPb, has developed a nanotechnology complex: a NanoTutor scanning probe microscope, a device for making nanoprobes, a high-resolution digital optical microscope, a set of research samples and a virtual simulator. All this allows schoolchildren to study the principles of probe and optical microscopy, get acquainted with nanotechnology and prepare their own research projects in this area. As part of the initiative, equipment was installed in 18 schools in St. Petersburg.
MOOC University Performance Improvement - ITMO University scientists Lyubov Lisitsyna and Evgeny Yefimchik proposed a system of trainings that increase the cognitive abilities of MOOC students and help them successfully complete the course. The methodology was tested as part of an experiment: ITMO University students who underwent training passed the Internet exam 14% better than the control group. The scientific article of researchers devoted to this task was recognized as the best at the 4th International Conference “Smart Education and e-Learning (SEEL-2017)”.
In this part we will talk about new developments related to programming, robotics and the creation of gadgets, as well as unusual and interesting educational initiatives this year.
Photo by Paul Albertella CC-BY')
Algorithms and IT development
Prediction of users' geographic preferences based on text and photos from social networks - this development is carried out by a group of scientists from the National University of Singapore and ITMO University. The algorithm proposed by the developers analyzes data from social networks (both information on individual users and clusters of users grouped together according to the selected characteristics) and suggests visiting various city attractions. In the future, development may improve existing recommender systems. The results of the work were published by the authors in the proceedings of the largest international conference on information retrieval, the International ACM Conference on Information Retrieval.
A new, more efficient approach to storing large data - ITMO scientists have developed a modular Exarch data warehouse. The storage is organized taking into account the semantics of the data, which allows for faster access and processing of information. The team presented the results of the research at the International Conference on the ICCBDC 2017 (International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing) in London.
Studies of the new genetic algorithm - Maxim Buzdalov (ITMO University) and Benjamin Doerr (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris) conducted a study in which they studied the possibilities of the recently proposed genetic algorithm. Scientists have determined the conditions under which the algorithm effectively solves the feasibility problem. They published the results of the study in a scientific article , and also presented at the conference in the field of evolutionary computing GECCO (Genetic and Evolutionary Computational Conference) in Berlin, where they received the prize for the best report.
The first computer model of city development in Russia - the specialists of the Institute of High Technology Computer Technologies of the ITMO University developed a model of the development of the satellite city "Yuzhny", in which by 2035 135 thousand people will live. The researchers designed a mathematical model for the development and functioning of the city, taking into account the dynamics of building construction, the commissioning of infrastructure facilities, transport mobility and possible environmental changes. The project was presented at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The system of support of donor events “eDonor” - this project is developed by undergraduate student at ITMO University Roman Malyushkin and his colleagues - students of the department of intellectual technologies in the humanitarian sphere. Roman proposed an automation system as part of organizing donor events. The project won the first place in the Phil.Tech Accelerator Marathon, received approval from the St. Petersburg Donor Foundation and will be implemented not only at the ITMO University, but also in other institutions of the city.
The VR quest from ITMO University students is another student development made by students of the Department of Graphic Technologies together with the Department of High Performance Computing. In one semester, the guys created a VR quest in the science fiction genre with several levels of complexity. The students presented the game in the GameDev-zone of the summer festival VKontakte, as part of the University’s support program for student initiatives related to the development of computer games.
The application for tourism - a team of students of the computer technology department at ITMO University ranked third in the world's largest telecommunications hackathon TADHack (more than 30 cities around the world took part in the hackathon). The team of ITMO University students turned out to be one of the youngest - however, in 24 hours the guys assembled a working company search application for a tourist who came to a new location.
Gadgets and Robots
“Smart shoes” with voice control - a team of seven ITMO University students took part in the hackathon for the development of clothing for people with disabilities #wearABLE future. The teams' tasks included the creation of a technological product in the field of the fashion industry using the technologies of the Internet of Things, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics. The guys presented the jury with a prototype of a “smart shoe”: upon a command from a smartphone (or with the help of voice commands) the shoe is “put on” on a foot - just put your foot on the sole. In addition, a heated insole is built into the shoe - it turns on automatically when the temperature of the foot falls below normal values ​​(people with disabilities cannot always feel if their feet are cold or not). In the final hackathon project won first place.
Robot Seldon - this robot has recently stirred up public opinion, unexpectedly hitting the “officials” (and then followed the show “Evening Urgant”). In fact, this is the development of schoolchildren from the creative laboratory of robotics at ITMO University. The robot (according to the "legend" - the first intergalactic convict) is assembled from scrap materials for the competition RoboCup, knows how to play the guitar, sing songs and answer questions. In the future, developers will have to add technical vision and assemble an autonomous musical group of robots with Saldon at the head.
Devices that help monitor posture - undergraduates of the Department of Graphic Technologies at ITMO University Anna Filippova and Anna Ksenofontova participated in the development of working prototypes of posture correction devices within the framework of the international summer school Experimental Interaction Design in Tallinn. This is a vest with a 3D sensor that allows you to adjust the position of the back of a person working at a computer, and a complex of a bracelet and a chip that monitors the amount of time the user spends in a sitting position.
Light dynamic decorations and a smart backpack designed by undergraduates of the Higher School of Light Design at ITMO University Valeria Mikolyuk, Roman Antonov and independent designer Yekaterina Kuklina, presented at the exhibition of the Fashion Futurum international conference held in Moscow. Jewelry made using fiber: the color, the intensity of the glow and its mode can be either pre-programmed by the owner, or - to reflect his emotional state. A smart backpack is equipped with a screen (it broadcasts the arrows “to the right”, “to the left” and the “stop” sign), which may be convenient for the cyclist - so he may not be gesticulating while driving.
Education
The game and education - Maxim Ivanov, the undergraduate of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovation at ITMO University, together with the team, develops educational games for companies and special courses on teaching gaming techniques in education. The course “Games in Education” for teachers ITMO graduates started this April, and before that they held a mini-course for their colleagues from the FTI. The course developers intend to introduce game practices into the educational process of the ITMO University.
Unified platform for online courses - as part of the project of the Ministry of Education and Science “Modern Digital Educational Environment in the Russian Federation” ITMO University is developing a unified platform for online courses, where you can not only search for information about them, but also manage your portfolio (access system to online courses on the principle of "one window"). The project combines the courses of all Russian universities from different educational platforms and allows you to store on the portal information about all the classes and accumulated points. Already this year, 200 online courses will appear on the portal.
The microscope for young researchers - a resident of the ITMO University Technopark, NT-SPb, has developed a nanotechnology complex: a NanoTutor scanning probe microscope, a device for making nanoprobes, a high-resolution digital optical microscope, a set of research samples and a virtual simulator. All this allows schoolchildren to study the principles of probe and optical microscopy, get acquainted with nanotechnology and prepare their own research projects in this area. As part of the initiative, equipment was installed in 18 schools in St. Petersburg.
MOOC University Performance Improvement - ITMO University scientists Lyubov Lisitsyna and Evgeny Yefimchik proposed a system of trainings that increase the cognitive abilities of MOOC students and help them successfully complete the course. The methodology was tested as part of an experiment: ITMO University students who underwent training passed the Internet exam 14% better than the control group. The scientific article of researchers devoted to this task was recognized as the best at the 4th International Conference “Smart Education and e-Learning (SEEL-2017)”.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/341536/
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