Doing a PhD is very demanding and sometimes boring. So, in order to add some flavors to it I have managed to work on some other things along the line of my research. These include participating in competitions and developing demonstrations using the same hardware platform. Following are some examples of my research related activities:
NTU’s Postgraduate Prospectus:
I was recognized as a successful, international student and my picture was used on the very front cover of NTU’s 2010-2011 postgraduate prospectus. It felt amazing walking around Nottingham and seeing myself on the shelves of NTU’s buildings, all visible and repeatedly through the glass walls of the buildings.
BBC Radio Nottingham Interview:
At the late stages of experimenting TeleGaze, I have been interviewed by Frances Finn, a presenter at BBC Radio Nottingham, about my progress as a PhD student and the possibilities that TeleGaze is likely to bring to the world of robotics. Due to copyright issues, I do not believe that I am allowed to put an audio recording of the interview here. However, I will try to put the scripts of the interview once I get it. The interview was broadcasted on the 30th of July, 2009.
Machine Intelligence Competition:
In order to participate in the British Computer Society (BCS) machine intelligence competition, I demonstrated GazeBot with TeleGaze and Person-Following. The competition was held in Cambridge University in England in December, 2008. Quoting from the competition’s Webpage “Hemin Omer Latif demonstrated GazeBot, a mobile robot from Nottingham Trent University. This robot managed to locate and track a person on stage and proceeded to follow him wherever he went. The robot followed him out of the lecture theatre and along the corridor. The audience could watch progress on a large screen display, through the eye of the robot. This was all done with a single vision sensor and no other measurements were taken.”
Poster Competition:
I presented a research poster, my research at an early stage, in the annual research conference of the School of Science and Technology at the Nottingham Trent University in May, 2008. The poster won the second place in the school’s “Second year PhD students poster competition”.
NTU’s Open Day Events:
I have also demonstrated parts of my works, including most that you can see on this website, to prospective students of the School of Science and Technology, Department of Computing and Technology in the school’s open events.