Siddhant Ahuja never misses an episode of Dragon's Den, so he thought he knew what to expect when he entered—and won first place in—a contest modeled after the popular television program.
"They didn't really grill us as hard as I thought they might," said Ahuja, a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering who was in Ottawa Tuesday to take part in TestDRIVE, an AUTO21 graduate student competition held during the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters' annual summit.
Under the tutelage of professor and Canada Research Chair Jonathan Wu, Ahuja created a network of “smart” cameras to be used for quality control, assembly and robotic guidance in automotive manufacturing plants. Using sophisticated media processors and advanced computer vision algorithms, the cameras can analyze the visual information they record and make decisions about how to react to quality or assembly problems.
Ahuja said that if properly implemented, the system would reduce overhead costs, cut down on waste and downtime, and maximize efficiency in an auto plant. It could also be used in other sectors such as gaming and entertainment, surveillance, military, and bio-medical systems. He convinced the contest's judges of the commercial viability of his proposal, which in addition to earning top honours, secured another $10,000 in scholarship funding.
"I couldn't believe it" when it was announced that he won, Ahuja said. "I thought they were referring to someone else named Sid."
Brimming with pride for his student, Dr. Wu said winning the contest spoke to the quality of Ahuja's work while providing national recognition of the excellent programming in the University's engineering department.
"It's huge," he said. "It's important to demonstrate that research is appreciated by industry."
Ahuja said he was approached after the contest by several industry representatives who wanted to talk more about commercializing his system, as well as other researchers interested in exploring collaborative partnerships.
We're number one: Siddhant Ahuja and Jonathan Wu are all smiles after the doctoral student took top honours in a national research competition.
News story courtesy of UWin Daily News.