Vincent Lui

Computer vision from a software engineer’s vantage point

Some people land in the right place at the right time. Well, that’s certainly how things have turned out for Vincent Lui (BE(Hons) 2011, PhD 2016). Earlier this year Sentient Vision Systems offered him a position as a Software Engineer, with an opportunity to work on the world’s first optical radar, ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging). Of course, getting this gig took more than just good luck.

“As part of the computer vision and analytics team, I’m involved with research and development (R&D), creating algorithms to improve how ViDAR performs automated object detection with its vision sensors,” explains Vincent. “This game-changing maritime search system has applications in surveillance, defence, as well as search and rescue operations.”

Vincent credits his success to an internship in Malaysia when, as an undergraduate, he spent three months with the engineering team at Sunway Integrated Facilities and Management. During that time, he helped develop a simple user interface for a monitoring system to automatically control building facilities, such as lights and air conditioning.

“This experience helped me progress from engineering student to graduate engineer. It gave me a chance to apply theoretical knowledge to practical problems,” says Vincent. “My supervisor allowed me a lot of freedom to explore solutions. That’s what sparked my interest in R&D which has carried through to my job today.”

Although his studies gave him a good grounding in engineering, Vincent stresses the importance of never-ending curiosity. “I’ve discovered over the years that there’s so much that I still don’t know, and I can learn something new every day,” he shares. “In the constantly changing field of technology, remaining open is essential.”

During his career, Vincent has witnessed huge advances in artificial intelligence (AI). “Machines can now learn how to solve problems,” he remarks. “Thanks to increasingly greater computing power, we can apply AI to self-driving cars, speech and image recognition, robotics, and much more. I hope one day to see computer vision, augmented by AI, tackle some crucial real-world challenges.”