
Pedro Alves Nogueira
Verified Expert in Engineering
Computer Vision Developer
Porto, Portugal
Toptal member since February 13, 2015
Pedro is a senior researcher and prototype developer with a PhD in AI, human-computer interaction, and affective computing. His background in academic and startup environments give him an edge in implementing state-of-the-art, elegant, and efficient custom-built solutions. Additionally, his experience as director of engineering for a multi-million dollar startup makes him an expert communicator and project manager.
Portfolio
Experience
- Data Science - 8 years
- Computer Vision - 8 years
- Machine Learning - 8 years
- Python - 5 years
- Project Management - 5 years
- R - 5 years
- JavaScript - 3 years
- Meteor - 2 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
Git, Sublime Text, Eclipse, MacOS
The most amazing...
...thing I’ve created is a hybrid computer vision/machine learning system to automatically detect cellular infection ratios for Leishmania drug trials.
Work Experience
Director of Engineering
Toptal, LLC
- Coordinated the launch of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Science verticals for Toptal. This involved building the vetting processes, hiring the recruiting teams, internal sales and operations training, and executing the launch, PR, and growth initiatives.
- Gathered client requirements and expectations and, based on that, interviewed and filtered the best candidates.
- Tracked and improved internal processes to follow company growth.
- Helped clients improve their remote workflows, organize proper communication needed for remote work and executed initial scope/business analysis.
- Improved hiring practices and fine-tuned screening processes leading to a more rigorous and strict filtering of new talent.
Professor
University of Porto - Faculty of Engineering
- Taught various courses on introduction to programming (Scheme/LISP), computing theory, and advanced programming (C/C++) for the Masters in Computer Science program. Also responsible for routinely conducting several seminars and workshops on advanced AI, HCI, and digital game topics.
Researcher
Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Laboratory
- Developed a generic architecture for designing affective game engines as well as affective player modeling algorithms based on emotional reaction data for digital video games, both presented at AAAI's annual conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE).
- Created a symbolic game simulator that enabled testing for the emotional elicitation capabilities of created models.
- Created tools to automatically collect, pre-process, analyze, and visualize psychophysiological data from gameplay sessions as well as annotate emotional reactions using HCI best practices and protocols.
- Performed in-depth live studies with human participants to determine effects of real-time, affective, rule-based adaptive video games on players' perceived immersion, gameplay experience, and physiological data. These tests were also followed by thorough statistical significance and data visualization analysis via custom-made visualization tools.
- Coordinated parallel work in biofeedback video games, affective-adaptive movies, full spectrum sensorial integration prototypes, affective procedural content generation, and emotional NPC research.
- Built a generic multi-modal framework to add customized natural interfaces to existing games. Interaction modes include Kinect gesture recognition and speech recognition.
- Created the four-year project vision and single-handedly secured full funding for its full development.
- Established and developed international cooperation with well-known Gamer Lab group at the University of Ontario’s Institute of Technology.
Computer Vision Expert
RAD FitKey
- Designed a computer vision algorithm for extracting body size measurements from still pictures.
- Researched and consulted with the client regarding potential alternate avenues (e.g., adding 3D scene reconstruction capabilities).
- Supervised and provided guidance on the development efforts and technical implementation details of the algorithm.
Consultant - MASSIVE R&D Project
INESC-Tec
- Performed requisite and technological analysis regarding multi-sensorial and physiological interaction techniques for a full-sensorial simulator.
- Aided in the scenario and objective/deliverable delineation process.
- Performed budgeting and material acquisition decisions.
- Managed two teams responsible for two high-visibility scenarios and disseminating results in peer-reviewed venues.
- Showcased the project and gaining exposure.
Recruiting Manager
CleverTech
- Oversaw the full cycle recruiting process, from sourcing and interviewing to offer negotiation and on-boarding.
- Implemented the technical testing processes and the scoring system. Tasked with performing hires for high-profile clients.
- Helped maintain internal operations through team building and resource allocation policies.
- Implemented added functionality on internal hiring tools and provided technical supervision on parallel feature development.
- Kept in-house KPIs on the hiring process (e.g., churn rate) to help predict new hiring needs and talent acquisition estimates.
Professor
University of Porto - Faculty of Letters
- Taught several relational DB, introduction to programming (Python) and geographical information system (GIS) courses for the Masters in Geographical Information Systems program.
Developer
Virtual Embodiment and Robotic re-Embodiment (VERE), Telecommunications Institute (IT)
- Developed eye-tracking methodologies for head-mounted displays and ocular movement replication in 3D avatars.
Computer Vision & Machine Learning Developer/Analyst
Molecular and Cellular Biology Institute (IBMC)
- Performed on-field requisite analysis regarding annotation protocols and image characteristics.
- Developed a fully automated model for determining infection rates in Leishmania infected confocal microscopy imaging.
- Conducted statistical validation procedures on the method, showing it outperformed trained human experts, potentially sparing thousands of manual annotation hours per laboratory team/year.
- Contributed to several publications on peer-reviewed conferences and journals, such as the European Conference on Neural Networks and the Artificial Intelligence Review journal.
User Experience and Human-Computer Interaction Researcher
Vital Responder (Carnegie Mellon University - Portugal Programme)
- Performed on-field contextual studies and requirement analysis of fireman activity for the development of novel wearable intelligent biometric monitoring suits and the emergency response framework these were integrated in.
- Employed techniques that included, but were not restricted to: depth interviews, focus group interviews, shadowing, visual anthropology, questionnaires, mental model formation, paper prototyping, cognitive walkthroughs, and requirement elicitation.
- Contributed to a final report specifying the stakeholders' main requisites, current activity practice flaws, and possible improvements, followed by use cases, scenario workflows, and an initial prototype proposal.
Network Coding Researcher
NCrave European Project, Telecommunications Institute (IT)
- Studied the impact of imperfect feedback on state-of-the-art network coding protocols on the European project NCrave.
Experience
Computer Vision Expert @ RAD Fitkey
The solution uses a combination of Computer Vision and anthropomorphic science to deduct the positions and measurements of several body points from still images taken by the users and matches these to clothing vendor's item sizes for a clear-cut shopping experiences.
Monte-Carlo AI for The Octagon Theory
MCTS AI was also later dotted with Bayesian opponent modelling capabilities that allowed it to not only surpass any known human players but also all other known/previously implemented AIs. Work was featured at AIGameDev.com (https://aigamedev.com/broadcasts/session-mcts-tot/).
Automatic Analysis of Microscopy Leishmania-Infected Cellular Images
Hiring System
http://hire.clevertech.biz/Psychophysiological Inductive Emotional Reaction
Emotional Event Triangulation Tool
Affective Player Modelling
Gameplay Optimization & ADjustment (GOAD) Simulation System
A Capella Mixer
Gemini
Featured on Dedicated Broadcast on AIGameDev
AAAI Member
Scientific Advisor
Representative sample of topics include:
- Direct biofeedback shooter games
- Affective movies
- Biofeedback horror games
- Emotional NPCs and human player mimicking
- Affective PCG
- MCTS for complex board games (orders of magnitude above chess)
- DBF framework
- Stealth games mcts
- PCG for platform games
Education
Ph.D. (Summa Cum Laude) in Artificial Intelligence/Human-Computer Interaction
University of Porto - Faculty of Engineering/University of Ontario - Institute of Technology - Porto, Portugal
Master's Degree (Summa Cum Laude) in Computer Science (Cryptography & Artificial Intelligence)
University of Porto - Faculty of Sciences - Porto, Portugal
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
University of Porto - Faculty of Sciences - Porto, Portugal
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Scikit-learn, OpenCV, Node.js, React, jQuery
Tools
Weka, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Visual Studio, Photoshop CS6, Robo 3T (Robomongo), OmniGraffle, Sublime Text 2, Sublime Text, Shell, Mongoose, Git, Eclipse IDE
Languages
R, Python, ECMAScript (ES6), Java, JavaScript, C, C++, Scheme, C#, PHP, Lisp, Prolog
Paradigms
Qualitative Research, Imperative Programming, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Agile Software Development, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), Functional Programming
Industry Expertise
Project Management
Frameworks
Bootstrap 3, Bootstrap, Express.js, AngularJS
Platforms
Meteor, iOS, MacOS, Windows, Linux, Eclipse, RapidMiner
Storage
MongoDB, JSON, MySQL
Other
Signal Processing, Technical Project Management, University Teaching, Neural Networks, Consulting, Research, Research Reports, Data Research, Quantitative User Research, Support Vector Machines (SVM), SVMs, Clustering Algorithms, Hierarchical Clustering, Data Science, Data Mining, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Data Visualization, Data Analysis, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Chatbots, Monte Carlo, Audio Processing, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Random Forests, Ajax, Dia, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), User Experience (UX), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Algorithms, Process Simulation
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