Robby is available for hire

Robby Goetschalckx

Verified Expert in Engineering

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Developer

Eugene, OR, United States

Toptal member since December 12, 2017

Expertise

Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Data Science Python NumPy NLP Linux

Bio

Robby is a machine learning expert with 10+ years of experience in research and back-end software development for machine learning solutions. With master's degrees in computer science and artificial intelligence in addition to his Ph.D. in computer science, Robby is well equipped to provide solutions to a variety of issues in companies of all sizes.

Portfolio

Eduworks Corporation

Natural Language Understanding (NLU), CSV, SciPy...

Connected Signals

Jupyter Notebook, CSV, SciPy, Matplotlib, Bayesian Statistics, Research...

Eduworks Corporation

Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Functional Programming, CSV, SciPy...

Experience

Artificial Intelligence (AI) - 18 years
Machine Learning - 17 years
Bayesian Inference & Modeling - 15 years
Reinforcement Learning - 13 years
Research - 13 years
NumPy - 8 years
Data Science - 5 years
Python 3 - 5 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

SciPy, Linux, Python 3, Django, Pandas

The most amazing...

...system I worked on was a fully automatic robotic device for post-stroke rehab. My part was the automatic decision making about optimal difficulty of exercise.

Work Experience

Machine Learning Researcher (Contract)

2017 - PRESENT

Eduworks Corporation

Created a tractable algorithm to infer skill mastery in complex competency frameworks from potentially conflicting sources of information.
Performed experiments with an algorithm on simulated data to validate the correctness and significance of improvement over baseline.
Wrote a white paper on inference in complex competency frameworks.

Technologies: Natural Language Understanding (NLU), CSV, SciPy, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Matplotlib, Bayesian Statistics, Research, Bayesian Inference & Modeling, Probability Theory, Git, NumPy, Python, Python 2, Python 3, Probabilistic Graphical Models, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Java

Senior Software Engineer

2017 - 2020

Connected Signals

Provided prediction models for bus ETAs at traffic lights for signal priority requests.
Created a prediction model for response delay for drivers at a traffic light turning from red to green.
Created prediction models for traffic lights from vehicular probe data (GPS traces).

Technologies: Jupyter Notebook, CSV, SciPy, Matplotlib, Bayesian Statistics, Research, Bayesian Inference & Modeling, Probability Theory, Git, Linux, Data Science, Scikit-learn, NumPy, Python, Python 3, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Pandas

Software Developer and Machine Learning Expert

2016 - 2017

Eduworks Corporation

Created a fully automated multiple-choice quiz generation system, which takes in a text document, identifies keywords, and generates questions.
Developed a system to perform inference in complex competency frameworks, parsing (potentially conflicting) evidence from various sources.
Built a machine learning system to detect voice phishing attacks from audio signals, by detecting various types of tampering (splicing, synthetic voices, and replay attacks).
Developed several ideas for potential project proposals, involving machine learning, natural language processing, and automatic decision making.

Technologies: Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Functional Programming, CSV, SciPy, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Matplotlib, Bayesian Statistics, Research, Bayesian Inference & Modeling, Probability Theory, Git, Agile Software Development, Java 8, NumPy, Python, Python 2, Python 3, Probabilistic Graphical Models, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Apache Maven, Java

Postdoctoral Researcher

2012 - 2015

Oregon State University

Created various algorithms for learning in an interactive loop between a (human) subject matter expert and an AI system.
Designed various algorithms for imitation learning—a machine learning system that takes in expert solutions and tries to learn the underlying policy.
Developed a system to perform path planning for multiple agents for a complex search and coverage problem.
Created an algorithm to perform inference in MOOC frameworks by predicting readiness-to-learn using Bayesian techniques.
Designed algorithms for multi-task classification, by exploiting task descriptions and balancing specification and generalization.

Technologies: CSV, SciPy, Matplotlib, Reinforcement Learning, Bayesian Statistics, Research, Bayesian Inference & Modeling, Probability Theory, Linux, NumPy, Python, Python 2, Python 3, Probabilistic Graphical Models, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Postdoctoral Researcher

2011 - 2012

University of Waterloo

Developed algorithms to perform inference on a discrete output variable with a continuous input space.
Built a system to perform inference and planning in a complex system to assist in post-stroke rehabilitation.

Technologies: CSV, SciPy, Matplotlib, Reinforcement Learning, Bayesian Statistics, Research, Bayesian Inference & Modeling, Probability Theory, NumPy, Python, Python 2, Python 3, Probabilistic Graphical Models, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Experience

Question Generation

http://eduworks.com/assessment-generation.html

Automated quiz generation from text documents. Identifying keywords, creating questions and distractors for multiple-choice questions, and choosing high-quality questions with high relevance for the subject matter.

Intelligent Post-stroke Rehab Robot

Automatic robot to assist people in post-stroke exercises for upper limbs. The robot acts as a controller for a video game, where physical resistance level and target distance can be set automatically. The system keeps a belief state of the person's physical capabilities and fatigue level, and makes decisions accordingly, even deciding when to tell the person to take a break.

Bus ETAs for Signal Priority Requests

Based on GPS traces of bus routes, I created predictive models of when a bus would arrive at a signalized intersection. This allows the system to request traffic light changes or delays. At the test city, the result was that buses only had to stop at traffic lights 60% as often as before; wait times for red lights were greatly reduced.

Education

2004 - 2009

Ph.D. in Computer Science

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Leuven, Belgium

2003 - 2004

Advanced Master's Degree in Artificial Intelligence

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Leuven, Belgium

1999 - 2003

Master's Degree in Computer Science

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Leuven, Belgium

Skills

Libraries/APIs

NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, Pandas, Scikit-learn

Tools

Jupyter, Apache Maven, Git

Languages

Python, Python 2, Python 3, Prolog, Java 8, Java, C++

Platforms

Jupyter Notebook, Linux

Frameworks

Django

Paradigms

Agile Software Development, Functional Programming, Declarative Programming

Storage

SQLite

Other

Research, Bayesian Statistics, Reinforcement Learning, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Probabilistic Graphical Models, Probability Theory, Data Science, Bayesian Inference & Modeling, Natural Language Processing (NLP), CSV, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), Natural Language Understanding (NLU)

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