Yolanda Correia
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Lisbon, Portugal
Toptal member since July 17, 2020
Yolanda is a software engineer with over a decade of experience building mobile applications for clients, including Google, Samsung, and Nexus Studios. Her main interests lie in crafting visual, narrative-based experiences in extended reality. Yolanda likes to take challenges that push the boundaries between virtual content and the real world to create immersive and inspiring interactive experiences.
Portfolio
Experience
- Android - 8 years
- Game Programming - 4 years
- Unity3D - 4 years
- C# - 4 years
- Augmented Reality (AR) - 3 years
- AR Foundation - 1 year
- ARKit - 1 year
Availability
Preferred Environment
Unity3D, Android, C#, AR Foundation, ARKit, ARCore, Mobile Game Development, Augmented Reality (AR), Android Jetpack
The most amazing...
...interactive experience I've developed was a set of open-source augmented reality game demos showcasing Niantic Lightship ARDK capabilities.
Work Experience
Systems and Gameplay Engineer
FLOAT LAND
- Combined Meta Presence platform's mixed reality APIs to achieve key aspects of the gameplay, such as setting up the player's room and avatar, virtual object placement, and creating specific atmospheres throughout the experience.
- Implemented gameplay features such as avatar interaction, state and feedback, scorekeeping, arcade mode gameplay, etc.
- Implemented permission handling and scene set up game flows.
- Collaborated in ideation process and concept development.
Lead AR Engineer
Stealth Startup (Freelance)
- Integrated new features on an existing location-based AR prototype.
- Developed an entirely new functional prototype for iOS.
- Designed and implemented complex back-stack architecture simulating native application behavior in Unity3D using the Finite State Machine design pattern.
- Implemented a REST API for the full back-end integration.
AR Engineer
Nexus Studios (Freelance)
- Collaborated on the development of open-source AR game demos to showcase Niantic Lightship's ARDK technology and SDK capabilities, including real-time mapping, shared multiplayer experiences, semantics, and depth.
- Focused on implementation of networking capabilities and multiplayer gameplay.
- Actively contributed during the game's ideation process.
Senior Android Engineer
Samsung Research America (Freelance)
- Redesigned the platform architecture leveraged across all Samsung Research America (SRA) Digital Health Lab Android applications.
- Adapted and expanded the development team's methods to include best practices, thereby improving code quality and reducing the downstream QA load.
- Reduced development time and improved product results by devising a codebase for Android application development, enabling comprehensive technical support, and integrating insights based on synthesized feedback from UX designers and researchers.
Senior Android Engineer
Impossible
- Developed multiple developer-facing Android applications to showcase Google Tango technology and SDK capabilities.
- Collaborated in ideation and prototyping of Google Tango use cases, primarily focused on Google Maps indoor AR navigation.
- Contributed to the Google Tango API and framework development.
- Developed Android prototypes for case studies and UX research of Samsung music and video streaming applications.
- Led a cross-functional team of three software engineers (Android, iOS, and backend) to develop the MVP of Bond Touch, a wearable mobile app for bringing people closer together.
- Implemented an organic sketch tool algorithm for touch interfaces that became a core feature of an enhanced Android lock screen with a shared whiteboard that allowed connected users to share content.
Research and Game Development Intern
National Institute of Informatics
- Implemented procedural generation techniques for automated content creation in 3D virtual worlds, such as traffic and pedestrian simulation, 3D city generation, dialogue generation, and verbal and non-verbal behavior of embodied animate agents.
- Executed a port and conducted UI/UX/gameplay improvements targeting mobile platforms. This increased the user base and user active time, achieving 10,000+ installs in the Google Play Store.
- Supported comprehensive system maintenance during worldwide, online campaigns.
Software Engineer
YDreams
- Developed Android application and Arduino firmware prototypes for the award-winning, Kickstarter-funded, and first-ever consumer aquatic drone with real-time video streaming.
- Led UI/UX initiatives for a Microsoft Kinect-based, natural user interface (NUI) application for browsing medical images within sterile environments.
- Implemented image processing solution using OpenCV and Microsoft Kinect SDK to recognize open/close hand gestures.
Experience
Stranger Things VR
https://tenderclaws.com/strangerthingsvrI focused on integrating and combining the Meta Presence platform's mixed reality APIs like scene, movement, and passthrough to implement key aspects of the gameplay, such as setting up the player's room and avatar, placing virtual objects, and creating specific atmospheres throughout the experience.
Niantic Lightship Demo: AR Voyage
https://nexusstudios.com/work/niantic/I focused on the implementation of networking capabilities and multiplayer gameplay.
Niantic Lightship "Early Explorers" Demo: Red Shift
https://youtu.be/GleXn-t_3X0I focused on the implementation of UI, networking capabilities, and multiplayer gameplay. I also actively participated and contributed during the game's ideation process.
Bond Touch
https://www.bond-touch.com/I led a small, cross-functional team of three software engineers (Android, iOS, and backend) that released Android and iOS MVP apps with full back-end support and hardware integration within the proposed deadline.
LokLok
I implemented an organic sketch tool algorithm for touch interfaces to simulate drawing with a marker. I also implemented core application features such as drawing tools and Facebook integration.
iCO2 Mobile Game
https://youtu.be/qv9-zBHx1ZII implemented procedural generation techniques for automated content creation in 3D virtual worlds, such as traffic and pedestrian simulation, 3D city generation, dialogue generation, and verbal and non-verbal behavior of embodied animated agents.
I also executed the port and UX/UI/gameplay improvements targeting mobile platforms. This increased the user base and user active time, achieving over 10,000 installs on Google Play Store.
Ziphius
I developed the early software and firmware prototypes using Raspberry Pi with camera modules for recording and streaming the video to the Android client, and an Arduino board to receive interfaced commands to control the motor servos that provided movement to the drone.
YScope
https://youtu.be/91F6zErnCrsI led the front-end UX/UI efforts to build a seamless NUI and implemented an image processing solution based on the k-means clustering algorithm, using OpenCV and Microsoft Kinect SDK to recognize open/close hand gestures. The solution was operational for nearly 10 years in the division of Neurosurgery at Hospital de Santa Maria, one of the biggest public hospital facilities in Lisbon, Portugal.
Raft Adrift Simulation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMEV5ax9XeAI focused on volumetric clouds and light rendering, rain, and thunder. The project was completely developed in OGRE3D using C++.
Education
Master's Degree in Computer Engineering and Multimedia Systems
Instituto Superior Técnico - Lisbon, Portugal
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Lisbon, Portugal
Certifications
ARCore and Sceneform for Android Augmented Reality (Java)
AR Deploy | via Udemy
Skills
Libraries/APIs
REST APIs, Butterknife, OpenCV, OpenGL, RxJava 2, Retrofit
Tools
Android Studio, Figma, Postman, Android Jetpack, RxAndroid
Languages
Java, C#, C#.NET, Kotlin, C++
Frameworks
Android SDK, Unity3D, ARKit, AR Foundation, Unity, Sceneform, Microsoft Kinect, OGRE, Dagger 2
Paradigms
Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Automation
Platforms
Android, MacOS, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Mobile, Firebase, ARCore, Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), Tango, iOS, Raspberry Pi
Other
User Experience (UX), Front-end, Mobile UX, Android Development, User Interface (UI), Mobile Game Development, Augmented Reality (AR), Game Programming, Game Development, Google, Task Automation, Multi-agent Systems, 3D Visualization, 3D Animation, 3D Simulations, Wearables, Bluetooth, Coroutines, Meta Quest Presence Platform, Mixed Reality (MR)
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