LETI: LETI Held a School for Principal Investigators in AI
On October 18-26, LETI hosted the first Russian school “Principal Investigator in Artificial Intelligence.” 103 students, postgraduates, and young specialists from Russia and Kazakhstan took part in the school.
Students learned about the current state of artificial intelligence technologies, acquired and improved their leadership skills, and solved practical tasks to develop intelligent autonomous systems and driverless vehicles at the LETI’s polygon.
“It is no accident that LETI hosts this school, as we have the largest robotarium for testing driverless transport in the country, simulating the urban environment. Its area is 100 sq. m.”
Anton Filatov, a postgraduate student of the Department of Software Engineering and Computer Applications at LETI
The training took place in three tracks. In the Light program, participants listened to online lectures and participated in discussions. The Standard format also included workshops and tech lectures devoted to approaches and methods for implementing algorithms. In the Pro format, participants worked on projects based on the polygon. The tasks included detecting the road marking in footage from the robot’s camera using neural networks, estimating the robot’s speed based on the footage, automatically constructing a map of the environment the robots move through, and building a route for the robot’s movement as it drives around the polygon.
“Even though the participants had different levels of training, everyone was able to upgrade their skills not only in artificial intelligence, but also soft skills – teamwork, leadership in a research team, and time management.”
Konstantin Chayka, a postgraduate student of the Department of Software Engineering and Computer Applications at LETI
Lectures and workshops were led by experts from ETH Zürich, UMontreal, LETI, and top companies in the field of driverless transportation. Among them were Kirill Krinkin, Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation at LETI, Director of the Alexander Popov International Innovation Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Communications, Director of the Artificial Intelligence in Industry Association, Timur Supatayev, Head of Strategic Digital Partner Programs at Gazprom Neft, Jacopo Tani, Senior Scientist at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zürich, Liam Poll, Associate Professor at l’Université de Montréal, Andrea Cenci, Deputy Director of the Chair of Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zürich, Boris Ivanov, Head of StarLine Driverless Car Project, Mikhail Korobkin, Head of Localization Group at Yandex Self-Driving Group, Mikhail Abramov, Expert in Automotive Delivery at Luxoft Company, Ivan Deilid, Head of Computer Vision System Center of NIIAS St. Petersburg branch, Anna Abramova, Head of the Department of Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence by ADV Group at MGIMO, and Konstantin Chayka and Anton Filatov, researchers at JetBrains Research.
“The school for Principal Investigators in Artificial Intelligence is an increasingly popular format for training the most highly qualified professionals. Graduates of such schools contribute to the development of science and technology, capable of competing at the global level, creating new products and entire industries.”
Kirill Krinkin, Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation at LETI, Director of the Alexander Popov International Innovation Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Communications
The certificate awarding ceremony of the school took place offline and online on October 27. All participants will also receive a certificate of advanced training. The organizers noted that they are looking forward to the next school.
Partners of the School, organized with the support of the St. Petersburg government, are major companies, universities, and leading research centers: JetBrains Research, StarLine, ETH Zürich, l’Université de Montréal, Gazprom Neft, Center for Strategic Research “North-West,” Artificial Intelligence in Industry Association, Russian Railways, Yandex, Luxoft, MGIMO, Pavlov Center for Integrative Physiology for Personal Medicine, High-Tech Healthcare, and Stress Resistance Technology.