Student Pot Pourri: British Computer Society Lecture at Surrey

Wednesday 27 February 2008

The BCS holds its monthly meetings on the University of Surrey campus. University staff and students are welcome to attend, at no cost. There's no need to register in advance.

Student Pot Pourri
Selected undergraduate students from the Department of Computing, University of Surrey, will present the background and design stages of their main project work. Projects in the Department cover a wide range of topics, including the implementation of commercial software applications, the development of specialist technical tools and the study of novel computing techniques. Many projects are influenced by the Department's industrial collaborations and by the students' Professional Training Year placements.

Seyed Siadatnejad
Evolution of morphology and controllers for physically simulated creatures
This project aims in creating creatures with locomotion capabilities in a simulated 3-dimensional physical environment, based on the work done by Karl Sims [1]. The creatures can interact with their environment and are represented using a genetic description (genotype) and a physical description (phenotype). Each phenotype is expressed using a genotype, similar to natural creatures. A method is devised in order to measure locomotive abilities of each creature. This method is used in a Genetic Algorithm as a fitness function to favour the emergence of creatures with better locomotion capabilities.

[1] K. Sims, “Evolving virtual creatures”, Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’94 Proceedings), July 1994, pp. 15-22.

Phil Smith
Computer Vision Experiments in Cataract Surgery
In my project, I am developing a computer vision system to analyse the movements of medical instruments in cataract surgery. This information can then used to distinguish between experienced and novice surgeons. It is hoped that this knowledge could then be used in the training of surgeons.

James Sharp
Modelling Clinic Mapping and Staff Utilisation within the NHS Wessex Regional Renal Service
Wessex Renal Regional Service of the NHS provides clinic sessions for renal patients as well as haemodialysis sessions. These sessions take place all over the Wessex Region, spanning from Salisbury to Bognor and from Basingstoke to the Isle of Wight. Currently the patients are assigned by their GP to a particular consultant; however these consultants only hold clinics at certain sites, which means that a patient may not attend the clinic closest to their place of residence.

I have developed a piece of software which uses MapPoint's route plotting capability to determine which is the closest site at which a patient can attend their required clinic or haemodialysis session. I am also analysing these recommendations in the average drive time and distances travelled by patients to their closest clinic and haemodialysis sites, as a measure of the first application, and analysing the number of hours each Multi Disciplinary Team member and Consultant spends at each site. By looking at these values, we hope to reduce the patient transport costs of the Service, as well as to improve patient care.