What do bouncing balls, dancing robots, a ‘digital’ patient, and heavy mining processes have in common?

 

The answer is Dr Richard Xu (pronounced ‘shoo’), a Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in computer science at the School of Accounting and Computer Science at Bathurst who describes himself as “more an engineer than a researcher”.

 

However, he then notes, “We are doing unique research at CSU, and our research and teaching complement each other.”

 

The Head of the School of Accounting and Computer Science, Ross Wilson, says “CSU is very fortunate to have a young academic of the calibre of Dr Xu. His 'vision' research is attracting great interest from colleagues elsewhere in the University, as well as from academics at other universities in Australia. His teaching, enthusiasm and excitement about his research is an inspiration to CSU's computer science students, with a number of them volunteering to work with him in some of his research endeavours.”

 

Dr Xu teaches students at every level, from first year through to PhD candidates, and in particular, he teaches the Bachelor of Computer Science (Games Technology), which was the first undergraduate degree course in Australia to specialise in games technology. The course represents a new direction in specialist training and was designed with significant input from national and international games industry leaders.

 

For his PhD, Dr Xu investigated maths-based computer vision, which is related to artificial intelligence, and much of his work centres on the acquisition by robots or technology of human traits or capacities.

 

For example, Dr Xu received a grant from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching (now know as the Australian Learning and Teaching Council), jointly with Monash University and the University of Newcastle, to develop a computer-generated ‘digital patient’ for teaching and assessment in pharmacy. “It’s safer and more practical for students to accidentally poison a computer program than to risk losing human volunteers,” Dr Xu joked. Practical research, indeed.

 

Dr Xu is the Project Leader of what he terms a ‘blue moon’ research project funded by Newcrest Mines. Presently six months into the three-year $900 000 project, he and his research team of colleagues, Dr Michael Antolovich, Associate Professor Junbin Gao and Mr Allen Benter, aim within 18 months to develop a truck-mounted prototype for testing that will combine video camera images with sonar and radar to automate a mining process that potentially eliminates costly shut-downs of plant that presently result when large rocks jam the rock crusher.

 

Another example of Dr Xu’s research involves collaboration with Dr John Carroll at the CSU School of Communication. Their work centres on human gesture and pose recognition based on a human dancer and a ‘dancing’ robot.

 

This research has significant potential applications because computer-linked cameras will be able to be programmed to recognise, for example, ideal human body positioning for sports training and judging, or, for the purpose of police surveillance, suspicious body positioning.

 

His enthusiasm for mathematics and computing is not limited to the university sector. By invitation, Dr Xu attends high schools in the region to speak to students and teachers about these related topics, and he started a ‘computer vision’ group in Bathurst to foster young people’s interest in mathematics and computing. In this way he hopes to both motivate students in their studies and reassure them that they can come to CSU to study advanced technology rather than go to metropolitan universities.

 

“When I first came to CSU, I expected I’d be here just a year or so and then head back to Sydney. Now I feel so at home and recognise the support and opportunities that I have here. This is an exciting and dynamic university, and there is great scope for the development of our courses and students, and for my career.

 

“And the crowning benefit is that Bathurst and the surrounding countryside are so beautiful and the lifestyle that is possible here is so relaxed and easy after growing up in Sydney with its traffic jams and general chaos.”

 

Dr Xu is changing the name of the ‘Computer Vision Laboratory’ to ‘Computer vision and advanced games technology laboratory’ in order to reflect the wide field of research and applications that arise from his work there.

 

“CSU has one of the best computer vision labs among the universities in Australia. The reason is that this is a very specialised research field with a lot of mathematics involved, the equipment costs a lot of money, and the researchers invested a lot of personal time into it. The researchers at CSU are not just focusing on producing research papers for publication, but also value the scientific outcome in terms of producing workable demonstrations.”

 

Mr Errol Chopping, a colleague at the School of Accounting and Computer Science, says of Dr Xu, “Richard is passionate about his research and his teaching. He makes a great contribution to the School with his enthusiasm to be part of the team. Richard has also had great success in fostering academic curiosity in students, especially at the Honours level, and has had many students coming to his voluntary workshops eager to increase their understanding and enjoyment of mathematics and the computing techniques involved in digital computer vision”.

 

And the bouncing balls? Dr Xu has developed a program which uses high speed cameras to predict – at the top of the trajectory arc - where a hand-thrown object will land. This could help cameras to predict and focus on ‘line-ball’ decisions in a range of sports.