392277 ISY Project: Cognitive Skills As A Service (CSAAS) (Pj) (SoSe 2018)

- Short Description
Cognitive skills like person identification, object detection/classification, and speech recognition/processing are essential in order to build "intelligent systems". Implementing these skills requires complex software components and ecosystems that eventually need to be integrated into the target system - a robot for instance.

Moreover, the technical setup and configuration of these software systems requires expert knowledge and the actual execution is usually computationally expensive, e.g., a potent GPU is required for TensorFlow and alike frameworks. Thus, in this project we aim at realizing a web-based service that provides easy REST-like access to cognitive skills that have already been implemented at CITEC/CLF. We are proposing a client-server architecture where the server wraps existing components, that implement a dedicated cognitive skill, and exposes a common lightweight interface via http.

Moreover, while 'big players' like Amazon, Microsoft and Google are providing these kind of services in the cloud (non-free, no privacy assured, etc.), we aim at implementing this as a local service, e.g., for single labs, projects, or even only within the techfak. Lastly, by implementing this service we will a) lower the hurdle for students to actually make use of state-of-the-art technology, b) assure privacy, i.e., no data is sent to "Google", c) reduce the power-consumption since we make use of a shared resource. To get an idea, please visit: https://www.clarifai.com

Lastly, students who work on this project will have the chance to test and tweak their software using the CLF Pepper Robot! For more info watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70YMCihD1ds

Please note that the teams will be selected by the supervisors on the basis of short applications that students are expected to send to them. Registering to the project in the ekVV will only be regarded as expression of interest; it will not secure a team membership.
Please get in touch with the supervisors for information on the application procedure.

Requirements for participation, required level

Required skills:
Experience with:
- Client-server architectures
- Web technologies
- API Design

As a plus ...
- Experience with ROS (Robot Operating System)