Research Projects
FindingNEMO: Finding the NExt MOve in Movement Disorders
1 Jul 2024 – 30 Jun 2028
Patients with hyperkinetic movement disorders experience involuntary, excessive movements such as shaking (tremor), jerking (myoclonus), or writhing (dystonia). These symptoms can significantly impair their daily lives. Accurate identification of the specific movement disorder is essential, as it determines the appropriate diagnostic procedures and treatment options.
This project has two primary objectives: a) to explore the relationship between certain hyperkinetic movement disorders and brain activity using FMRI analysis, and b) to develop a video-based diagnostic approach for identifying the type and severity of hyperkinetic movement disorders. These goals are being pursued in two distinct PhD projects. George Azzopardi serves as the main supervisor for the video analysis project, with Rafael Martínez García Peña? as the PhD student, while the overall project is led by Prof. Marina de Koning-Tijssen (UMCG).
The video analysis project focuses on investigating both deep learning and traditional machine learning approaches to create explainable algorithms. These algorithms will process RGB video recordings of individuals performing specific physical exercises to determine whether they exhibit a hyperkinetic movement disorder, identify its type, and assess its severity. This non-invasive method could significantly enhance accessibility, enabling diagnosis and monitoring from virtually anywhere.
People: George Azzopardi, Rafael Martínez García Peña?
Funded by NWO
Prevention of Face Morphing Attack
1 Sep 2023 – 31 Dec 2024
The aim of this project, funded by the Dutch Driving Authority (RDW), is to develop algorithms to ensure the authenticity of facial images submitted during the issuance or renewal of driving licenses. By leveraging advanced techniques in image analysis, machine learning, and pattern recognition, the project seeks to safeguard the integrity of identity verification processes. This initiative plays a critical role in mitigating face morphing attacks—a type of fraud where two or more faces are combined into a single image to deceive biometric systems.
The resulting technology will strengthen the security of driving license applications, ensuring only genuine facial images are accepted. Additionally, this project contributes to broader efforts in combating identity fraud, setting new benchmarks in secure document issuance protocols.
People: George Azzopardi, Guru Swaroop Bennabhaktula
Funded by RDW
AIMS5.0 — Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing leading to Sustainability and Industry 5.0
1 May 2023 – 30 April 2026
The European industrial sector has undergone radical changes marked by several industrial revolutions. The ongoing fourth industrial revolution is bringing about a complete digital transformation, promising enhanced productivity and flexibility in manufacturing. Along with these advances, the industrial sector has become responsible for a large share of the worldwide energy consumption and carbon emissions, and digitalisation has until now ignored the human cost associated with the automation and optimisation of manufacturing processes. The European industrial sector has also become increasingly dependent on a limited number of global actors, making existing supply chains vulnerable. In line with initiatives such as the Green Deal and the European Chips Act — which aim to transform the European Union into a modern, resilient, resource-efficient, and competitive economy — AIMS5.0, with its well-balanced consortium of 53 academic and industrial partners from all over the European Union, intends to strengthen European digital sovereignty in sustainable manufacturing and boost the economy by adopting AI technology across the entire industrial value chain to make the already digitalised industry even more intelligent. The ambition is to foster sustainable economic, environmental, and societal development by accelerating the transition towards Industry 5.0, which goes beyond efficiency and productivity as sole objectives: it focuses on bringing back human intelligence and creativity to the production floor and on reinforcing the contribution of industry to society while respecting the limits of the planet. AIMS5.0 will deliver AI-enabled hardware components and systems and AI tools and algorithms for sustainable industrial production processes, enhance existing micro-service-based architectures to reduce the engineering and integration cost and time for AI-supported and sustainable production automation, and address issues surrounding acceptance, trust, and ethics for explainable industrial AI to increase user acceptance of emerging technologies. The core technological and business findings are validated in an interdisciplinary manner by applying AI as an integrated solution to 20 use cases from 9 industrial domains.
People: Dimka Karastoyanova, Michel Medema
Funded by EU HORIZON-KDT-JU-2022-01-IA
LESSEN
The LESSEN project aims to develop, implement, and test advanced chat-based conversational AI agents that are safe, transparent, and tailored for lesser-resourced tasks and domains. LESSEN concentrates on tasks, domains, and scenarios with fewer resources. By combining theoretical and experimental methodologies, LESSEN aims to tackle issues including computational efficiency, limited data availability, and privacy considerations. The project also aims to democratize conversational AI technology and promote its responsible use.
People: Fatih Turkmen (PI), Ali Satvaty (PhD Student)
Funded by NWO-ORC
4NSEEK
Aim: To develop intelligent and information retrieval tools for the detection of incriminating content (e.g. human trafficking, terrorism, child pornography, etc.) in storage devices.
People: George Azzopardi (PI), Guru S. Bennabhaktula (PhD Student)
Funded by EU-H2020
SmartBreed
Aim: To develop machine learning and predictive analysis tools to can assist with the management of farms; e.g. detecting early signs of health issues in farm animals
People: George Azzopardi (PI), Ahmad Alsahaf (PhD Student, in collaboration with the Intelligent Systems group)
Funded by NWO-STW