Technology Innovation Institute Launches Infrared Tracking Crowdsourcing Competition

The Technology Innovation Institute, or TII, in partnership with HeroX, later today will publish the challenge guidelines for its new crowdsourcing competition designed to spur innovation in infrared tracking technology.

“New generation autonomous vehicles must successfully navigate environments with challenging lighting conditions, and current perception-based tracking algorithms often fall short,” the institute said in a press release today. “TII is, therefore, exploring the use of radiometric sensors, which can provide infrared, rather than photometric frames for object tracking in low-light conditions.”

TII is the research division of the Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC). TII said it has ten research centers that focus on topics including advanced materials, robotics, cryptography, space, and biotechnology.

“By working with exceptional talent, universities, research institutions, and industry partners from around the world, TII connects an intellectual community and contributes to building an R&D ecosystem that reinforces the status of Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a global hub for innovation,” it said.

The institute is taking advantage of HeroX’s crowdsourcing platform and network for the challenge.

“Autonomous vehicles are the future,” said Dr. Najwa Aaraj, a chief researcher at the Autonomous Robotics Research Center at the Technology Innovation Institute. “While autonomous driving technology still has some ways to go in achieving operational and technical impeccability, this Challenge will help innovators find solutions to ensure that autonomous vehicles on our roads operate as safely as possible.”

“Such advancements will launch us into a bold, new phase of our autonomous transportation journey, and we are eager to see what the crowd comes up with,” Aaraj said.

How can people apply?

The institute said the TII Infrared Tracking Challenge is open to “innovators, start-ups, research institutes, and university students from anywhere in the world.” Participants must be 18 years of age or older and can apply as an individual or as a team.

“Challengers are encouraged to leverage publicly available datasets with similar content as TII's provided sample dataset and utilize color-to-thermal domain adaptation techniques when necessary,” TII said. “Submissions will be evaluated based on TII-defined criteria.”

TII will choose three winners who will be awarded a total of $75,000 U.S. by May 17, 2023. First place will be awarded $40,000; second place will be awarded $20,00; and third place will be awarded $15,000.

To apply, go to https://www.herox.com/TIIInfraredTracking. Submissions are due by April 5, 2023.