July 22

Yuri Efimov 

Research Engineer,
Luxembourg office
More than 2 years in Artec 3D

I work in a team that works with neural networks for various Artec 3D tasks. Right now our team is concentrated on a 3D reconstruction from a set of photos and camera positions. Neural rendering and object geometry extraction is a trending research topic for real world NN applications. .

Together with the team, we were engaged in the task of texturing algorithm improvement by neural image enhancement and had prepared a solution to be applied for the next version of Artec Studio. Applying neural networks allowed us to reuse raw image data from the scanner more efficiently and thus improve overall texture quality. It's nice to see how the visual result of the scan is getting better and already being used in our scanners.

We all know about the boom of natural language processing neural networks, namely large language models like recent versions of GPT. Actually I am not so close to this topic, but I am sure that even though many are afraid of modern AI development, it can’t be stopped. It is also worth mentioning that modern large language models still have quite a lot of unresolved problems and limitations, which will drive I personally support the opinion that modern AI development should become more and more open-source so that every person on a planet can have access and full understanding of how exactly it works. Proprietary and hidden AI R&D driven by huge corporations or government agencies can pose a threat for a society as a whole in the near future.

I have been in Montenegro for a little over a year: I was one of the first to come here and saw all the stages of the new office formation in this place. I like that in Montenegro there are many natural places untouched by civilization, not to mention the fact that visiting them does not cost a lot of money. I also like the local people, they are peaceful, kind and understanding.

Now I am moving to Luxembourg and it will be great to start communicating with most of my colleagues in person, despite the fact that our team has built all our processes online effectively.

Sometimes in my spare time I like watching or listening to popular science lectures on various topics which are not directly related to my professional background. For instance I have recently checked several podcasts from Mikhail Gelfand about biology and bioinformatics. Not only he is a great storyteller but helps shed light on many everyday questions about medicine and health for modern people.