Roberto Cipolla facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Roberto Cipolla
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| Born | 3 May 1963 (age 62) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA) University of Pennsylvania (MSE) University of Electro-Communications (MEng) University of Oxford (DPhil) |
| Awards | FRS, FREng |
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| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | Active visual inference of surface shape (1991) |
| Doctoral advisor | Andrew Blake |
Roberto Cipolla, born on May 3, 1963, is a British scientist. He is a top researcher in a field called computer vision. He is also a professor at the University of Cambridge.
Early Life and Education
Roberto Cipolla was born in Solihull, England. He went to Langley School and Solihull Sixth Form College. After that, he studied engineering at Queens' College, Cambridge and finished in 1984.
He then traveled to the United States and Japan to continue his studies. He earned a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985. Later, he studied Japanese and got another master's degree from the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo.
In 1988, Cipolla returned to England. He studied at the University of Oxford. In 1991, he earned a special doctorate degree. His work focused on how computers can build 3D shapes from flat, 2D pictures.
Career Highlights
From 1991 to 1992, Roberto Cipolla worked in Japan. He was an engineer at the Toshiba Corporation Research and Development Centre.
In 1992, he came back to the UK. He joined the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. He started as a teacher and became a Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. He became a senior teacher in 1997 and a full professor in 2000.
Since 2007, Professor Cipolla has also led Toshiba's research lab in Cambridge. He also helps run a summer school in Sicily every year. This school teaches young scientists about computer vision.
Research and Impact
Professor Cipolla is famous for his work in computer vision. This field teaches computers to "see" and understand images. His research helps computers build, find, and recognize 3D objects from pictures.
He has created new ways for computers to:
- Recover accurate 3D shapes.
- Locate and track objects visually.
- Understand different parts of an image.
His research has led to many real-world uses. For example, Toshiba used his technology for face recognition. This helps control who can access certain areas. It also helped create gesture controls for laptops. Another company, Wayve, uses his work for self-driving cars.
Professor Cipolla has also helped start four companies:
- Metail (2008): This company helps people try on clothes online using 3D models.
- Zappar (2011): They create technology for Augmented Reality, which mixes digital images with the real world.
- Trya: This company, with its "Snapfeet" tool, helps people find the right shoe size. It uses 3D models of feet.
- Cambridge Heartwear (2017): This company works on detecting heart problems using wearable devices.
Since 2004, Professor Cipolla has also worked with artists. He helped sculptor Anthony Gormley with a project. His computer methods helped turn a small sculpture into a large one.
Awards and Honours
Roberto Cipolla has received many important awards for his work.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010. In 2013, he became a Distinguished Fellow of the British Machine Vision Association. He was also elected a Fellow of the International Association for Pattern Recognition in 2020. In 2022, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He won the Pilkington Teaching Prize from the University of Cambridge in 2005. In 2017, he received the IEEE TC-PAMI Everingham Prize. He has also won several "best paper" awards at major computer vision conferences. These include awards at the European Conference on Computer Vision and the British Machine Vision Conference.
