News
20 March 2009
Outstanding KTP partnership clinches major award
Pioneering work in computer vision between Oxford Brookes University and Oxford company, Vicon, has been named Best Knowledge Transfer Partnership in the UK.
Vicon is part of the Oxford Metrics Group (OMG) and is a world leader in the technology of motion capture or "mocap".
The project, which received £200k of funding from KTP and was supervised by Professor Phil Torr from Brookes, enabled Vicon to explore technology which captures the motion of actors in real time without the use of special markers.
Andrew Stoddart, Chief Scientist at OMG, turned to Professor Torr in the School of Technology, who is an internationally recognised expert in artificial intelligence and computer understanding of video, and has founded a thriving computer vision research centre at the university. Together, they mapped out a plan for a major project to research and develop the technology.
Dr Manish Jethwa and Morne Pistorius spent three years on research into makerless motion capture and the development of technology demonstrators and prototypes, under the close supervision of Professor Torr. They presented their system at the company's offices in Los Angeles.
John Corlett, KTP Manager at Oxford Brookes, commented: "We're delighted that our exciting collaboration with Vicon has been recognised with a national award. KTP is the ideal framework for companies and organisations to acquire useful knowledge and expertise from the university."