Hall-of-fame Class Projects Since Fall 1998

Advisor: Chan-Jin Chung

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; But in practice, there is. According to my real-life software development experience, I have learned more from real-world projects than simple homework assignments that usually focuses on theories. In my classes, I have been trying to put theories into practice by providing real-world project opportunities with real users.

This page was created to recognize your efforts and may be published in a booklet by College of Arts and Sciences. I had a hard time to select the following projects from many great projects. The selection criteria I was using is as follows: (1) international and national level competition winners, (2) international conference papers, (3) projects that are actually being used, and (4) projects with research values. I must admit that there are a lot of other wonderful projects done in my classes, though they are not selected here in this page. Please check out my class homepage at www3.ltu.edu/~chung and click on each course.

2003

• LTU MCS IGVC Team: David Chamulak, Li-Ping Chen, Santosh Nair, Andrey Shvartsman, Maurice Tedder, and I Tseng [Advanced Topics in Intelligent Systems, Spring 2003]. They won 4th place in the IGVC Autonomous Challenge. For more info, please check out: ltu164.ltu.edu/igvc
  
  
  
  
• David Chamulak [Advanced Topics in Intelligent Systems, Spring 2003]
  Fletcher and Powell (1963) function is known to be one of the toughest functions to be minimized and this is reported well in Thomas Back's book, Evolutionary Algorithms and Theory and Practice (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1996). When he visited this area as a ACM SMART meeting speaker, he gave me a copy of the the function written in C on July 17, 1997. Dr. Chung was able to solve the problem using his EP(40+40) with Cultural Algorithm up to 16 dimensions at that time. The code is converted to Java and given to the class as a homework No. 2. David Chamulak was able to solve the problem perfectly up to 30 dimensions using his improved ES(1+1). His idea as follows:

  I noticed that with standard ES(1+1) with 1/5 rule either convergence happens in linear time or convergence doesn't happen at all or at least it's very slow. I think this is because I choose random initial weights and some of those weights are bad. To fix this I check what the error is after a number of generations. If the error is below a preset minimum error then I allow ES to continue if it is not below that error I reseed with new random weights and start ES all over again. For example in my program after the first 5000 generations I check the error if it is below 0.1 if it is then I continue. If the error is greater then 0.1 then I generate new random weights and start ES(1+1) all over again.

  Average time to the solution was around 30 seconds, which was very fast. We are planning to publish this result in future papers.
  
  
  

• Tom George and Vitaliy Opalikhin[Collab Research Proj II, Spring 2003]
  
We continued to improve the previous system introduced in GECCO '02 conference in New York. Vitaliy Opalikhin developed userfriendly web-based interface to the timetabling optimizer. Tom refined Evolution Strategies for the optimization and introduced various options such as new random number generators. The completed system was tested by MCS students and the results with actual field data were published in GECCO '03 paper: Tomas B. George, Vitaliy Opalikhin and ChanJin Chung, "Using Evolution Strategy for a University Timetabling System with a Web based interface to gather real student data", GECCO (Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference) 2003, Late-Breaking Papers, Editor: Bart Rylander, Chicago, Illinois, July 12-16, pp. 107-113. Tom went to Chicago to present the paper with the partial financial support of Dr. Chung, because he graduated in May, Tom was unable to receive help from the University. The following is a photo when Tom presented the paper at the conference, which is regarded as the top level conference in Evolutionary Computation area. For more details about the project, please go to here. Also, you can download the GECCO03 paper in PDF format.




• Andrey Shvartsman and Maurice Tedder [Current Developments in Intelligent Systems Spring 03]

We worked together to design a cost effective Laptop robotics platform in the class and the result was published in a paper: Andrey Shvartsman, Maurice Tedder, and Chan-Jin Chung, "A Modular Mobile Robotic Platform As An Educational Tool In Computer Science And Engineering", in Proceedings of International Conference on Computer, Communication and Control Technologies (CCCT) '03, July 31-Aug 2,2003, Orlando, Florida, IIIS Volume V, pp. 314-317. Here is the paper in PDF format. Also, check out a Power Point file presented at the conference in Orlando.

2002

• Todd Westerman E-Commerce website for Randolph Miller Associates[Directed Study, Fall 2002]
  Randolph Miller Associates (RMA) is a company that specializes in marketing for real estate agents. The site will provide customers of RMA the ability to order products and request services online, as well as manage their account online and see the progress of their orders. Every household in the USA will receive postcards when a neighbor's house is sold from this system. Here is a link for the project documentation
• Tom Burke - 3D Lego Robot Simulator (3DLRS) [Adv. Java Programming, Fall 2002]
  The 3D Lego Robot Simulator is a virtual environment for Lego™ Mindstorms robot interaction. This environment is useful for the design and testing of Lego™ Mindstorms robots and programs.
• Carson Reinke - LaptopBot [Directed Study, Spring 2002]
  The mission of the robot built by a LTU laptop was to use a digital camera and color recoginition to find a particular object and use speech recoginition to interface with the user. For this specific project was using three different colored balls (red, green, and blue). Speech recoginition was used to help interact with a user. Robot was recognizing spoken commands such as "find red ball". The robot is a made out of sheet metal with aluminum frame. There are two casters in the front and back and two wheels with gears and motors in the center. There is a large 12V 1A battery that powers the motors and is attached on with aluminum pipe strap. A Logitech QuickCam is mounted in front for vision. Underneath the sheet is a fuse holder and a 2A fuse. The motors, power supply, and parallel port connection go into the 1A motor interface board. The software used to control the robot is in Win32 C++. Several different SDKs, drivers, and DLLs were used to put all the pieces together. Carson's LaptopBot won Robofest 2002 Judge's Award.
  
  
  
• Andrey Shvartsman - RoboWaiter [Advanced topics in AI, Spring 2002]
  RoboWaiter is a laptop-based robot designed to take drink orders from customers and deliver these drinks. The robot is programmed in VB 6.0 and utilizes speech recognition technology (Microsoft Speech Engine), and motion detection(Logitech Lego Camera) to recognize potential customers and take their orders.
  
  
  
• David Chamulak, Lillian El-Gothamy, Andrey Shvartsman - Robotics Blimp [Physics Department Project 2002]
  The Blimp Robot is designed to fly both outside and inside with the assistance of a Garmin LVS-25 GPS navigation system. The robot's goal is to gather atmospheric conditions data, such as temperature and humidity, and transfer such data to a ground-based PC, where this data can be analyzed. Principal advisors for this project were: Dr. Daniel Mioduszewski and Dr. William Madden. Dr. Chan-Jin Chung was an associate advisor. They won Judge's award from Robofest 2002 advanced exhibition division.
  
  
  
• Jun He - myTutoring (formerly OTMS) for AAC [Capstone project, Spring 2002]
  "myTutoring" is a web-based system to dynamically manage appointments between tutors and students. The former name of the system was OTMS (On-line Tutoring Management System) It also serves as an administrative tool for Academic Achievement Center (AAC) at LTU to manage tutoring related activities. Additionally, OTMS generates a series of statistical reports relating to tutor's working hours, student information, appointment information as well as site visiting information. The main objective of the system is to provide on-line appointment services so that students do not need to come to AAC to book an appointment. Also, this system will minimize idle time for tutors. The system has been officially being used since January 18th, 2002. This system was developed by using MySQL DBMS and J2EE technologies such as Java Servlets, Beans, and JSPs. She received "Award of Excellence" plaque from the Department in Sep. 2002. Here are Photo1 and Photo2. Currently this system is maintained by Linyi Fan.
  
  
• Tom George - University Timetabling using ES (Published a paper at GECCO in New York) [Capstone project, Spring 2002]
  Tom George, MSCS student, published a paper entitled "Applying Evolution Strategies to a University Timetabling System" at GECCO (Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference) 2002 held in New York, NY, July 9-13. Abstract of the paper as follows: Determining the best, or near best timetable of lecture/courses for a university department, which optimizes enrollment, is a challenging problem. Described herein is a platform developed to accept student-generated data of course preferences, the university department curriculum, and resource constraints. The platform then generates the best or near best feasible schedule using an Evolutionary Computation Algorithm combining crossover and mutation for a fixed population. In addition, the platform permits manipulation of the population size, the initial mutation rate, the rule for varying the mutation rate, and the crossover point the platform order to examine the impact of these parameters and to determine the best values for this class of timetable problem. While this is an ongoing project, included is a sample run on an artificial data sample which shows the efficiency of the algorithm.
  For more details about his work, please check out Paper (PDF 284KB), Power Point, Final Project Report, and Conference Report. The paper co-authored by Dr. Chan-Jin Chung was the first paper published by our MSCS student since the MSCS graduate program started.
  
  
  
• Wei-Wen Chang - 3D Design Optimization (WCCI 3Ddesign optimization winner) [Capstone Project, Summer E, 2001]
  Wei-Wen Chang (Rex) (MSCS 2001) won first place from 3D design optimization competition in WCCI (World Congress on Computational Intelligence) 2002 sponsored by IEEE Artificial Neural-Net, Fuzzy, and Evolutionary Computation Societies held in Honolulu, Hawaii. The problem is to find out a hidden 3D object in a black box and this problem can be viewed as a non-linear optimization (minimization) problem with 7,500 real-valued parameters. Honda research center in Germany created this real-world problem and the hidden shape found was a "duck". See the power point slides prepared by the organizer shown during the conference. Employed method to solve the challenging problem was multi-staged (n+n) Evolution Strategies with 1/5 rule. As first prize award, he received USD $100 and free registration ticket for 2003 conference in Australia worth $500+. This winning is very special, because Wei-Wen Chang continued his work usually during the weekends while he was working full-time, even if he completed his master's degree in 2001. In Spring 2001, he was introduced this problem when he took Dr. Chung's Advanced Topics in Intelligent Systems and he improved the system in Summer E 2001 as his capstone project. He did not lose his passion to improve the system to solve 3D optimization problem after finishing his degree and entered a better solution to the competition in April 2002.
  
  On Oct. 22, he received "Award of Exllence" plaque from the Department.
  
  
  
• Ching-Wei Chien (Fredo) and Chun-Min Chang (Jimmy) - REMS (Real-time event management system) [Capstone project, Spring 2002]
  Their REMS was one of the first successful working system using the new MicroSoft .NET technologies since it was announced in March, 2002. REMS was handling everything need to manange the huge Robofest 2002 event in real-time, involving 500 students, 60 coaches, 100 volunteers, 10 judges, and 10 referees. The system was pring team-signs, name badges, and various certificates. Also, the system was used for checking-in teams, entering game scores, and deciding winners based on the scores. Another major feature of the system is that it has a client system capable of displaying essential event information to the big projector screen with automated functions in real-time. Without the system, successful Robofest operation was impossible. Please check out details at Technical details of the database server side and Technical details of the client side. Currently this system is maintained by Wei-Lien (William) Liu and Li Ping (Rita) Chen.
  
  
  
• Sara Moss - Robofest Management System using J2EE [Spring 2002, Java Programming]
  
  
  The spirit of "Theory and Practice" continued by Sara Moss. She developed Robofest 2001 management system using JSP and MySQL. She rewrote the whole system for Robofest 2002 with MySQL, Java Servlets and JSP. Both systems were hosted and operated in Dr. Chung's Red Hat Linux server for Robofest 2001 and Mandrake Linux server with JRun application server and MySQL database server for 2002. She wrote beautiful object-oriented codes and her system is an typical example of realizing MVC architecture. She also introduced many new technologies such as "Form Beans", while developing this system. She received "Award of Excellence" plaque from the Department in Sep. 2002. Here are Photo1 and Photo2.
  

2001

• Wei-Wen (Rex) Chang - 2D and 3D Design Optimization (CEC 2002 2D and 3D design optimization winner) [Advanced Topics in Intelligent Systems, Spring 2001]
  The 2001 Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC2001) is an international conference in evolutionary computation and its application to real-world problems, jointly sponsored by the IEEE Neural Networks Council, the Evolutionary Programming Society, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), and the Institute of Control, Automation and Systems Engineers (ICASE). The CEC2001 included Checkers competition, Pattern Recognition/Data Mining, 2D and 3D design optimization, and Evolutionary art and design competitions for the researchers all around world. (Please note that these competitions are open to anyone including professional researchers.) Wei-Wen Chang solved 2D and 3D problems in Dr. Chung's Advanced Topics in Intelligent Systems class in Spring 2001 as a part of class requirements. The problem is to find out a hidden object in a black box, when only an evaluation function is given. He was applying Evolutionary Strategy methods with 1/5 rule taught in the class.
  
  
  The above picture is the hidden Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline curve Wei-Wen figured out. He found a prefect dolphin! He received $400 cash award plus two free registration tickets to next years World Congress on Computational Intelligence in Hawaii worth $700.
  
  
• Jun He - LTU connect 5 (Applet), [Summer E 2001, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence]
  LTU connect 5 is different from traditional "connect 4" game. In connect 4, players drop red or blue disc from the top by selecting a column and the board size is usually 5x7. A player with 4 in a row wins. LTU connect 5, defined by Dr. Chung, uses 11x11 board and can place any cell except a cell pretaken before the start of the the game. A player with 5 discs in a row (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) wins. Jun is using recursive min-max tree strategies with two plies using intelligent evaluation functions. The min-max strategy is like looking ahead (reading opponents mind) two steps in advance. No human being could win against her program yet, when the system starts first. Even the author Jun herself, could not win the program she created. The best result was tie so far. Would you like to accept the challenge to play against the program? If you win, do not forget to report to Dr. Chung at chung@ltu.edu.
  
  

2000

• Carolyn Begle - Computer Game: "LightWeight Ninja", [Senior Project, Fall 2000]
  "You have been sent a mysterious mission and you will quickly find yourself on the adventure of a lifetime." LightWeight Ninja, a computer game started as a senior project while she was working part time with a software game company became a professional product you can purchase from the Drengin Network (www.drengin.net). As a guitar player, she is a founding member of LTU musician's society.
  
  
  
  
• Carson Reinke - Database Enabled Robofest 2000 management System using ASP [Directed Study, Spring 2000]
  
  
  The sucess of the first Robofest 2000 was not possible without the online registration system developed by Carson Reinke as his directed study with Dr. Chung in Spring 2000. He developed the system using Microsoft ASP technologies with MS SQL server. His system includes userfriendly interfaces for various types of users and produces all the necessary outputs and statistics. He is now working full time with sv3.com, a robofest sponsor company, and he has developed numerous very popular databased enabled websites such as detroitredwings.com
  
  

1999

• Matthew Frederick - Genetic Programming Applications [Directed Study, Sprig 1999]
  Genetic Programming (GP) is an arttificial intelligence method motivated by theory of evolution. GP tries to evolve computer programs represened in tree data structures. Gentric Lander was his first GP application done as a class project in Dr. Chung's Java Programming class in Spring 1999. The goal was to evolve a hypothetical lunar lander controller. The Java applet won 5th place cash award ($250) from quest for Java Contest 1999 by ACM sponsored by IBM. The other winners were from Rice, SUNY IT, University of Delaware, Washington University in St. Louis. This was an truly remarkable outcome in MCS Department Histroy.
  
  Later on, as directed study with Dr. Chung, he developed more challenging four GP applications.
  
  
• Nathan Kopp - An Evacuation Simulation Model [Java Programming, Spring 1999]
  a computer model designed to simulate the egress of humans from an enclosed space. This Applet was a class project in Dr. Chung's Java programming class in Spring 1999 and also won 5th place award ($250) from Quest for Java Contest 1999 by ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) sponsored by IBM.
  

1998

• Sara Moss - 3D Animation of city view Java Applet [Java Programming, Fall 1998]
  She wrote various 3D visulization primitives from the scratch in Java in Dr. Chung's Java Programming Class in Fall 1998. This was a remarkable initiative before Sun Microsystems introduced their first 3D API released in 1999.