Don't let your big data get you down

Sometimes the difference between staying down and getting up again is a little control. Or, as with the ragdoll below, a control system.

We are ThinkCDS, a Perth based machine learning consultancy. We focus on the resources industry and specialise in artificial intelligence for point cloud data, aerial imagery, and control systems.

Why us?

Sample projects

Leak detection from satellite imagery.

Leaks cost Western Australia about $300 million a year, but we can only inspect 10% of the pipe network a year. In 2016 we were funded by a SPUR grant from Landgate with the goal of trying to detect water leaks using the infrared band in satellite images. The result was a promising proof of concept, reaching the limits of the data available. This is an open project with full source code available on the github page.

Drift detection in point clouds.

A project for 3DImageAutomation in 2018 to develop an alternate method to detect drift in vessels using laser point cloud scans. We reached an accuracy of 50 cm with an inference time of 5 seconds. Real world testing is underway and we expect it will be more robust to unexpected situations like obscuring objects.

Car detection from satellite imagery.

A project for Ovass in 2017 to enable car counting from satellite images with deployment via Kubernates. This shows how you can turn images into actionable commercial information for you or your customers.

Reinforcement learning cryptocurrency trading

A project with spica.ai in 2017 to train crypocurrencies on Poloniex using reinforcement learning. This project led to a reasonable return rate as well as some interesting findings such as a) we had to retrain models every few months to keep them relevant and b) high volume and low volume environments have very different requirements. An earlier draft of our code is available on github.

Expertise

ThinkCDS is a machine learning consultancy based in Perth, Australia. Our mission is to make machine learning straightforward to assess and use in your business. We have experience in time series analysis, medical imaging, and text, and we specialise in:

Aerial imagery

Image processing is one area where machine learning really excels. You may need a lot of data, but we can help you highlight (segment), circle (detect), or classify your satellite, drone, or aerial data to produce information that is valuable to your customers.

Point clouds

Just like image data, point clouds can be manipulated using machine learning with state of the art results. Sometimes conventional methods such as the point clouds library won't work on your laser, drone, or lidar data. Machine learning has the potential to produce more robust and consistent results with less human input. However this is a new and changing application so the first step is to check to see if your requirements, such as data resolution and response time, make this approach suitable.

Reinforcement learning

Our favourite area! This applies machine learning to control systems. It's difficult to learn to drive a car by watching videos, and the same goes for machine learning agents. That's where the field of reinforcement learning comes in. We let the agent learn to drive in a simulator, then transfer the knowledge to the real world. This is a developing field which currently can be applied to control simple devices, even if the environment is complex and non-linear.

Meet our core Team

We have a wealth of experience in delivering machine learning solutions all the way to deployment. We specialize in applying machine learning to point cloud, satellite imagery, and reinforcement learning applications.

Michael Clark

With a Masters in Petroleum Geoscience, Mike has worked in the oil industry before leaving for the data centers of machine learning. He has experience in taking machine learning models all the way to deployment.

Anthony Dipofi

With more than a decade of programming experience, and having worked as a researcher in the field of chaotic systems and symbolic dynamics, he now uses his considerable investigative skills in the design and development of reinforcement learning solutions as our Chief Data Scientist.

Ivana S

A developer with a background in statistics. She prefers react over angular and prefers Bayesian rather than frequentist approaches.

Get in touch

We really enjoy hearing about interesting business problems. Email us if you would like to organize a video call where we have a frank discussion on the value and feasibility of applying machine learning to your business problem.

Email: enquiries@thinkcds.com
Linkedin: LinkedIn

Address: 191 St Georges Tce
6000 Perth
Western Australia
Australia