Immerse yourself in vision

Another day, another episode of "Behind the Enc-urtain", where we go behind the scenes with the Encord team and learn more about their life and work! Today we sit down with Alex Winstone, Account Executive here at Encord. As one of our first AEs, Alex has worn many hats in these first 6 months — he's brought onboard some of the leading AI research labs, F500 organizations and fast growing scale-ups, run industry roundtables in 5+ countries, helped onboard 4 new members of the UK Sales team... and somehow also managed to almost never miss an Encord Thursday bar! PS. We are hiring! We are looking for AEs to join our London and San Francisco teams - you can find more about the London AE role here and SF AE role here. Let's start with a quick introduction — can you share a bit about your background and how you found your way to Encord? I joined Encord after spending 4 years at an AI scale-up, joining as the first Sales hire and seeing their growth from seed to a $45M Series A and beyond. It was an incredible journey. As I was thinking about what was next for me, I had some key criteria in mind. I was firstly looking for a great sales team I could learn from and develop with. From the outset, I was impressed by Leo and the team, and was certain this was an environment within which I could continue developing. Having been first on the ground previously, I wanted to ensure I could take ownership and have a tangible impact on the company's outcomes. Secondly, I wanted to find a deeply interesting problem-area with huge growth potential. I was looking for a company with product market fit (or strong signs of it). This was potentially the hardest criteria to fulfil, as often companies where you can have meaningful impact are yet to achieve PMF. I was convinced through my conversations that Encord was delivering true value to their clients and have now seen this first-hand in these first 6 months! What does a 'day in the life' of Alex look like?   Each day is quite different! Around two thirds of my day is usually spent running demos, presentations and 1:1 meetings with companies who are exploring Encord. I get to work with firms at the cutting-edge of AI, consultatively showcasing the Encord platform and working with the Solutions Engineering team to solve their pains around data curation, annotation, RLHF and model evaluation. Internally, I also work very closely with our Commercial Associate team — who identify companies where Encord can really move the needle and solve MLOps bottlenecks — and the Product team, sharing feedback and ideas from customers, and seeing them turn into reality. What kinds of companies or personas make the right Encord buyers? We typically work with ML and AI teams — from engineers and data scientists, to CTOs and Heads of AI. Encord is industry-agnostic, so I might work with healthcare or logistics companies in the morning, and sports analytics and robotics teams in the afternoon! We also work with organizations of various sizes, from large Fortune 500 orgs to big tech companies and fast-growing scale-ups. No two conversations are ever identical, but it's interesting to see so many similar pain points. What advice would you give to someone who wants to join Encord as our next AE? Reach out to me on LinkedIn (..we have a referral bonus! 😉) Jokes aside, I'd say be prepared to get stuck in, learn quickly, and be a team-player. I'd join as many calls as you can in your early weeks and really absorb everything. If you’re at a point in your career where you are looking for a sales team to grow in, a fast-paced environment and strong signs of PMF, I'd wholeheartedly recommend Encord. And now for a rapid fire round... What 3 words would you use to describe the Encord culture? Focused, collaborative & transparent. Which fictional character would make the best Encord hire and why?  Mystery Incorporated (Scooby-Doo and the gang). You’ll always be getting to the bottom of mysteries (bottlenecks in MLOps and data pipelines) and it’s a dog friendly office. What is one thing you found surprising or different about Encord when you joined? How customer-focused the team is. Every idea or bit of feedback that could improve a client's 'life' is meaningfully fed back to the product and engineering team, where it's considered, discussed and often implemented. It’s also great to see the founders regularly share their vision for the platform (as well as historic views) and see how these materialize in real time.  You can find Alex on Linkedin here. See you at the next episode of “Behind the Enc-urtain” 👋

Imagine a busy factory, where all the machines are running and sensors are tracking every detail of how they run. The key technology of this factory is a digital twin, a virtual copy of the whole factory. Meet Alex, the plant manager, who starts his day by checking the digital twin of the factory on his tablet. In this virtual model, every conveyor belt, robotic arm, and assembly station is shown in real time. This digital replica is not just a static image. It is a dynamic, live model that replicates exactly what is happening within the factory. Earlier in the week, a small vibration anomaly was detected on one of the robotic arms. In the digital twin, Alex saw the warning signals and quickly zoomed in on the problem area. By comparing the current data with historical trends stored in the model, the system predicted that the robotic arm might experience a minor malfunction in the next few days if not serviced. Alex then called a meeting with the maintenance team using the insights from the digital twin. The team planned a repair to ensure minimal disruption to production. The digital twin not only helped predict the issue but also allowed the team to simulate different repair scenarios and choose the most efficient one without stopping the production line. As production increases, the digital twin continues to act as a silent guardian monitoring energy use, optimizing machine settings, and suggesting improvements to reduce waste. It is like having a virtual copy of the factory in the cloud that constantly learns and adapts to make the physical world more efficient. Digital Twin in Factory (Source) What is a Digital Twin? A Digital Twin is a virtual representation of a physical object, system, or process that reflects its real-world version in real-time or near-real-time. It uses data from sensors, IoT devices, or other sources to simulate, monitor, and analyze the behavior, performance, or condition of the physical entity. This concept is widely used in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, urban planning, and more to help improve decision-making, predictive maintenance, and optimization. Digital twin fundamental technologies (Source) A Digital Twin is a dynamic, digital copy that grows and changes along with its physical counterpart. It combines data (whether from the past, in real-time, or predictive) with advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, and simulation tools. This allows it to provide insights, predict outcomes, or test scenarios without the need to directly interact with the physical object or system. A Digital Twin arrangement in automotive industry (Source) Types of Digital Twins Digital twins can be categorized into different types based on the scope, complexity of what they represent and application it can perform. Here are four primary types. Component Twins Component twins are digital replicas of individual parts or components of a larger system. They focus on the specific characteristics and performance metrics of a single element. For example, imagine a jet engine where each turbine blade is modeled as a component twin. By tracking stress, temperature, and wear in real time, engineers can predict when a blade might fail and schedule maintenance before a critical issue occurs. Asset Twins Asset twins represent entire machines or physical assets. They integrate data from multiple components to provide a collective view of an asset's performance, condition, and operational history. Consider an industrial robot on a production line. Its digital twin includes data from all its moving parts, sensors, and control systems. This asset twin helps the maintenance team monitor the robot’s overall health, optimize its performance, and schedule repairs to avoid downtime. System Twins System twins extend beyond individual assets to represent a collection of machines or subsystems that interact with one another. They are used to analyze complex interactions and optimize performance at a broader scale. In a smart factory, a system twin might represent the entire production line. It integrates data from various machines, such as conveyors, robots, and quality control systems. This comprehensive model enables managers to optimize workflow, balance loads, and reduce bottlenecks throughout the entire manufacturing process. Process Twins Process twins model entire workflows or operational processes. They capture not just physical assets but also the sequence of operations, decision points, and external variables affecting the process. A supply chain process twin could represent the journey of a product from raw material sourcing to final delivery. By simulating logistics, inventory levels, and transportation routes, businesses can identify potential disruptions, optimize delivery schedules, and enhance overall supply chain efficiency. Levels of Digital Twins Digital twins evolve over time as they incorporate more data, analysis, and autonomous capabilities. Here are the 5 Levels of Digital Twins. Descriptive Digital Twin A descriptive digital twin is a basic digital replica that mirrors the current state of a physical asset. It represents real-time data and static properties without much analysis. The example of a descriptive digital twin is a digital model of a hospital MRI machine that displays its operating status, temperature, and usage statistics. It shows the current condition but does not analyze trends or predict future issues. Diagnostic Digital Twin This level enhances the descriptive twin by adding diagnostic capabilities. It analyzes data to identify deviations, errors, or early signs of malfunction. For example, consider the same MRI machine that now includes sensors and analytics that detect if its cooling system is underperforming. Alerts are generated when operating parameters deviate from normal ranges to enable identification of the issue early. Predictive Digital Twin At this stage, the digital twin uses historical and real-time data to forecast future conditions. Predictive analytics help anticipate failures or performance drops before they occur. For a surgical robot, the predictive digital twin analyzes past performance data to predict when a component might fail. This allows maintenance to be scheduled proactively which reduces the risk of unexpected downtime during critical operations. Prescriptive Digital Twin It is a more advanced twin that goes beyond prediction to recommend specific actions or solutions, often with “what-if” scenario testing. It combines predictive insights with recommendations or automated adjustments. A digital twin of a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) monitors various devices and patient parameters. If the twin predicts a rise in patient load, it might suggest reallocating resources or adjusting ventilator settings to optimize care which ensures the unit runs smoothly during peak times. Autonomous Digital Twin It is the most advanced level of digital twins. An autonomous digital twin not only predicts and prescribes actions but can execute them automatically in real time. It uses AI and machine learning to adapt continuously without human intervention. For example, in a fully automated pharmacy system this digital twin monitors medication dispensing, inventory levels, and patient prescriptions. When it detects discrepancies or low stock, it autonomously reorders supplies and adjusts dispensing algorithms to ensure optimal service without waiting for manual input. Do Digital Twins Use AI? Digital twins often integrate AI to transform raw data into actionable insights, optimize performance, and automate operations. The following points describe how AI enhances digital twin models: Predictive Insights AI algorithms analyze historical and real-time data gathered by the digital twin to identify patterns and trends. For example, machine learning models can predict when a critical component in a manufacturing line might fail which enables maintenance to be scheduled proactively. By continuously monitoring performance metrics, AI can detect anomalies before they rise into major issues. This early detection helps prevent costly downtime and improves overall reliability. Advanced Analytics AI can analyze huge amounts of data from sensors to find hidden patterns and insights that traditional methods might miss. This deep analysis helps create more accurate models of how physical systems work. Advanced algorithms can also simulate different operating situations to let decision-makers test possible changes in a virtual setting. This is especially useful for improving system performance without causing real-world problems. Automation Using AI, digital twins can not only suggest corrective actions but also execute them automatically. For example, if a digital twin identifies that a machine is overheating, it might automatically adjust operating parameters or shut the machine down to prevent damage. AI models embedded within digital twins continuously learn from new data. This adaptability means that the system improves its predictive and diagnostic accuracy over time and becomes more effective in managing complex operations. Imagine a virtual copy of a factory production line. AI tools built into this virtual copy keep an eye on how well the machines are working. If the AI notices a small sign that an important part is wearing out, it can predict that the part might fail soon. The system then changes the workflow to reduce any problems, plans a maintenance check, and gives the repair team detailed information about what’s wrong. By using digital twin technology with AI, industries can move from reactive to proactive management and transform how they maintain systems, predict issues, and optimize operations. Digital Twins Examples Digital twins have many use cases in different domains. Let’s discuss some example of digital twins. Digital Twin in Spinal Surgery A digital twin in spinal surgery is a detailed virtual replica of a real surgical operation. It captures both the static setup (like the operating room and patient anatomy) and the dynamic actions (like the surgeon’s movements and tool tracking) in one coherent 3D model. A digital twin is a virtual simulation that mirrors an actual surgery, created by merging data from various sensors and imaging methods. Digital photograph of a spinal surgery (left) and rendering of its digital twin (right) (Source) Following are the main components of this digital twin system. Reference Frame: A high-precision 3D map of the operating room is built using multiple laser scans. Markers are placed in the room to fuse these scans into one common coordinate system. Static Models: The operating room, equipment, and patient anatomy are modeled using photogrammetry (detailed photos) and 3D modeling software. This produces realistic textures and accurate dimensions. Dynamic Elements: Multiple ceiling-mounted RGB-D cameras capture the surgeon’s movements. An infrared stereo camera tracks the surgical instruments with marker-based tracking. Data Fusion and Integration: All captured data is registered into the same reference frame, ensuring that every element—from the static room to dynamic tools, is accurately aligned. The system is built in a modular and explicit manner, where each component is separate yet integrated. Use of AI: AI techniques enhance dynamic pose estimation (e.g., using models like SMPL-H) and help in processing the sensor data. The detailed digital twin data also provides a rich source for training machine learning models to improve surgical planning and even automate certain tasks. Comparison of the rendered digital twin with the real camera images (Source) This digital twin can help in the following tasks: Training & Education: Surgeons and students can practice procedures in a risk-free, realistic environment. Surgical Planning: Doctors can simulate and plan complex surgeries ahead of time. Automation & AI: The rich, detailed data can train AI systems to assist with surgical navigation, process optimization, and even automate some tasks. The digital twin for spinal surgery is a comprehensive 3D virtual model that integrates high-precision laser scans, photogrammetry, multiple RGB-D cameras, and marker-based tracking. This system captures the entire surgical scene and aligns them within a common reference frame. AI plays a role in enhancing dynamic data capture and processing, and the detailed model serves as a powerful tool for training, surgical planning, and automation. Digital twin in Autonomous Driving This paper on digital twins in virtual reality describes a digital twin built in a virtual reality setting to study human-vehicle interactions at a crosswalk. The digital twin recreates a real-world crosswalk and an autonomous vehicle using georeferenced maps and the CARLA simulator. Real pedestrians interact with this virtual environment through a VR interface, where an external HMI (GRAIL) on the vehicle provides explicit communication (e.g., changing colors to signal stopping). The system tests different braking profiles (gentle versus aggressive) to observe their impact on pedestrian confidence and crossing behavior. The setup uses questionnaires and sensor-based measurements to collect data, and it hints at leveraging AI for data processing and analysis. Overall, this approach offers a controlled, safe, and realistic way to evaluate and improve communication strategies for autonomous vehicles, potentially enhancing road safety. Following are the components of the system. Digital twin for human-vehicle interaction in autonomous driving. Virtual (left) and real (right) setting (Source) Digital Twin Environment: The virtual crosswalk is digitally recreated using map data to ensure it matches the real-world layout. Experiments run in CARLA, an open-source simulator that creates realistic traffic scenarios. Human-Vehicle Interaction Interface: A colored bar on the vehicle indicates if the car is about to stop or yield. Two braking styles are tested which are gentle (slow deceleration) and aggressive (sudden deceleration). Virtual Reality Setup: Participants use a VR headset and motion capture to see and interact with the virtual world. Their movements are synchronized with the simulation for accurate feedback. Data Collection & Analysis: Participants share their feelings about safety and the vehicle's actions. The system records objective data like distance, speed, and time-to-collision. Role of AI: AI analyzes both subjective feedback and sensor data to model behavior and refine communication. AI helps integrate data so the simulation responds realistically to both the vehicle and pedestrians. This digital twin system helps in following: Enhances Safety: Clear communication through the digital twin helps pedestrians understand vehicle intentions, reducing uncertainty and potential accidents. Improves Training: It offers a realistic simulation for both pedestrians and autonomous vehicles, enabling safer, hands-on training and evaluation. Informs Design: By collecting both subjective feedback and objective measurements, designers can refine vehicle behavior and HMI features for better user interaction. Supports Data-Driven Decisions: The system’s real-time data and AI processing allow for continuous improvements in autonomous driving and pedestrian safety strategies. How Encord Enhances Digital Twin Models Encord, a data management and annotation platform which can be used in digital twin applications. It is used to annotate, curate, and monitor large-scale datasets to train machine learning models for digital twin creation and optimization. Following are the important points how Encord helps in creating and enhancing Digital Twins. Encord provides tools for preparing the data needed to train machine learning models that can power digital twins.  Encord allows users to annotate and curate large datasets, ensuring the data is clean, accurate, and suitable for training machine learning models that will be used in digital twin applications.  Encord platform enables users to monitor the performance of their machine learning models and datasets, allowing for continuous improvement and optimization of the digital twin.  By using high-quality, well-curated datasets, machine learning models can achieve higher accuracy and reliability.  Encord platform can accelerate the development of digital twins by streamlining the data preparation and model training process.  Digital twins powered by machine learning models can provide valuable insights into the performance of physical systems, enabling better decision-making. Key Takeaways Digital twin technology revolutionizes industrial operations by creating a dynamic virtual replica of physical systems. This technology not only mirrors real-time activities in environments like factories and hospitals but also uses historical data and AI to predict issues, simulate repairs, and optimize processes across various industries. Real-Time Monitoring & Visualization: Digital twins provide live, interactive models that replicate every detail of a physical system that allows to quickly identify anomalies and monitor system performance continuously. Predictive Maintenance: Digital twin helps in analyzing historical and real-time data which can be used to forecast potential equipment failures and enables proactive maintenance. Enhanced Decision-Making Through Simulation: Digital twins allow to simulate repair scenarios and operational adjustments in a virtual space which ensures the most efficient solutions are chosen. Cross-Industry Applications: From factory production lines to surgical procedures and autonomous driving, digital twins are transforming how industries plan, train, and optimize their systems. AI Driven Insights: The integration of AI and machine learning empowers digital twins to offer advanced analytics, automate corrective actions, and continuously learn from new data to improve accuracy over time.

Another day, another episode of "Behind the Enc-urtain", where we go behind the scenes with the Encord team and learn more about their life and work! Today we sit down with Jen Ding, ML Solutions Engineer here at Encord. Our Solutions team plays a huge role in our commercial and technical progress as a company — they uncover new interesting use cases for us to support, build a strong feedback loop between our technical and commercial teams, and help empower leading AI teams across our customer base as they build cutting-edge AI applications in their F500 organizations, AI research labs and fast growing AI scale-ups. PS. We are hiring! We are looking for Solutions Engineers to join our London and San Francisco teams - you can find more about the London SE role here and SF SE role here. Let's start with a quick introduction — can you share a bit about your background and how you found your way to Encord? I come to Encord from a research institute, where I was part of a team building real-world applications of AI research. I focused on topics like open source and participatory practices for AI, stewarding a UK Choral AI dataset and co-founding a public data festival called London Data Week with the Mayor of London. Before that, I was part of a couple of applied ML startups as a Data Scientist and Solutions Engineer. Joining Encord’s Solutions team is a nice return to the startup world! How is Solutions Engineering at Encord different from Solutions Engineering in other environments?  It’s a great moment to be an ML Solutions Engineer. In my first Solutions role years ago, Computer Vision was still an emerging research topic. My work focused more on demonstrating the potential of CV to customers by building custom models on their data to prove that it was a technology worth investing in. Now that more organisations are actively adopting and building products with AI, the work at a startup like Encord can focus more on enabling the frontier of AI applications. It’s been exciting to learn about the different AI dreams of our customers from radiology and robotics to vertical farming and video generation, and to create custom solutions with Encord’s suite of data products to help make these dreams come true.  What is one exciting customer project you've worked on this month? The first few that come to mind are engagements with robotics companies that are building robots to perform tasks like tidying a room, cleaning windows, or delivering drinks. It’s been exciting to learn more about this dynamic problem space, and create demos to showcase how Encord can help improve and scale key datasets for this field. I’ve worked with colleagues from Encord’s Solutions and ML teams to build data agents that support expanding the linguistic breadth of Vision Language Action (VLA) datasets for robot tasks. I didn’t realise how challenging this problem space is, and the importance of collecting a semantically diverse set of instructions to capture the many ways different people may describe the same task. The Exact Instructions Challenge video captures how hard this problem can be for humans — let alone robots, which have a much more limited model of the world. I’m excited to see where our work in this space goes. What’s a misconception one might have about our product space from the ‘outside’? Data and data annotation may not be the “sexiest” of topics in the AI space. This can lead to the misconception that data work is not as important or requires less attention than training models or obtaining more compute. In fact, data quality remains one of the most important factors in model performance and efficient use of compute and is often the biggest competitive advantage for organizations adopting and applying AI within their domains. I’ve actually been working on a side initiative in this area — a video series called “AI Data Chats”. The plan would be to invite AI researchers and practitioners to get their “AI Data Hot Take” (paired with a drink of their choice!), to create more airtime for these key data topics that are currently underrepresented in the news and research. Now onto a rapid fire round... What 3 words would you use to describe the Encord culture? Dynamic, Dedicated and Customer-driven. Which fictional character would make the best Encord hire and why?  Naomi Nagata from The Expanse would be an amazing member of the Solutions team! Ready for any challenge — engineering, negotiation, extraterrestrial life form — that comes her way and ready to implement a creative solution in T-10 seconds. Every second counts on the Rocinante (and a customer demo!) If you could time-travel to 2030 – what’s one thing you hope hasn’t changed about working at Encord? The Nugget Challenge! (iykyk) You can find Jen on Linkedin here and subscribe to AI Data Chats (which just launched this April!) here. See you at the next episode of “Behind the Enc-urtain” 👋

At Encord, we believe in empowering employees to shape their own careers. The company fosters a culture of ‘trust and autonomy’, which encourages people to think creatively and outside the box when approaching challenges. We strongly believe that people are the pillars of the company. With employees from over 20 nationalities, we are committed to building a culture that supports and celebrates diversity. For us, we want our people to be their authentic self at work and be driven to take Encord's mission forward.  Rad Ploshtakov was the first employee at Encord and is a testament to how quickly you can progress in a startup. He joined as a Founding Engineer after working as a Software Engineer in the finance industry, and is now our Head of Engineering. Hi Rad! Tell us about yourself, how you ended up in Encord, and what you’re doing. I was born and raised in Bulgaria. I moved to the UK to study a masters in Computing (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) at Imperial College London. I am also a former competitive mathematician and worked in trading as a developer, building systems that operate in single digit microseconds. Then I joined Encord (or Cord, which is how we were known at the time!) as the first hire - I thought the space was really exciting, and Eric and Ulrik are an exceptional duo. I started off as a Founding Engineer and, as our team grew, transitioned to Head of Engineering about a year later. I am responsible for ensuring that as an engineering team we're working on what matters most for our current and future customers - I work closely with everyone to set the overall direction and incorporate values for the team. Nowadays, a lot of my time is also spent on hiring, and on helping build and maintain an environment in which everyone can do their best work. What does a normal day at work look like for you? Working in a startup means no two days are the same! Generally, I would say that my day revolves around translating the co-founders' goals into actionable items for our team to work on - communicating and providing guidance are two important aspects of my role. A typical day includes meeting with customers and prospects, code reviewing, and supporting across different initiatives. Another big part is collaborating with other teams to understand what we want to build and how we are going to build it. Can you tell us a bit about a project that you are currently working on? Broadly speaking, a lot of my last few weeks has been supporting our teams as they set out and execute on their roadmaps. 2023 will be a huge year for us at Encord, and we're moving at a very fast pace, so a lot of my focus recently has been helping us be set up for success. As for specific projects, I'm very excited about all the work our team is doing for our customers. For example, our DICOM annotation tool has recently been named the leading medical imaging annotation tool on the market - which is a huge testament to the work our team has poured into it over the last year. I remember hacking together a first version of our DICOM annotation tool in my first (admittedly mostly sleepless!) weeks at Encord, and seeing how far it's come in just a few months has been one of the most rewarding parts of my last year. What stood out to you about the Encord team when you joined? Many things. When I first met the co-founders (Eric & Ulrik), I was impressed by their unique insights into the challenges that lay ahead for computer vision teams - they can simultaneously visualize strikingly clearly what the next decade will look like, while also being able to execute at mind-boggling speed in the moment, in that direction. I was impressed also by how smart, resourceful and driven they were. By the time I joined, they had been able to build a revenue generating business with dozens of customers - getting to understand deeply the problems that teams were facing and then iterating quickly to build solutions that not even they had thought about. What is it like to work at Encord now? It's a very exciting time to be at Encord. Our customer base has been scaling rapidly, and the feedback loop on the engineering cycle is very short, so we get to see the impact of our work at a very quick pace which is exciting - often going from building specs for a feature, to shipping it, showing it to our customers, and seeing them starting to use it all happen in a span of just a few weeks. A big part of working at Encord is focusing a lot on our customer's success - we always seek out feedback, listen, and apply first principles to the challenges our customers are facing (as well as getting ahead with ones we know they'll be facing soon that they might not be thinking about yet!). Then work on making the product better and better each day. How would you describe the team at Encord now? The best at what they do - also hardworking, very collaborative and always helping and motivating each other. One of our core values is having a growth mentality, and each member of our team has come into the company and built things from the ground up. Everyone has a willingness to roll up their sleeves and make things happen to grow the company. A resulting factor of this is also that it's okay to make mistakes - we are constantly iterating and trying to get 1% better each day. We have big plans for 2023 & are hiring across all teams! ➡️ Click here to see our open positions

Learn more about life at Encord from our Product Design Lead, Mavis Lok! Mavis Lok, or ‘Figma Queen’ as we’d like to call her, thrives in using innovation and creativity to enhance the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) of our products. She listens closely to our customers’ needs, conducts user discovery, and translates insights into tangible and elegant solutions. You will find Mavis collaborating with various teams at Encord (from the Sales and Customer Success teams, to the Product and Engineering teams) to ensure that the product aligns with our business goals and user needs. Hi, Mavis, first question is what inspired you to join Encord? When I was planning the next steps in my career, I knew that I wanted to join an emerging and innovative tech startup. In the process, I stumbled upon Encord - with a pretty big vision of helping companies build better AI models with quality data. A problem that seemed ambitious and compelling.  I had my first chat with Justin [Encord's Head of Product Engineering], and he gave me great insights into the role, the company, and the domain space, which tied nicely with my design experience and what I was looking for in my next role. I was evaluating many companies, and I made sure (and I'd recommend to anyone reading!) to speak to as many employees from the company I could meet. The more people I met from Encord, the more and more eager I became to join the team. Could you tell me a little about what inspired you to pursue a career in product design? Hah, great question! I was previously in creative advertising and was trained as a Creative/Art Director. During my free time, I would participate in advertising competitions where I would pitch ideas for brands, and I’d always maximize my design potential through digital-led ideas. That brought me to work as a Digital Designer and then as a Design Manager, where I got my first glimpse of what it was like to work closely with co-founders, engineers, and designers. The company I was working at, was going through a transition from an agency to a SaaS type business model, and I found many of the skills I'd developed were actually an edge for what product design requires. Having an impact in balancing business needs, and product development challenges whilst creating products that are user-centric and delightful to use - is why I love what I do every day. How would you describe the company culture? I think the people at Encord are what sets us apart. With a team of over 20 nationalities, it’s an incredible feeling to work in an environment where diversity of thought is encouraged.  The grit, ambition, vision, and thoughtfulness of the team are why I enjoy being part of Encord.   What have been some of the highlights of working at Encord? Encord has given me the space to throw light on the impact that design can bring to the company and build more meaningful relationships with the team and, of course, our customers. Another big highlight for me is practicing the notion of coming up with ideas rapidly whilst being able to identify the consequences of every design decision. Brainstorming creativity whilst critically is something I hold dearly in my creative/design life, so it’s definitely a highlight of my day-to-day at Encord. On a side note, Encord is also a fun place to work. Whether it is Friday lunches, monthly social activities, or company off-sites, there are plenty of opportunities to have a good time with the team.  ​​Lastly, what advice would you give someone considering joining Encord? The first thing I would say is you have to be authentic during the interview, and you should also genuinely care about the mission of the company because there is a lot of buzz around the AI space right now - genuine interest lasts longer than hype. I would recommend reading our blogs on the website; it's a great place to start, as you can gain a lot of insight from it. From learning more about our customers, to exploring where our space is headed. We have big plans for 2023 & are hiring across all teams. Find here the roles we are hiring for.

For today’s version of “Behind the Enc-urtain”, we sat down with Shivant, Technical CSM at Encord, to learn more about his journey and day-to-day role. Shivant joined the GTM team when it was a little more than a 10 person task force, and has played a pivotal role in our hypergrowth over the last year. In this post, we’ll learn more about the camaraderie he shares with the team, what culture at Encord is like, and the thrill of working on some pretty fascinating projects with some of today’s AI leaders.  To start us off - could you introduce yourself to the readers, & share more about your journey to Encord? Of course!  I’m originally from South Africa – I studied Business Science and Information Systems, and started my career at one of the leading advisory firms in Cape Town. As a Data Scientist, I worked on everything from technology risk assessments to developing models for lenders around the world. I had a great time - and learned a ton! In 2022 I was presented the opportunity to join a newly-launched program in Analytics at London Business School, one of the best Graduate schools in the world. I decided to pack up my life (quite literally!) and move to London. That year was an insane adventure – and I didn’t know at the time but it prepared me extremely well for what my role post-LBS would be like. It was an extremely diverse and international environment, courses were ever-changing and a good level of challenging, and, as the cliche goes, I met some of my now-best friends! I went to a networking event in the spring, where I met probably two dozen startups that were hiring – I think I walked around basically every booth, and actually missed the Encord one. [NB: it was in a remote corner!]  As I was leaving I saw Lavanya [People Associate at Encord] and Nikolaj [Product Manager at Encord] packing up the booth. We started chatting and fast forward to today… here we are! What was something you found surprising about Encord when you joined? How closely everyone works together. I still remember my first day – my desk-neighbors were Justin [Head of Product Engineering], Eric [Co-founder & CEO] and Rad [Head of Engineering]. Coming from a 5,000 employee organization, I already found that insane! Then throughout the day, AEs or BDRs would pass by and chat about a conversation they had just had with a prospect – and engineers sitting nearby would chip in with relevant features they were working on, or ask questions about how prospects were using our product. It all felt quite surreal. I now realize we operate with extremely fast and tight feedback loops and everyone generally gets exposure to every other area of the company – it’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to grow and move as fast as we have. What’s your favorite part of being a Technical CSM at Encord? The incredibly inspiring projects I get to help our customers work on. When most people think about AI today they mostly think about ChatGPT but, beyond LLMs, companies are working on truly incredible products that are improving so many areas of society. To give an example – on any given day, my morning might start with helping the CTO of a generative AI scale-up improve their text-to-video model, be followed by a call with an AI team at a drone startup who is trying to more accurately detect carbon emissions in a forest, and end with meeting a data engineering team at a large healthcare org who’s working on deploying a more automated abnormality-detector for MRI scans.  I can’t really think of any other role where I’d be exposed to so much of “the future”. It’s extremely fun.  What words would you use to describe the Encord culture? Open and collaborative. We’re one team, and the default for everyone is always to focus on getting to the best outcome for Encord and our customers. Also, agile: the AI space we’re in is moving fast, and we’re able to stay ahead of it all and incorporate cutting-edge technologies into our platform to help our customers – sometimes a few days from it being released by Meta or OpenAI. And then definitely diverse: we’re 60 employees, from 34 different nationalities, which is incredibly cool. I appreciate being surrounded by people from different backgrounds, it helps me see things in ways I wouldn’t otherwise, and has definitely challenged a lot of what I thought was the norm.  What are you most excited re. Encord or the CS team this year?  There’s a lot to be excited about – this will be a huge year for us. We recently opened our San Francisco office to be closer to many of our customers, so I’m extra excited about having a true Encord base in the Bay area and getting to see everyone more regularly in person.  We’re also going to grow the CS team past Fred & I for the first time! We’re looking for both Technical CSMs and Senior CSMs to join the team, both in London and in SF, as well as Customer Support Engineers and ML Solutions Engineers. On the topic of hiring… who do you think Encord would be the right fit for? Who would enjoy Encord the most? In my experience, people who enjoy Encord the most have a strong sense of self-initiative and ambition – they want to achieve big, important outcomes but also realize most of the work to get there is extremely unglamorous and requires no task being “beneath” them. They tend to always approach a problem with the intent of finding a way to get to the solution, and generally get energy from learning and being surrounded by other talented, extremely smart people. Relentlessness is definitely a trait that we all share at Encord. A lot of our team is made up of previous founders, I think that says a lot about our culture.  See you at the next episode of “Behind the Enc-urtain”! And as always, you can find our careers page here😉

Artificial intelligence (AI) in robotics defines new ways organizations can use machines to optimize operations. According to a McKinsey report, AI-powered automation could boost global productivity by up to 1.4% annually, with sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics seeing the most significant transformation.  However, integrating AI into robotics requires overcoming challenges related to data limitations and ethical concerns. Also, the lack of diverse datasets for domain-specific environments makes it difficult to train effective AI models for robotic applications.  In this post, we will explore how AI is transforming robotic automation, its applications, challenges, and future potential. We will also see how Encord can help address issues in developing scalable AI-based robotic systems. Difference between AI and Robotics Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics are different yet interconnected fields within engineering and technology. Robotics focuses on designing and building machines capable of performing physical tasks, while AI enables these machines to perceive, learn, and make intelligent decisions.  AI consists of algorithms that enable machines to analyze data, recognize patterns, and make decisions without explicit programming. It uses techniques like natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV) to allow machines to perform complex tasks.  For instance, AI powers everyday technologies, such as Google's search algorithms, re-ranking systems, and conversational chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT by OpenAI.  Robotics, however, focuses on designing, building, and operating programmable physical systems that can work independently or with minimal human assistance. These systems use sensors to gather information and may follow programmed instructions to move, pick up objects, or communicate. A line following robot The integration of AI with robotic systems helps them perceive their environment, plan actions, and control their physical components to achieve specific objectives, such as navigation, object manipulation, or autonomous decision-making. Why is AI Important for Robotics? AI-powered robotic systems can learn from data, recognize patterns, and make intelligent decisions without requiring repetitive programming. Here are some key benefits of using AI in robotics: Enhanced Autonomy and Decision-Making Traditional robots use rule-based programs that limit their flexibility and adaptability. AI-driven robots analyze their environment, assess different scenarios, and make real-time decisions without human intervention.  Improved Perception and Interaction AI improves a robot's ability to perceive and interact with its surroundings. NLP, CV, and sensor fusion enable robots to recognize objects, speech, and human emotions. For example, AI-powered service robots in healthcare can identify patients, understand spoken instructions, and detect emotions through facial expressions and tone of voice. Learning and Adaptation AI-based robotic systems can learn from experience using machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) technologies. They can analyze real-time data, identify patterns, and refine their actions over time.  Faster Data Processing The modern robotic system relies on sensors such as cameras, LiDAR, radar, and motion detectors to perceive their surroundings. Processing such diverse data types simultaneously is cumbersome. However, experts can use AI to speed up data processing and enable the robot to make real-time decisions.  Predictive Maintenance AI improves robotic reliability by detecting wear and tear and predicting potential failures to prevent unexpected breakdowns. This is important in high-demand environments like the manufacturing industry, where downtime can be costly.  How is AI Used in Robotics? While the discussion above highlights the benefits of AI in robotics, it does not yet clarify how robotic systems use AI algorithms to operate and execute complex tasks. The most common types of AI robots include:  AI-Driven Mobile Robots An AI-based mobile robot (AMR) navigates environments intelligently, using advanced sensors and algorithms to operate efficiently and safely. It can:  See and understand its surroundings using sensors like cameras, LiDAR, and radar, combined with CV algorithms to detect objects, recognize obstacles, and interpret their environment. Process and analyze data in real time to map out their surroundings, predict potential hazards, and adjust to changes as they move. Find the best path and navigate efficiently using AI-driven algorithms to plan routes, avoid obstacles, and move smoothly in dynamic spaces. Interact naturally with humans using AI-powered speech recognition, gesture detection, and other intuitive interfaces to collaborate safely and effectively. Mobile robots in a warehouse AMRs are highly valuable on the factory floor to improve workflow efficiency and productivity.  For example, in warehouse inventory management, an AMR can intelligently navigate through aisles, dynamically adjust its route to avoid obstacles and congestion, and autonomously transport goods.  Articulated Robotic Systems Articulated robotic systems (ARS), or robotic arms, are widely used in industrial settings for tasks like assembly, welding, painting, and material handling. They assist humans with heavy lifting and repetitive work to improve efficiency and safety. Articulated robot  Modern ARS uses AI to process sensor data, enabling real-time perception, decision-making, and precise task execution. AI algorithms help ARS interpret their operating environment, dynamically adjust movements, and optimize performance for specific applications like assembly lines or warehouse automation. Collaborative Robots Collaborative robots, or cobots, work safely alongside humans in shared workspaces. Unlike traditional robots that operate in isolated environments, cobots use AI-powered perception, ML, and real-time decision-making to adapt to dynamic human interactions. AI-driven computer vision helps cobots detect human movements, recognize objects, and adjust their actions accordingly. ML algorithms enable them to improve task execution over time by learning from human inputs and environmental feedback. NLP and gesture recognition allow cobots to understand commands and collaborate more intuitively with human workers. Cobots: Universal Robots (UR)  Universal Robots' UR Series is a good example of a cobot used in manufacturing. These cobots help with tasks like assembly, packaging, and quality inspection. They work alongside factory workers to improve efficiency and human-robot collaboration. AI-Powered Humanoid Robots AI-based humanoid robots replicate the human form, cognitive abilities, and behaviors. They integrate AI to perform completely autonomous tasks or collaborate with humans. These robotic systems combine mechanical structures with AI technologies like CV and NLP to interact with humans and provide assistance. Sophia at UN For example, Sophia is one of the most well-known AI-powered humanoid robots, developed by Hanson Robotics. Sophia engages with humans using advanced AI, facial recognition, and NLP. She can hold conversations, express emotions, and even learn from interactions. Learn about vision-based articulated robots with six degrees of freedom   AI Models Powering Robotics Development AI is transforming the robotics industry, allowing organizations to build large-scale autonomous systems to handle complex tasks more independently and efficiently.  Key advancements driving such transformation include DL models for perception, reinforcement learning (RL) frameworks for adaptability, motion planning for control, and multimodal architectures for processing different types of information.  Let’s discuss these in more detail:  Deep Learning for Perception DL processes images, text, speech, or time-series data from robotic sensors to analyze complex information and identify patterns. DL algorithms, like convolutional neural networks (CNNs), can analyze image and video data to understand its content. In contrast, Transformer and recurrent neural network (RNN) models process sequential data like speech and text.  A sample CNN architecture for image recognition For instance, AI-based CV models play a crucial role in robotic perception, enabling real-time object recognition, tracking, and scene understanding. Some commonly used models include: YOLO (You Only Look Once): A fast object detection model family that enables real-time localization and classification of multiple objects in a scene, making it ideal for robotic navigation and manipulation. SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping): A framework combining sensor data with AI-driven mapping techniques to help robots navigate unknown environments by building spatial maps while tracking their position. Semantic Segmentation Models: Assign class labels to every image pixel, enabling a robot to understand scene structure for tasks like autonomous driving and warehouse automation. Common examples include DeepLab and U-Net. DeepSort for Object Tracking: A tracking-by-detection model that tracks objects in real time by first detecting them and assigning a unique ID to each object. Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Behavior RL enables robots to learn through trial and error by interacting with their environment. The robot receives feedback in the form of rewards for successful actions and penalties for undesirable outcomes. Popular RL frameworks used in robotics include:  Deep Q-Network (DQN): DQN uses DL to learn the Q-function. The technique allows agents to store their experiences in batches and use samples to train the neural network. Lifelong Federated Reinforcement Learning (LFRL): This architecture allows robots to continuously learn and adapt by sharing knowledge across a cloud-based system, enhancing navigation and task execution in dynamic environments. Q-learning: A model-free reinforcement learning algorithm that helps agents learn optimal policies through trial and error by updating Q-values based on rewards received from the environment. PPO (Proximal Policy Optimization): A reinforcement learning algorithm that balances exploration and exploitation by optimizing policies using a clipped objective function, ensuring stable and efficient learning. Multi-modal Models Multi-modal models combine data from sensors like cameras, LiDAR, microphones, and tactile sensors to enhance perception and decision-making. Integrating multiple sources of information helps robots develop a more comprehensive understanding of their environment. Examples of multimodal frameworks used in robotics include: Contrastive Language-Image Pretraining (CLIP): Helps robots understand visual and textual data together, enabling tasks like object recognition and natural language interaction. ImageBind: Aligns multiple modalities, including images, text, audio, and depth, allowing robots to perceive and reason about their surroundings holistically. Flamingo: A vision-language model that processes sequences of images and text, improving robotic perception in dynamic environments and enhancing human-robot communication. Challenges of Integrating AI in Robotics Advancements in AI are allowing robots to perceive their surroundings better, make real-time decisions, and interact with humans. However, integrating AI into robotic systems presents several challenges. Let’s briefly discuss each of them. Lack of Domain-specific Data: AI algorithms require a large amount of good quality data for training. However, acquiring domain-specific data is particularly challenging in specialized environments with unique constraints. For instance, data collection for surgical robots requires accessing diverse real-world medical data, which is difficult due to ethical concerns. Processing Diverse Data Formats: A robotic system often depends on various sensors that generate heterogeneous data types such as images, signals, video, audio, text, and other modalities. Combining these sensors' information into a cohesive AI system is complex. It requires advanced sensor fusion and processing techniques for accurate prediction and decision-making.  Data Annotation Complexity: High-quality multimodal datasets require precise labeling across different data types (images, LiDAR, audio). Manual annotation is time-consuming and expensive, while automated methods often struggle with accuracy. Learn how to use Encord Active to enhance data quality using end-to-end data preprocessing techniques.   How Encord Ensures High-Quality Data for Training AI Algorithms for Robotics Applications The discussion above highlights that developing reliable robotic systems requires extensive AI training to ensure optimal performance. However, effective AI training relies on high-quality data tailored to specific robotic applications.  Managing the vast volume and variety of data presents a significant challenge, necessitating the use of end-to-end data curation tools like Encord to streamline data annotation, organization, and quality control for more efficient AI model development for robotics. Encord is a leading data development platform for AI teams that offers solutions to tackle issues in robotics development. It enables developers to create smarter, more capable robot models by streamlining data annotation, curation, and visualization. Below are some of Encord’s key features that you can use to develop scalable robotic frameworks. Encord Active for data cleaning  Intelligent Data Curation for Enhanced Data Quality The Encord index offers robust AI-assisted features to assess data quality. It uses semi-supervised learning algorithms to detect anomalies, such as blurry images from robotic cameras or misaligned sensor readings. It can detect mislabeled objects or actions and rank labels by error probability. The approach reduces manual review time significantly. Precision Annotation with AI-Assisted Labeling for Complex Robotic Scenarios Human annotators often struggle to label the complex data required for robotic systems. Encord addresses this through advanced annotation tools and AI-assisted features. It combines human precision with AI-assisted labeling to detect and classify objects 10 times faster. Custom Ontologies: Encord allows robotics teams to define custom ontologies to standardize labels specific to their robotic application. For example, defining specific classes for different types of obstacles and robotic arm poses. Built-in SAM 2 and GPT-4o Integration: Encord integrates state-of-the-art AI models to supercharge annotation workflows like SAM (Segment Anything Model) for fast auto-segmentation of objects and GPT-4o for generating descriptive metadata. These integrations enable rapid annotation of fields, objects, or complex scenarios with minimal manual effort. Multimodal Annotation Capabilities: Encord supports audio annotations for voice models used in robots that interact with humans through voice. Encord’s audio annotation tools use foundational models like OpenAI’s Whisper and Google’s AudioLM to label speech commands, environmental sounds, and other auditory inputs. This is important for customer service robots and assistive devices requiring precise voice recognition. Future of Robotics & AI AI and robotics together are driving transformative changes across various industries. Here are some key areas where these technologies are making a significant impact:  Edge and Cloud Computing Edge computing offers real-time data processing within robotic hardware, which is important for low-latency use cases such as autonomous navigation. Cloud computing provides vast data storage and powerful processors to process large amounts of data for AI model training. This allows robots to react quickly to their immediate surroundings and learn from large data sets. Smart Factories  AI-powered robots are transforming factories, which use automation, IoT, and AI-driven decision-making to optimize manufacturing, streamline workflows, and enhance the supply chain.  Unlike traditional factories that rely on fixed processes and human efforts, smart factories use interconnected machines, sensors, and real-time analytics to adapt to production needs dynamically. These systems enable predictive maintenance, optimization, and autonomous quality control. For example, Ocado’s robotic warehouse uses swarm intelligence to coordinate thousands of small robots for high-speed order fulfillment.  Swarm Robotics  Swarm robotics uses a group of robots to solve a complex task collaboratively. AI makes these swarms coordinate their movements, adapt to changing environments, and perform tasks like search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and agricultural automation.  SwarmFarm Robotics spraying pesticides  For example, SwarmFarm Robotics in Australia uses autonomous robots in precision agriculture. These robots work together to monitor crop health, spray pesticides, and plant seeds. Coordinating their actions allows them to cover large areas quickly and adapt to different field conditions. Space and Planetary Exploration  AI-powered robots play a crucial role in space exploration by navigating unknown terrains, conducting scientific experiments, and performing maintenance in harsh environments. AI enables these robots to make autonomous decisions in real time, which reduces their reliance on direct communication with Earth and overcomes delays caused by vast distances. NASA’s Perseverance rover For example, NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars features AI-driven systems that enable it to navigate the Martian surface autonomously. The rover uses AI to identify and avoid obstacles, choose its paths, and select expected locations for scientific analysis. This autonomy is crucial for exploring areas where real-time communication is not feasible. AI in Robotics: Key Takeaways AI is transforming robotics by enabling machines to perceive, learn, and make intelligent decisions. This transformation is driving advancements across industries, from manufacturing to healthcare. Below are the key takeaways on how AI is shaping robotic automation.  AI Transforms Robotics: AI enhances robotic capabilities by improving decision-making, perception, and adaptability, making robots more autonomous and efficient. Challenges of Incorporating AI in Robotics: Integrating AI in robotics comes with challenges such as acquiring domain-specific data, processing diverse sensor inputs, ensuring AI explainability, achieving scalability across environments, and maintaining seamless hardware integration for optimal performance. Encord for Robotics: Encord provides AI-powered tools for high-quality data annotation and management, enhancing AI model training for robotics. 📘 Download our newest e-book, The rise of intelligent machines to learn more about implementing physical AI models.