With an academic background in artificial intelligence, Andrew Webb is a machine learning research and development engineer at vTime‚ a leading AR and VR engagement company developing immersive communication experiences across new realities. Its flagship product, vTime XR, is the most widely available social XR experience today, with active users in over 190 countries.
With a PhD in heuristic optimisation, Andrew previously worked as a researcher at the University of Manchester on the LAMBDA project, working on methods of explicitly encouraging diversity in ensemble methods in deep learning, and on the PAMELA project on the integration of object detection into SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping) systems.
Interested in science communication and outreach, Andrew also runs a popular sci-comm Twitter account (@AndrewM_Webb).
The benefits of adding machine learning (ML) to your development arsenal are becoming increasingly hard to ignore. Whether used to adapt gameplay to user tastes and improve retention or to automatically create content, done correctly, its effects on both player and developer can be remarkable. But for studios with no prior ML experience, where should devs begin?
In this talk, Andrew Webb, machine learning engineer at vTime, will take delegates from zero to ML hero with the help of a virtual presenter, created during the session using ML avatar generation.
Offering invaluable advice on getting started, Andrew will take you through what is and isn't achievable with current machine learning tech, data acquisition, and how to make use of freely available and state-of-the-art work for your own projects. The talk will also cover how to get ready for your first ML hire, including preparing the data for initial projects and the hardware and resources you'll need to hit the ground running.
Takeaway:
It’s really nice to see some of the younger people in our studio come to Develop, interact with other people in the dev community and make new contacts. I think it’s really important to learn from other people.
Abbie Heppe
Media Molecule
Develop is a very important place – it’s one of the few developer focussed conferences we have in Europe and that makes it very valuable.
Rami Ismail
Vlambeer
A lot of the opportunities that come from being here are speaking to other developers who are doing exactly the same thing as you. And there are some good parties – it’s very much a pleasurable work experience!
Gemma Foster
Dlala Studios
Building games is hard and it’s taxing physically, mentally and emotionally. So being around a community that understands that is great – there’s a comraderie here.
Haden Blackman
Hangar 13
I absolutely love coming to Develop, it’s a brilliant, brilliant conference – you just know you’re guaranteed to meet everyone.
Jo Twist, OBE
Ukie
I’ve felt a big passion here at Develop!
Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Enhance Games
Develop is a really great way to network, it’s also great for going to talks and finding that little tip that you didn’t know before and thinking – oh I’ll bring that back to the team!
Leanne Loombe
Riot Games
I’ve been to every single Develop in the last 12 years. One thing you get here is networking - you will meet the most amazing individuals in the video games industry.
Kish Hirani
Terra Virtua
If you really want to have a good interface with the British game developer community then this is the place to come.
Kate Edwards
Geogrify
There’s something creative about Brighton, so it’s the perfect place to have the conference.
Graham Devine
Magic Leap
There are many ways you can be part of Develop:Brighton - including taking a booth in the Expo or choosing one of the many sponsorship opporunities during the event or at the Star Awards.
Contact us now!