Master’s degree student of the Department of Applied Mathematics majoring in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, employee of the SUSU Research and Innovation Services Maksim Zolotukhin, as part of the Intelligent Production general project based on virtual reality technologies, developed a unique program for 3D inspection of substandard housing. The program is designed for the housing and communal services sector and is intended to be used for inspection of premises for the purpose of assigning them the status of “substandard”. The project was implemented at the request of the SUSU Institute of Law.
Special substandard housing commissions traditionally inspect housing, take photos of objects of interest, describe the problems, and then draw up a protocol of the premises inspection. The program proposed by Maksim allows to take a virtual tour of the objects of inspection based on photo and video shooting. The program processes materials and generates interactive virtual tours. It makes it possible to add descriptions of problem objects and generate draft reports. Today, the program is available as a technological demo version.
Research studies on the program are being conducted at the Laboratory for Computer Vision of Robotic Systems in Industry. The equipment with which the laboratory is fitted under the Priority 2030 program allows improving computer vision technologies and taking research to a new level. In particular, in his project Maksim used a station for working with artificial intelligence, a station for calculations and 3D modelling, systems for working with virtual reality, digital cameras for taking high-resolution images, video surveillance cameras, and so on. The program was developed on the Unity engine.
“VR technologies give an opportunity to model a copy of the real world’s area (for example, premises in which a utility accident occurred, or premises that should later be recognized as dilapidated). Moreover, a much more detailed picture is created for users of the program than when viewing photos or video content. A 3D reality is formed. You can visit the place just once, and then return to the material at any convenient time, examine in detail, zoom in on objects. This should ultimately increase the efficiency of public utility services,” noted Maksim’s academic advisor, Associate Professor, Candidate of Sciences (Engineering), senior lecturer of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Programming Vladimir Surin.
“This is indeed a unique function: the ability to return to the inspection at a time convenient for a specialist, expert or commission, to take precise measurements from the images,” said Head of the Department of Criminal Procedures, Criminal Science and Forensic Enquiry of the SUSU Institute of Law Galina Rusman. “The opportunity to correlate damages and defects with each other and in relation to supporting structures, to determine reference points, and to place markings is also very significant. Such tools will allow the expert to make a final decision during the relevant examination and the commission. When developing the program, we proceeded from its relevance for our region, but the development is multi-purpose and can be used throughout our country.”
The innovative software is of use primarily to public utility services, management companies, all organizations in the housing and communal services sector, and concerned residents who care about high-quality public services for their homes. The program can also be used as an additional empirical simulator in classes for students majoring in industrial and civil construction, as well as to improve the skills of employees of housing and communal services. The project was implemented using the equipment of the Laboratory for Computer Vision of Robotic Systems in Industry, created at SUSU within the frameworks of the Priority 2030 program under the Science and Universities national project.