The Charlotte VisionLab
The UNC Charlotte Vision Laboratory performs research on multidisciplinary problems to find novel theoretical and technical solutions to challenges in robotics, video processing, computational vision, image processing, machine learning and pattern recognition. Laboratory research emphasizes the development of robust and reliable algorithms and systems that process large-scale real-world data and reliably generate useful outputs. Current topics of investigation concentrate on deep learning, image processing, computer vision, visual odometry, data fusion and 3D mapping.
Laboratory equipment includes GPU servers with 8 Titan 1080Ti for deep learning applications, LiDAR scanners for mid-range outdoor mapping and several depth and color image sensors for indoor recognition of objects and construction of 3D maps. Robotic ground vehicles and drones are also used within the laboratory for mapping, recognition and multi-robot SLAM research.
Primary Faculty: Andrew Willis
Location: EPIC 2372
Andrew Willis
Andrew Willis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte where he directs the UNC Charlotte VisionLab. He received his BSc in Computer Science and BSc in Electrical Engineering from Worcester
Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in 1995. From 1995-1998, he designed and commissioned high-speed (+100m/s) control systems for steel mills
requiring extensive foreign travel. From 1998-2004, he studied at the Brown University graduate school where he obtained a ScM in Electrical
Engineering (2001), a ScM in Applied Mathematics (2003) and a PhD in Engineering (2004). After a year-long post-doctoral position at Brown
University, he accepted an Assistant Professor position in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UNC Charlotte (2005)
where he currently teaches and conducts research. He is a Senior member of the IEEE and ACM and currently is Treasurer to the IEEE Charlotte
section. His research focuses on 3D computer vision, image processing, computer graphics, and stochastic inference for geometric and image
inference problems with past projects sponsored by the NSF, NIH, and NASA. Dr. Willis has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles on these
subjects and serves on several committees and proposal review panels in this area of research.