Sketching User Experiences<\/em>,” he says. \u201cBill used one of my quotes in a chapter heading. ‘Making a plan and sticking to it guarantees a sub-optimal solution’ is the quote, and I feel rather honored that it’s in Bill\u2019s book.”<\/p>\nExcited by the Misty Mountain Hop of New Ideas<\/h2>\n
Fitzgibbon firmly believes in making plans, but also that the best possible outcomes only happen if people are willing to make changes to the plan as new information arrives. New information and new ideas have always been great motivators for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first considered Microsoft Research,\u201d he recalls, \u201cI quickly realized that everyone interviewing me knew hundreds of things I didn\u2019t. It felt pretty exciting to be surrounded by so many people who knew so much about so many different subjects. I spent my first few years here feeling stupid, which I consider a good thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone who works here gets really, really excited by new ideas. It\u2019s quite common to walk down the corridor and overhear a couple of researchers discussing another researcher\u2019s work with great appreciation and delight.\u201d<\/p>\n
With so much opportunity for cross-fertilization across computing disciplines, what is it about computer vision that holds Fitzgibbon\u2019s interest?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will sound kind of weird, especially since I did a double major in mathematics and computer science,\u201d he says, \u201cso you\u2019d think I\u2019d want precise solutions. I like it that in computer vision, it\u2019s fairly straightforward to set up a problem and you know you\u2019ve got the right answer\u2014or at least a good answer\u2014when the result is convincing to a human being, which is not exactly a precise mathematical solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, very simplistically, here is an image of a frog on a flat lily pad. Can we put the frog on a round rock instead and have the shadows look natural? The solution works if everyone\u2019s happy with the result. For me, the thrill comes from translating the problem into mathematical statements.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to proving the work, Fitzgibbon likes the process and intuition required to define \u201cthe most correct thing to do.\u201d When building a prototype or system that\u2019s never been built before, there could be hundreds or thousands of small decisions along the way, and it\u2019s impossible to know in advance the significance or impact of those decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course we want to do them all correctly,\u201d he says, \u201cbut some decisions could take 20 minutes and others six weeks, so you have to pick and choose and somehow choose well which ones to punt on and which ones to really focus on. Choosing those trade-offs is definitely a skill. I like to work out a list of best possible trade-offs and then work backwards from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whole Lotta Love for New Challenges in Video<\/h2>\n
Within computer vision itself, the area Fitzgibbon finds most interesting is video. There is a lot to learn about using information from video, particularly in the area of image recovery: recovering a high-resolution image from a low-resolution one, or recovering 3-D information.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine a video of a dog running along the beach,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any good algorithms right now for figuring out the 3-D shape of the dog, or modeling how light interacts with the fur, or modeling its running motion. We haven\u2019t gone very far at all in this area, and I want to do more to push the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the Hills and Far Away \u2014\u00a0in Seattle<\/h2>\n
No doubt Fitzgibbon will make the most of an upcoming stay in Seattle to collaborate on video research with colleagues at Microsoft Research Redmond. His wife, a professor of English literature, is taking a sabbatical and will be working at the University of Washington in the early months of 2015. Fitzgibbon and their 3-year-old daughter will be joining her.<\/p>\n
He readily admits looking forward to the benefits of living in the Pacific Northwest, namely skiing. He already has skied at several resorts within easy driving distance of Seattle. Fitzgibbon confesses he has to work hard to ensure he doesn\u2019t bore everyone by talking about skiing all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actually not very good because I didn\u2019t learn properly until I was in my 30s,\u201d he comments, \u201cbut I\u2019ve skied in lots of places. I always wanted to go heli-skiing and gave that to myself as a 50th birthday present\u2014five years early.\u201d<\/p>\n
No Communication Breakdown about the Beauty of Engineering<\/h2>\n
Regarding his recent accolade, Fitzgibbon is pondering his future responsibilities as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. The organization funds programs that fulfill its mandate to advance and promote excellence in engineering. Of these, programs that address engineering education and activities that improve public awareness and understanding of engineering appeal most to Fitzgibbon.<\/p>\n
His impression is that the general public thinks of engineering as \u201ctinkering around with machinery,\u201d whereas he sees it as a total process that begins with abstract thinking, moves to mathematical models, and finishes with something physical and tangible, either an application or an object people can play with or use.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that movement from abstract thinking to something real that excites me the most,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m quite passionate about getting more people to engage with the beauty of engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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But for Microsoft researcher Andrew Fitzgibbon, it\u2019s about inspiration. \u201cI was on a 10-hour flight recently,\u201d he says with a grin. \u201cI put Led Zeppelin on a loop and programmed the entire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-author-ordering":[],"msr_hide_image_in_river":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194471,194480],"tags":[194660,200671,210368,210374,202515,210362,193595,210371,197061,210359,210365,203883],"research-area":[13562,13551],"msr-region":[],"msr-event-type":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-promo-type":[],"msr-podcast-series":[],"class_list":["post-282203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-vision","category-graphics-and-multimedia","tag-andrew-fitzgibbon","tag-bill-buxton","tag-engineering-emmy-award","tag-international-conference-on-computer-visions-marr-prize","tag-macrobert-award","tag-practical-engineering","tag-rick-rashid","tag-roger-needham-award","tag-royal-academy-of-engineering","tag-royal-academy-of-engineering-fellow","tag-royal-academy-of-engineerings-silver-medal","tag-sketching-user-experiences","msr-research-area-computer-vision","msr-research-area-graphics-and-multimedia","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_event_details":{"start":"","end":"","location":""},"podcast_url":"","podcast_episode":"","msr_research_lab":[199561],"msr_impact_theme":[],"related-publications":[],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[],"related-academic-programs":[],"related-groups":[],"related-projects":[],"related-events":[],"related-researchers":[],"msr_type":"Post","byline":"","formattedDate":"November 17, 2014","formattedExcerpt":"When it comes to research, the concept of \u201chead-banging\u201d most likely conjures images of researchers banging their heads against walls or dry-erase boards. 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