Vlad Mihalca, Ph.D.

About me

Associate researcher and software developer with a focus on building applications, tools and systems using C++ or Python, under Linux. My present development activities consist of extending and improving the software system for mobile robot control, which was proposed and illustrated as a proof-of-concept during my PhD thesis. Also learning the Rust programming language.

Coming from a background of mobile and web application development, I have been involved in iOS and backend projects and have had the opportunity to use a multitude of languages so far, including: Python, C++, Java, JS, Objective-C, Swift (early versions). I am quite versatile with regards to learning and using programming languages and tools.

My current research topics of interest are vision-based control and machine vision, with applications in mobile robotics.

SKILLS

Software development

  • C/C++ application development, including Qt Framework GUI and network programming
  • Python application development: desktop GUI (PySide),

Machine vision/ Deep Learning

  • Image segmentation & processing using OpenCV
  • Basic skills with PyTorch - defining & training neural net models

Web development

  • Basic React, Javascript frontend skills
  • Backend development using Python (Flask, Tornado) and Java (Spring Boot)

Other skills

  • Teaching/ delivering training on tech topics
  • Research & scientific writing

Various technical skills

  • 3D modelling (Siemens NX)
  • (Kinematic) model simulations with Simulink
  • Linux

EDUCATION

Complete educational background on my LinkedIn profile.

  • Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Robotics

    • Thesis: Artificial intelligence aspects of interactions between agents of mobile robot systems (summary)
    • My research project explored applications of vision-based control for groups of mobile robots (using classical Computer Vision and also Deep Learning), as well as the design and implementation of a prototyping support platform for experimental research.

  • Computer Engineering degree

WORK EXPERIENCE

Selected roles -- Additional details on my LinkedIn profile.

Associate teaching assistant
Teaching Computer Programming (using C# .NET)
Python Trainer (remote)
Delivered comprehensive 4-hours/day Python classes for IT professionals seeking to gain new knowledge/ skills
Research assistant @ University of Oradea
Information synthesis & research - Quadcopter swarm algorithms for search & rescue missions in disaster relief
Linux, Qt and Win32 C++ developer
Control software and user interface for a variometer device
iOS mobile apps developer & Java backend
iPhone application development for financial and various industries
PHP backend developer
Implemented a regular expression-based macro language on top of MySQL stored procedure for a CRM software backend written in PHP