We meet Dovile Kurpytė in the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, which is very popular among Vilnius residents. A doctoral student of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) and a lecturer of the Faculty of Electronics is bang on time and, although we meet after the day's work, she meets me with a wide smile and extends her hand. It is a pleasure to introduce Dovile. She is a winner of IEEE 8 Region Award (Europe, Africa, Middle East (more than 100 countries)), and one of the finalists of International Science Communication Talent Competition FameLab. She has participated in trainings with a BBC science promotion journalist. She is a chairwoman of the Lithuanian Young Scientists' Union and a member of the Council. Dovile’s enthusiasm in answering my questions demonstrates that her career is developing perfectly well. The young scientist talks about her hobby-inspired future business – An Escape Room. She hopes that her business will help her to experiment with electronics. “This will not be a horror room”, Dovile explains, because "people are often afraid of technologies". We talk to Dovile about whether people need to be afraid of technologies, what to expect in future, and how to get the most out of the studies while at the university.
Today, probably everyone knows that practice is as important as studies. You did a great job of reconciling the two. How can students manage everything?
First of all, one has to show interest in modern technologies and activities of relevant organizations. I am a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It is an international association of electrical and electronics engineers that unites professionals from more than 160 countries, and geniuses like T. Edison or A. G. Bell are among the founders of this association. At global meetings, members from different parts of the world sit at the same table and discuss innovations, although due to the political situation they cannot visit each other. They share their codes, experiences, decisions, and the attitude that "this is mine" does not exist. Currently the so- called “open science”, which means that you share your algorithm, data so that others can try that and develop further, is being actively promoted. I would recommend going to organizations, seminars, listening to online seminars and doing what seems interesting at the time. By trying as many different things as possible, we better understand which way to go.
Did you engage in any additional professional development activities while at university?
While studying for a Bachelor's degree in electronics engineering at VGTU, I did an internship at a German institute, where I programmed technologies related to image processing. There I became interested in this technology. When I returned to Lithuania, I wrote my Bachelor's thesis and then Master's thesis on this topic. Currently I am working on my dissertation, also, on this topic. My Bachelor's thesis was on facial recognition technologies and already then I collaborated with a business. When I studied for a Master's degree, I participated in an international project in Turkey, where we worked on cyber security issues. Currently I am working on the issues related to augmented reality, stereoscopic images, and intelligent systems. In addition to my studies, I worked on image processing projects. I used to refuse to participate in the projects if I saw that technology could be applied against humanity. I do not undertake such projects – this is my personal code of ethics as a programmer. "Technology has to help people solve problems, not create them"
When you were writing your Master’s thesis, you worked on augmented reality. In your opinion, what are the possibilities of its application? For example, the Centre for Civil Education made excellent use of it for educational purposes. Could it help solve problems in other areas as well?
Augmented, virtual, mixed and all other realities can be used extremely widely. In almost every area, I believe. For example, in the education sector. Instead of having a very long text in history textbooks, a small story could be presented, then a photo could be placed next to it and that would give a picture of how one or another event happened. After all, no one remembers the first date or formula they learned, but everyone remembers perfectly well how they learned to ride a bike! If we design a boring learning programme and then make students to memorize everything, we usually get short-term results. Short-term memory allows you to hold the information in mind for just one day. In a week we will remember only 10 percent of this information, and in a month, we won’t remember anything.
When it comes to tourism, the technology has been developed which gives, for example, the whole description of a building when you approach that building. It can give the information about who used to live there, how the building had been changing over the decades, etc. Medicine is another field of application of this technology. Let’s say, a quarter of a face is injured and deformed, or a hand is completely crushed. In such situations body parts lose their true shape. Augmented reality can be employed to generate an image which shows where the bones are situated. So, then doctors can carry out more accurate surgeries. These are just a few applications. I could provide different examples of augmented, virtual, or mixed realities that could be applied in a variety of areas. In fact, it would be harder to think of the areas where these realities could not be used.
In your opinion, how will information technologies change Lithuania in the next five years? What can we expect and what companies are going to be involved in changes?
We can really be proud that today foreign capital companies are coming to Lithuania and looking for specialists there. The technologies are going to expand in the areas which will have the support and investments. Besides, the process also depends on the economic and political situation in the country. Electronic car sales are on the rise, and I wonder when our legal system will allow the use of autonomous cars. Anyway, that probably depends on political will. We can already see how popular electric scooters are. Virtual, augmented and mixed reality should become even more widespread in the near future. The general trend that is most likely to spread is related to mobility and health, for example, pedometers, heart rate monitors, etc. Finally, virtual assistants will help to achieve much greater personal efficiency not only during workouts or by regulating lighting, temperature at home.
