"It's only about patience and motivation -- just focus on your
patience, do whatever you like and you will be very successful."
These were inventor Ionut Alexandru Budisteanu's words of advice to
the audience at WIRED2014.
Of course, Budisteanu has already built his own AI programming
language and a self-driving car, and is still just 20. So it might
seem a little easier for him to grasp that kind of success. But as
he told the delegates at London's Tobacco Dock, most of his
achievements have been the result of him choosing to challenge
himself.
"These things were mostly challenges I set myself in order to
learn something -- I was not focusing on selling my products,"
Budisteanu said.
The 20-year-old -- who hails from the so called "Hackerville" in Romania -- already has a
decade's worth of experience in computer science and has attended
multiple science competitions. But it has all been in the name of
learning and challenging himself.
In seventh grade, he explains, he wanted to learn more about
antivirus software, so he built a version. In the true maker
spirit, he says he knew he wouldn't be able to build the best one,
since "companies spend huge amounts of money" and engineering time
on building theirs. "But it was a great challenge to learn a lot of
stuff -- and it was an amazing experience."
It was when he could not understand the projects listed in yet
another science competition he was attending, because they were all
using AI software and programming languages, he decided to build
his own. Then came an AI device that helps blind people "see"
objects with their tongue. Budisteanu was inspired to build it for
his uncle, and it enabled him to recognise 40-50 objects after the
first try, using only his tongue.
One of his latest projects, his self-driving car, again stemmed
from his amazement at what Google had already achieved with their
driverless technology. The main problem? 3D liar, integral to the
system, is incredibly expensive. The born maker used five laptops,
GPS, and two people then analysed the data retrieved from test
drives. The whole thing cost $200.
"It is able to recognise buildings from 100m, and humans from
20m, so I need to increase resolution. But the biggest revelation
for a maker is turning it into a reality."
It was the realisation that so many makers are unable, because
of high manufacturing costs, to take their idea from a prototype to
a product, that has now led Budisteanu to launch Visionbot,
a manufacturing robot that can help anyone kick their production
off. Because at the end of the day, despite his incredible
accomplishments, Budisteanu's priority is to help others bring
their ideas to fruition. It's why he helped launch a national
scholarship programme for computer science students in Romania. And
it's why his ultimate ambition, is to become a professor. Because
those are the people we have to thank for the incredible time of
innovation and possibility we are living in today.
Source Article from http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-10/16/ionut-alexandru-budisteanu http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/g_j/Ionut-Alexandru-Budisteanu-1-Michael-Newington-Gray
Challenge yourself and success will follow, says Romanian inventor
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