Meet the Zenith Ai Team

This week’s spotlight features Zenith Ai Lead Engineer David Simmons, who has been with Zenith since September 2020. Lets get to know David!

What does your job role entail:

My day typically involves interacting with people in order to ensure engineering projects have been appropriately specified or – when I’m feeling lucky – I get my hands dirty with some software development. Most recently, I was tasked with testing the machine-intelligence limits of our parent company’s flagship product, the OT3 robot. This involved applying and testing advanced ML techniques to enable an AI assistant to operate within the robot’s computer, allowing a more seamless experience for scientists that use OT3 in their laboratories.

Favourite thing about Zenith AI:

We are pushing the boundaries of machine learning for the benefit of scientists and the advancement of science!

What is your work background: My background is mathematics, which I studied at undergraduate level. I applied my mathematics during my MSc and DPhil. During these, I studied “Digital Signal Processing” and “Engineering”, respectively. Following my DPhil, I worked as a PDRA studying quantum enhanced networks.

What are the values that drive you:

That most people are capable of most things. That success is driven primarily by interest, passion, determination, focus, and … patience. And that these are qualities we can all foster in ourselves. This keeps me grounded and gives me confidence in my and others’ abilities.

Favourite quote:

“There are no miracle people” - Richard Feynmann

Favourite part of your job:

Getting to think about interesting and complicated problems with extremely intelligent people! Building cool stuff. I feel satisfied when I build something that works well.

What did you want to be when you grew up: In chronological order: A secret agent, a 100m sprinter, a professional skateboarder, a bodybuilder and a scientist.

Your favourite podcast/books:

I don’t listen to podcasts too much. Interledger have a monthly community call that I like to listen to and CppCast used to be a regular. Almost all my reading is academic text and documentation. I won’t list any here! For fiction, I’d probably say “Kane and Abel”.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working: Generally keeping fit (weightlifting, cycling, and … walking … a lot!) and then undoing that through food.

If you were stuck on a desert island what 3 items would you bring and why: A bow and arrow (Is that two? Nope!); a machete; my best friend, my wife (Oooo, controversial! He thinks his wife is an item!)

#ai #researcher #DPhil #PDRA #teamwork #ml #passion