Semir publishes a scientific paper together with his mentor!

BH Futures Foundation Mentorship Program is something we are proud of because it gives young students the chance to develop and learn more with excellent industry experts, both domestic and international. Mentor-student relationships, with inevitable constant learning and exchange of ideas, often have concrete fruits in the form of projects or business opportunities. Nevertheless, we are proud that for the first time we have publishing of joint scientific paper by our student Semir Salkić and his mentor Edin Golubović.

Semir is a student at the University of Electrical Engineering in Sarajevo, and Edin is a partner at Inovatink, a Turkish company focused on IoT (Internet of Things) products, which is precisely one of the biggest Semir's interests and what he plans to focus his career on. In order to inform the public about his experience with the mentoring program and the scientific paper that will soon be published, we decided to make a short interview with Semir.

 Semir, first of all, tell us something more about yourself and your profession.

I am currently completing Bachelor studies at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, Department of Automation and Electronics. During the studies, I decided to dedicate myself to the field of IoT, which was the unification of my fields of interest (software engineering and installation systems). I am also employed as a software engineer in Sarajevo, while in my spare time I work with IoT projects and electronics. Also, I am actively working on planning master studies which will further improve me in the field of mechatronics and IoT.

What motivated you to join the BH Futures Foundation?

I have followed the Foundation since their beginnings. First time I contacted the Foundation was when I volunteered to participate in the 1st Congress "Student and Young Professionals" in December 2016. After extensive experience in the non-governmental sector, I felt that the Foundation offered many different, sustainable and unique opportunities that I could not ignore. I tried to become a scholarship holder and a member of the Foundation at the first congress, but unfortunately, I failed. After that, I worked on myself and my career, so I applied again and became a scholarship holder of the Foundation next year, and so my perseverance paid off.

How did the Mentorship Program go?

The mentorship program in my case was fantastic. I got not only a mentor but a sincere friend, role model and life advisor.

And how did you decide to work together on this paper?

In May last year, I attended the EESTEC workshop in Ankara and decided to meet with my mentor in Istanbul. There, we had a long talk about possible cooperation and we decided to work on a research work entitled "Application of wearable Sensors in Kinesiology". Bearing in mind that my desire was to acquire new knowledge in the field of IoT and work in the research domain, this research project was an excellent choice. Through the work on the project and the system we developed, I managed to learn many new things which I wouldn't through my standard work.

Explain to us a little bit more about the paper. Can it be applied to the industry?

The paper is based on an application that automates the collection of data from a wearable bracelet containing accelerometers and orientation sensors. Using this data, he forms a model that is "trained" to determine by data what kind of movement a person has made. Using this system, my mentor and associates have published several papers on the practical application, such as: "Artificial intelligent assistant for basketball coaching",  "An open and extensible data acquisition and processing platform for rehabilitation applications", "Task-Based Control and Human Activity Recognition for Human-Robot Collaboration ". All papers show practical application in various domains of human interaction, such as sports, physical therapy, robot interaction, and so on. The aim of the whole story is to design a separate system that will allow easy collection and analysis of data and any case of movement and human interaction with the environment. The next step in this process is the publication of our work on "The International Symposium on Mechatronics, Robotics and Embedded Systems - MRES 2018", which will be held in Sarajevo in June 2019.

Semir objavljuje naučni rad zajedno sa svojim mentorom!

Mentorski program BH Futures Fondacije je nešto čime se mnogo ponosimo, jer daje šansu mladim studentima da se razvijaju i uče više uz sjajne industrijske stručnjake, kako domaće tako i internacionalne. Mentor-student veze, uz neizostavno konstantno učenje i razmijenjivanje ideja, često imaju konkretne plodove u vidu projekata ili poslovnih prilika. Ipak, ponosni smo što po prvi put imamo zajedničko objavljivanje naučnog rada od strane našeg studenta Semira Salkića i njegovog mentora Edina Golubovića.

Semir je student Elektrotehničkog Univerziteta u Sarajevu, a Edin je partner u Inovatink, turskoj kompaniji koja je fokusirana na IoT (Internet of Things) proizvode, što je upravo i jedan od najvećih Semirovih interesa i ono čime se on planira baviti u budućnosti. S ciljem upoznavanja javnosti o njegovom iskustvu sa mentorskim programom i naučnim radom koji će uskoro biti objavljen, odlučili smo da uradimo kratki intervju sa Semirom.

Semire, prije svega reci nam nešto više o sebi i svojoj profesiji.

Trenutno završavam Bachelor studije na Elektrotehničkom fakultetu Univerziteta u Sarajevu, na odsjeku automatika i elektronika. Tokom studija odlučio sam da se posvetim i usavršavam u polju IoT-a, koje je za mene predstavljalo ujedinjenje domena koji me zanimaju (softver inženjering i ugradbeni sistemi). Također sam zaposlen kao softver inženjer u Sarajevu, dok se u slobodno vrijeme bavim IoT projektima i elektronikom. Također, aktivno radim na planiranju master studija koji će me dodatno usavršiti u domenu mehatronike i IoT-a

Šta te je privuklo da se pridružiš našoj Fondaciji?

Pratio sam rad Fondacije od samog osnivanja. Prvi put sam stupio u kontakt sa Fondacijom kada sam volonterski učestvovao u organizaciji 1. Kongresa  „Student and Young Professionals“, u decembru 2016. godine. Nakon opsežnog iskustva u nevladinom sektoru, osjetio sam da Fondacija nudi mnogo drugačije, održive i jedinstvene prilike koje nisam mogao ignorisati. Pokušao sam postati stipendista i član Fondacije na prvom kongresu, ali nažalost nisam uspio. Nakon toga sam pokušao raditi na sebi i svojoj karijeri, pa sam opet sljedeće godine aplicirao i postao stipendista Fondacije i tako se moja upornost isplatila.

Kako je protekao Mentorski program?

Mentorski program u mom slučaju je protekao fantastično. Pored mentorske figure, dobio sam iskrenog prijatelja, uzora i životnog savjetnika.

A kako je nastala ideja za zajednički rad?

U maju prošle godine bio sam na EESTEC radionici u Ankari i odlučio sam da se lično nađem sa svojim mentorom u Istanbulu.  Tu smo imali duži razgovor o mogućim saradnjama i odlučili smo da radimo na istraživačkom radu pod nazivom „Primjena nosivih senzora u kineziologiji“. Imajući na umu da je moja želja bila usvajanje novih znanja u polju IoT-a i rad u istraživačkom domenu, ovaj istraživački projekat je bio odličan izbor. Kroz rad na projektu i sistemu koji smo razvijali uspio sam naučiti mnoge nove stvari koje kroz standardni rad, praksu nije moguće usvojiti.

Objasni nam malo više o čemu je rad. Da li ima primjenu u industriji?

Rad se bazirao na aplikaciji koja automatizira prikupljanje podataka sa nosive narukvice koja sadrži senzore ubrzanja i orijentacije. Pomoću tih podataka formira je model koji je „treniran“ da pomoću spomenutih podataka odluči koji je pokret osoba napravila. Koristeći ovaj sistem, moj mentor i suradnici su objavili nekoliko radova o praktičnoj primjeni ovog sistema kao što su :  „Artificially intelligent assistant for basketball coaching“,  „An open and extensible data acquisition and processing platform for rehabilitation applications“, „Task-Based Control and Human Activity Recognition for Human-Robot Collaboration“. Svi radovi prikazuju praktičnu primjenu u raznim domenama ljudske interakcije, kao što su sport, fizikalna terapija, interakcija sa robotima i sl. Cilj čitave priče je dizajniranje zasebnog sistema koji će omogućiti jednostavno prikupljanje i analizu podataka i bilo kojem slučaju kretanja i ljudske interakcije sa okolinom. Sljedeći korak u ovom procesu je objava našeg rada na „The International Symposium on Mechatronics, Robotics and Embedded Systems  – MRES 2018“  koji će se održati u Sarajevu u junu 2019. godine.