PaintCloud awarded the 2020 QLD iAward for product innovation
The award
CSIRO’s Data61 Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group’s PaintCloud technology has been awarded the winner of the Government & Public Sector Solution of the Year at the AIIA (Australian Information Industry Association) at the QLD iAwards 2020 which unearths, recognises and rewards excellence in Australian innovation.
Delivered by Australia’s peak industry representative body for innovation technology, the AIIA, the iAwards is Australia’s longest running and most broadly scoped innovation recognition program, promoting excellence in the Australian digital ecosystem.
This year the AIIA transformed the competition to create “THE BIGGEST PITCH” where entrants were asked to submit a three-minute pitch about their innovation solution.
In their 27th year, the 2020 iAwards saw a clear focus on innovations that seek to help address the world during and post COVID-19.
The technology
Our team entered the iAwards with PaintCloud, a innovative solution that enables the colourisation of otherwise colourless 3D representations of the world based on lidar data.
PaintCloud is a cost effective solution for 3D mobile mapping businesses and users to obtain coloured 3D maps without needing to replace costly and functioning 3D mapping equipment.
If we take a 3D+PaintCloud scan of a commercial building under construction as example: What colour paint is used in the main office? Has grass been laid at the building entrance? What does the tile pattern look like in the lobby? Users can see the answers to these questions by simply navigating within a 3D map augmented with colour.
This enriched representation is paramount for the understanding of point clouds in a number of application scenarios, including mining, construction, manufacturing, surveying, agriculture and heritage building analysis.
Extremely portable, PaintCloud has been used for data captured using ‘plug-and-play’ sensor payloads mounted to hand-held, aerial and ground systems.
“Our team is honoured to have won this iAward for PaintCloud. We have been working on this algorithm for a number of years and this recognition further emphasises the cutting-edge position of our technology. This is a fantastic reward to continue motivating the team as we develop this technology further”, says Dr Mark Cox, Senior Research Scientist at the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group.
AIIA CEO, Ron Gauci, said, “2020 has been challenging for so many businesses. The AIIA iAwards entries have seen the incredible ways Australian businesses have innovated during this period and looked for growth. It is important to recognise and award the businesses that have worked so hard to achieve this. There is a need for strong domestic skills and an innovation ecosystem which will allow Australia to compete more competitively on the global scale. We believe our winners are reflective of what Australia has to offer to the world.”
All of the QLD AIIA iAwards Winners will now compete for the coveted National iAwards 2020 title which will be announced on 17 November 2020.
Learn more about PainCloud below and contact us for more information.
- PaintCloud: Colourising 3D representations of the world based on lidar data
- Paper: PaintCloud: 3D point cloud colourisation