1. Autonomous pilot for motorcycles
This project involves an OpenGL based interactive application simulating a motorcycle using the laws of physics. The goal is to develop a pilot capable of autonomously driving this vehicle. In the current state I'm using a multi-agent model based on some configurable equations, and the close future plan is to use genetic algorithms to select the parameters of the pilot. The more distant future plan is to use genetic programming to evolve the equations themselves, not just the set of parameters. One thing at a time.

2. Graph Drawing
I have been working on algorithms to build graph layouts that are consistent with the weights in a graph. Initially I have used force-based algorithms with some success. Currently I'm starting to apply genetic algorithms to this problem with the hope of obtaining layouts with special geometrical properties, like maximizing the volume or the total surface. I received an IUSB Faculty Research Grant for this project in spring 2004.

3. Virtual personalities or chatterbots
It's a project involving pattern matching, automatic indexing, information retrieval, and evolutionary algorithms. The goal is to create a virtual character resembling an existing but imaginary one and capable of intelligent conversation.

A description of this project.

Meet and talk to Madeleine, my first virtual character.

4. Improving GAs
I am working in general on several topics aiming at improving the performance of GAs. Some of them are:

• Developing fast and efficient distributed GAs by dividing the problem to be solved among processes.
• New crossover operators, like the dissociated, or combining existing ones.
• Studying the natural evolution of gender types and its possible implications for GAs.

5. DataViewer
I am currently involved in the development of the graphical library DataViewer. My main contributions to this project concern:

• DataViewer's native scene file format, allowing the user to build 3D scenes in a rapid way and without any programming background.
• Importing and exporting from and to various file formats, to make the library more general interest and user friendly.
• Developing new applications based on it, like the visualization of GAs.

6. Visualizing GAs
Genetic algorithms are a good example of programs that can produce large amounts of poorly structured data. I think that scientific visualization techniques can improve our understanding of the processes taking place during the genetic evolution and also make it less abstract. I am working on a project that has three goals:

• Visualize the fitness evolution in the population among generations; visually compare several trials with different random seeds or different set of parameter; interact with the overall scene to retrieve individuals at a particular point in the evolution.
• Provide appropriate visualization techniques for individuals that have a geometrical meaning. For example, many graph problems are NP-complete, and thus interesting for GAs. These problems are also interesting for visualization when the graph contains a large number of nodes.
• Provide suggestive visualization for individuals that do not have a direct geometrical representation.

• NP-complete problems inspired from the graph theory: Hamiltonian circuits, graph clustering, etc.
• Graphical problems like improving the triangulation of solid objects.
• Relevance feedback in information retrieval. I worked on this subject for my PhD at the Computer Science Department, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

9. Handwriting
In parallel to the completion of my PhD I have worked on a project for handwriting simulation. The main idea is to analyze samples of handwriting belonging to a person and to extract from them some parameters that allow the production of an artificial writing looking natural and resembling the analyzed handwriting. These parameters concern features like the probabilistic form and size of each character, the orientation and thickness of the writing lines, etc. The first stage of the project is already functioning, simulating a handwriting composed of capital characters only, and using straight lines to compose them. I am using this package to add text to comic strips.