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Japan’s University of Aizu Uses NVIDIA Jetson to Nurture AI and Robotics Talent

University of Aizu, a premier computer science and engineering institution in Japan, conducted a two-week intensive learning program based on the NVIDIA Jetson Nano edge AI platform and Jetson AI Certification.

University of Aizu, a premier computer science and engineering institution in Japan, conducted a two-week intensive learning program based on the NVIDIA Jetson Nano edge AI platform and Jetson AI Certification.

During the university’s annual Silicon Valley Learning Program, teams of six students worked on projects in robotics and intelligent IoT. Students were awarded Jetson AI Specialist certificates for their work during the program, which included  several unique projects listed below.

The NVIDIA Jetson AI Certification program is designed to facilitate robotics and AI learning. Two certification tracks are offered: Jetson AI Specialist for anyone, and Jetson AI Ambassador for educators and instructors.

New AI Avenues to the Future

University of Aizu is one of the first schools in Japan to focus on Jetson AI Certification. The university received free developer kits through the NVIDIA Jetson Nano 2GB Developer Kit Grant Program. With the performance and capability to run a diverse set of AI models and frameworks, the Jetson Nano 2GB is designed for hands-on teaching and learning while providing a scalable platform for creating AI applications as they evolve in the future.

Yuji Mitsunaga, Senior Associate Professor, Promotion Office, Super Global University, University of Aizu, who is in charge of this training, said:

“We believe Jetson AI Certification is the best way for students to experience edge IoT and understand the importance of AI  in the future. Since 2019, we’ve been using Jetson  platform to teach AI as part of our pre-training program for undergraduate students. Using the new NVIDIA program, not only did the students efficiently learn the  fundamentals of AI, but just a few days later they used their hands-on knowledge to develop a variety of systems that utilized Jetson’s capabilities.”

“For us, the aim of this training is to build a high level of  confidence for students learning  AI and IoT manufacturing, and NVIDIA’s Jetson AI Certification has become an important milestone that lays the foundation for our students,” Mitsunaga added. “I am confident that this experience will have a positive impact on the active development and entrepreneurship activities of the students in the future.”

NVIDIA’s Japan and US teams shared insights with the students and provided additional guidance on how to get started with Jetson. The Jetson Nano 2GB ,  proved invaluable as the students  collaborated on   ideas for their AI projects over three days.

Japan's University of Aizu Uses NVIDIA Jetson to Nurture AI and Robotics Talent

The students created the following projects:

Portable Coronavirus Diagnostic Device by Heihao Weng
Simple coronavirus diagnostic device for healthcare professionals that analyzes chest x-ray images

Application to Prevent from Pet’s Mischief by Hiroshi Tasaki
Prevents pet mischief in life with a fulfilling pet

Automatic Car Windshield Wiper by Keigo Fukasa
Learned once water lands on glass and automatically wipes off the water droplets

Reaction When Learning Plant Images in Perspective by Banri Yasui
Identifies plant type from the pattern of a leaf

AFK Minecraft by Tarun Sreepada
Converts body posture into keyboard strokes and plays games in VR-like situations

Hermit Purple by Eri Miyaoka
Displays character effects to match jojo’s bizarre adventures when shooting style poses

The students who published their projects on GitHub and successfully completed their applications for certification were certified as Jetson AI Specialists. 

Chitoku Yato, Jetson Product Marketing Manager at NVIDIA said:

“Each student’s published project uses AI at an advanced level, reaffirming that NVIDIA’s training and sample projects are being fully utilized in education. Following the example of University of Aizu, I hope more students build projects on the Jetson platform and get certified as Jetson AI Specialists. And I’m confident these initiatives will inspire youth to see themselves as builders of our AI and robotics future.”

Learn more about curriculum, grants and other offerings on the Jetson for AI Education page.

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