On February 18, 2025, Dr. Zhanat Makhataeva, Senior Data Scientist at ISSAI, delivered an insightful 30-minute lecture on the popular “Open Academy” (“Открытая Академия”) program on Abai TV. The program, which showcases the work of renowned scientists and academicians, provided a platform for Dr. Makhataeva to share her pioneering research in the fields of Augmented Reality (AR), Computer Vision, and Human-Robot Interaction. Dr. Makhataeva’s lecture was divided into three engaging parts.
In the first segment, she introduced the concept of Augmented Reality and presented two innovative research projects she developed during her graduate studies at Nazarbayev University. The first project explored the use of AR technology to visualize safety danger zones around operating robots, while the second, the ExoMem System, combined AR and Computer Vision to detect and localize 3D objects in the corridors of a three-story building.
The second part of her lecture took the audience through a historical overview of the development of AR and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. Dr. Makhataeva also discussed the current capabilities of AR Digital Glasses in Human-Computer and Human-Robot Interaction research, highlighting various applications that have emerged in the fields of AR, VR, and robotics. In the final segment, Dr. Makhataeva showcased the groundbreaking research projects by the ISSAI Team, including the photorealistic human prototype systems, Umay and Aibike. She emphasized the significance of the KAZ LLM system, which enables communication with the Aibike system in Kazakh, leveraging local language models for more accurate and culturally relevant interactions.
Dr. Makhataeva also discussed the development and future potential of virtual avatar systems, particularly their role in education. Concluding her lecture, Dr. Makhataeva stressed the importance of each country developing its own AI systems and agents capable of communicating in the local language, preserving cultural traditions, and supporting national values.
The full episode of Dr. Makhataeva’s lecture will soon be available on Abai TV and YouTube channel.