Research
Applied Research & Experimental Development
Structured investigation of software, AI and computer-vision problems where the technical answer is not known in advance.
Research expertise
Where KRATT investigates
- R1
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Dataset design, model selection and training, systematic evaluation and the integration of learned components into working software.
- R2
Computer Vision & Image Processing
Detection, segmentation and geometric analysis of real-world imagery, including uncontrolled lighting, viewpoint and scene conditions.
- R3
Software Engineering
Experimental and prototype software engineered well enough to produce trustworthy results, and to become the basis of production systems.
- R4
Measurement Systems & Technical Validation
Deriving physical measurements from sensor and image data, quantifying error and validating results against defined acceptance criteria.
Definition
What KRATT considers a research engagement
Not every AI or software project is research. An engagement is treated as research only when the technical outcome cannot be determined in advance and the work is run as a systematic investigation.
Routine implementation, deployment and support are scoped separately from experimental research activities.
- Technical objective
- What the work must achieve, stated in technical terms that can be tested.
- Existing knowledge reviewed
- Published methods, available products and prior work are examined before anything is built.
- Genuine technical uncertainty identified
- The specific question a competent professional could not answer in advance from existing knowledge.
- Candidate approaches formed
- Hypotheses about how the objective might be achieved, and how each will be tested.
- Experiments and prototypes run
- Planned, versioned experiments rather than open-ended tinkering.
- Results evaluated against defined criteria
- Outcomes are measured against criteria agreed before the experiment.
- Findings documented
- What worked, what did not and why - including negative results.
Research process
Seven stages, recorded as they happen.
- 01
Define the objective
Agree the technical goal, constraints and the evidence that would count as success.
- 02
Review existing knowledge
Establish the current state of the art and what can be achieved with known methods.
- 03
Identify technical uncertainty
Isolate what cannot be known without investigation, and why.
- 04
Form candidate approaches
Develop testable hypotheses and an experiment plan for each.
- 05
Experiment
Build prototypes and run experiments, recording versions, data and configuration.
- 06
Evaluate
Measure results against the agreed criteria and decide whether to iterate, change approach or stop.
- 07
Document findings
Report conclusions, evidence and recommended next steps, whatever the outcome.
Stages 04-06 typically repeat until the uncertainty is resolved or the approach is ruled out.
Availability
Research for independent organisations
Kratt Ventures undertakes commercially scoped research and experimental-development engagements for independent organisations. Engagements are priced on normal commercial terms and scoped according to the technical problem, expected investigation and required documentation.
Records
Research recordkeeping
Research engagements maintain project-level technical records covering objectives, uncertainty, experiments, versions, results, conclusions and relevant project activity.
Status
KRATT provides commercial research and experimental-development services in New Zealand.
Relevant experience
Selected prior experience of KRATT founder Martin Kambla
Computer vision for image-based timber measurement
Years of investigation into detecting and measuring logs from ordinary photographs: rule-based methods, learned detection, measurement pipelines and technical validation.
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