Paul Kruszewski

Paul Kruszewski
Born 1967 (age 50–51)
Alberta, Canada
Residence Montreal, Quebec
Alma mater McGill University
Occupation Founder and CEO of wrnch

Paul Kruszewski (born 1967) is a Canadian AI technologist and serial entrepreneur known for pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence and computer graphics.[1] He is the founder and CEO of wrnch, an AI and computer vision software engineering company based in Montreal, Quebec. Kruszewski got an early start in the world of computer games and computer programming when he bought his first TRS-80 Colour Computer at the age of 12.[2] He has founded three AI startups, including wrnch, specializing in crowd simulation, NPC behaviours, and human pose estimation. His projects have gradually gotten more complex as he's moved from developing AI software capable of understanding many people doing simple tasks to fewer people engaged in more complex tasks to perfect knowledge of individual body language.

Academic life

Kruszewski completed his bachelor's degree in computer science at the University of Alberta.[3] While attending U of A, he was president of the Computer Science Association. After graduating, he went on to obtain an MA and PhD in computer science from McGill University.[4][5] For graduate school, Kruszewski received the most prestigious award available to Canadian students majoring in science and engineering, the NSERC 1967 scholarship.[6] His PhD thesis on random binary trees suggested a method to produce realistic images of trees digitally.[7] His work was inspired by The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants by Przemysław Prusinkiewicz. After completing his thesis, Kruszewski developed and commercialized the software, naming it the "Tree Druid."[8]

Professional life

Work in industry

After obtaining his PhD, Kruszewski held various positions across North America, Europe, and Asia. During this time he developed the first cloud-based human simulator at My Virtual Model. He also developed both the PS2 and Xbox game engines at Behaviour Interactive.[9][10]

Entrepreneurial initiatives

BioGraphic Technologies Inc.

Kruszewski founded BGT BioGraphic Technologies in 2000.[11] BGT is best known for developing AI.implant, a crowd simulation program (many people doing simple tasks). Working from his previous experience in video game development, Kruszewski focused BGT's vision on the film and gaming industries, collaborating with such companies as Lucas Films and Sony Computer Entertainment.[12][13] Engenuity Technologies, now Presagis, a modeling and simulation software provider, saw the benefits of simulating large civilian crowds for training purposes, purchasing the company in 2005.[14][15][16] Kruszewski became the CTO of Engenuity.

GripHeavyIndustries

In July 2007, Kruszewski founded GripHeavyIndustries, better known as Grip Entertainment, which created complex AI characters for a range of game developers, such as EA, Disney, and BioWare.[17][18] The company is credited on such titles as Army of Two: The 40th Day and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.[19]

In 2011, the company experienced some controversy when gamers rallied against Grip's boss fights at the end of the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Eidos Montreal had outsourced the development of the game's boss fights to Grip due to time constraints and the complex nature of the open-ended gameplay.[20] Players felt that the fights were inflexible when compared with the rest of the game, causing a stir in the industry.[21][22] That same year, Autodesk, a multinational software company, acquired Grip Entertainment.

wrnch

Kruszewski's latest venture builds on previous experience gained from working with computer vision technology. He founded wrnch in April 2014 in Montreal's TandemLaunch incubator.[23] With wrnch he has developed BodySLAM, a deep learning AI body-tracking software.[24] As a man-machine interface, BodySLAM has multiple possible applications in various industries, such as health care, security, retail, entertainment, and more.[25] Mark Cuban is an investor in wrnch.

Personal life

Kruszewski is the father of fashion entrepreneur Vejas Kruszewski.

Publications and patents

Publications

Patents

  • Method and Stem for On-Screen Animation of Digital Objects or Characters, (2004)
  • System and Method for Displaying Selected Garments on a Computer-Simulated Mannequin, (1999, 2009, 2011, 2012)

References

  1. ↑ Riga, Andy. "Virtual Minds of their own" (PDF). Montreal Gazette.
  2. ↑ "The Team". WRNCH. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  3. ↑ "clp052213-a14". www.slideshare.net. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  4. ↑ "Bloomberg Company Overview". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Montreal company attracts video game interest with artificial intelligence". CBC News. September 7, 2006. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  6. ↑ contenu, English name of the content author / Nom en anglais de l'auteur du. "Details - NSERC's Awards Database - Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada". www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
  7. ↑ Kruszewski, Paul. The botanical beauty of random binary trees: a method for the synthetic imagery of botanical trees. Diss. McGill University, 1996.
  8. ↑ "Standalone Tree Druid". www.zenstar.com. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
  9. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkruszewski/
  10. ↑ Riga, Andy (2000). "Virtual minds of their own" (PDF). Montreal Gazette. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ Riga, Andy (2000). "Virtual minds of their own" (PDF). Montreal Gazette. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  12. ↑ Riga, Andy (2000). "Virtual minds of their own" (PDF). Montreal Gazette. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  13. ↑ TMP. "Engenuity Technologies Acquires BGT BioGraphic Technologies | Presagis". www.presagis.com. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  14. ↑ TMP. "Engenuity Technologies Acquires BGT BioGraphic Technologies | Presagis". www.presagis.com. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  15. ↑ "CBC News - Montreal company attracts video game interest with artificial intelligence". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  16. ↑ "KEY RELEASE: Grip Digital Extras and Character Control System". Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  17. ↑ "KEY RELEASE: Grip Digital Extras and Character Control System". Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  18. ↑ Berkow, Jameson (November 7, 2011). "Autodesk Acquires Montreal's Grip Entertainment". Financial Post. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Paul Kruszewski Video Game Credits and Biography - MobyGames". MobyGames. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  20. ↑ "Eidos: 'Deus Ex bosses were our fault' | bit-tech.net". Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  21. ↑ Hamilton, Kirk. "Those Horribad Deus Ex: Human Revolution Boss Battles Were Outsourced". Kotaku. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  22. ↑ "Eidos: 'Deus Ex bosses were our fault' | bit-tech.net". Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  23. ↑ "SPORTLOGiQ, wrnch and TandemLaunch at CVPR 2017 - TandemLaunch". TandemLaunch. 2017-07-20. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  24. ↑ "NVIDIA meets wrnch at CVPR (video): Tracking Body Language For Social to Human-Robot Interaction with Deep Learning - TandemLaunch". TandemLaunch. 2017-07-24. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  25. ↑ Hargrave, Christian (June 2, 2017). "wrnch debuts latest AR tech at Augmented World Expo 2017". App Developer Magazine. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  26. ↑ Devroye L., Kruszewski P. (1996) The botanical beauty of random binary trees. In: Brandenburg F.J. (eds) Graph Drawing. GD 1995. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1027. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
  27. ↑ Kruszewski, Paul (27 October 1995). "A note on the Horton-Strahler number for random trees". Information Processing Letters. 56: 95–99 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  28. ↑ Theoretical Informatics and Applications - Informatique Théorique et Applications, Volume 30 (1996) no. 5, p. 443-456
  29. ↑ Kruszewski, Paul (October 1999). "An algorithm for sculpting trees". Computers and Graphics. 23: 739–749 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  30. ↑ Kruszewski, Paul (April 1999). "A probabilistic technique for the synthetic imagery of lightning". Computers and Graphics. 23: 287–293 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  31. ↑ Kruszewski, Paul (15 January 1999). "A note on the Horton-Strahler number for random binary search trees". Information Processing Letters. 69: 47–51 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  32. ↑ McKenzie, Frederic D
    Petty, Mikel D
    Kruszewski, Paul A (2005). "Crowd Modelling for Military Simulations using Game Technology". International Journal of Intelligent Games & Simulation. 4.
  33. ↑ Kruszewski, Paul (2006). "Believable and Reactive Crowds in Next Generation Games". AIIDE: 143–144.
  34. ↑ Kruszewski, Paul (2007). "Navigation Challenges in Massively Destructible Worlds". AIIDE: 108–109.
  35. ↑ Frederic D. McKenzie
    Mikel D. Petty
    Paul A. Kruszewski
    Ryland C. Gaskins
    Quynh-Anh H. Nguyen
    Jennifer Seevinck
    Eric W. Weisel (17 December 2007). "Integrating crowd-behavior modeling into military simulation using game technology". Simulation and Gaming. 39: 10–38 – via SAGE Journals.
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