Alexander Amini

Amini immigrated to Dublin, Ireland and was enrolled at Castleknock College during Fourth Year.[1][6] Amini entered the 47th BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with his project entitled "Tennis Sensor Data Analysis." On January 14, 2011 Amini was announced the BT Young Scientist and Technologist of the Year 2011 by Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D and Graham Sutherland, CEO, BT Ireland. He was presented with the opportunity to represent Ireland at the 23rd European Union Contest for Young Scientists taking place in Helsinki, Finland in September 2011.[1] A quote from one of the interviewers of Alexander Amini during the competition:[7]

"We interviewed Alexander Amini from Castleknock College on Wednesday, and I was struck by his clear intelligence, but also the comfort with which he handled the issues he was treating. The ingenuity of his project is undoubted, but his ability to manipulate such advanced technologies is outstanding. He was a deserved winner and will indubitably go on to bigger things."

— Competition Interviewer[7]

After winning the top prize at the national competition, Amini was offered the opportunity to represent Ireland in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. The competition included 87 projects from a total of 38 different countries from all around the world during the competition hosted in Helsinki, Finland during September 2011. Amini won the top prize with his project entitled "Tennis Sensor Data Analysis: An Automated System for Macro Motion Refinement" along with honorary trips to the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden and the London International Youth Science Forum.[3][4]

Amini's project, entitled Tennis Sensor Data Analysis, was focused on sensors capable of capturing audio, video, and inertial data (such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers). The work applied inertial sensors onto the bodies of tennis athletes, collected and analyzed gigabytes of tennis sensor data.[1][2] The technique was able to automatically distinguish between 15 different tennis stroke types using only inertial data, with accuracy averaging over 98%. Amini tested his algorithms after collecting data at the elite Sánchez-Casal Tennis Academy, and created a real-time computer software system that employs the algorithms he discovered. His algorithms analyze sports performance data as it is generated and provide unbiased and precise motion refinement feedback to the athlete or coach. The findings are relevant to a wide variety of motion assessment scenarios in sports, physical therapy, and emergency response.[2]

Amini is lead organizer and instructor for the MIT's popular artificial intelligence and deep learning course, MIT 6.S191: Introduction to Deep Learning.[8]