Innovating Tomorrow's Visual Intelligence
Elm Group’s computer vision lab is dedicated to fundamental and applied research in visual intelligence. Our work advances state-of-the-art technologies, focusing on algorithm development, deep learning, and image processing to enhance computer vision systems for diverse real-world applications.
Pioneering Innovation
The computer vision lab at Elm Research Centre is dedicated to developing research-driven products with significant impact for Saudi Arabia and the broader region. Our lab leverages cutting-edge methodologies and technologies to address local and regional challenges. Committed to excellence, we engage in both fundamental and applied research to drive innovation and foster technological advancements.
Our team consists of highly experienced researchers with diverse backgrounds from leading multinational companies and top-tier universities. This rich blend of expertise enables us to tackle complex problems in computer vision with a multifaceted approach. By integrating industry knowledge with academic rigor, we are well-positioned to push the boundaries of what is possible in the field of visual intelligence.
Advancing Cutting-Edge Visual Intelligence Research
Our researchers engage in core computer vision disciplines, including object detection, segmentation, tracking, classification, change detection, and facial recognition. The lab focuses on developing foundational models in computer vision, particularly for human-centric and remote sensing applications. We pioneer vision-language models for 3D reconstruction to enhance smart city platforms.
In applied research, we focus on advanced domains such as 3D reconstruction using Neural Radiance Fields (NERF) and Gaussian Splatting. We create digital twins with satellite imagery, conduct remote sensing with multimodal spectral bands, and perform people analytics through crowd counting and gaze estimation. Our work extends to action recognition and generative AI-based image and video generation.
Driving innovation through advanced computer vision and research excellence.
Publications
Our latest publications, providing in-depth explorations of the computer vision sector, are available for review. You can access these comprehensive analyses by selecting any of the links provided on the right-hand side.
Our Core Team
The Elm Group computer vision lab is staffed by an elite team of industry-leading experts. Below, you will find detailed profiles of each of our scientists, highlighting their exceptional skills, diverse experiences, and advanced qualifications that they contribute to our innovative research and development efforts.
Thariq Khalid
Head of Computer Vision
Leading the Computer Vision team at Elm Company, Thariq is at the forefront of developing Large Vision Foundation models, addressing diverse applications such as People Analytics, Remote Sensing, and 3D neural rendering. With over 17 years of industry experience, including a focus on Deep Learning for Computer Vision and NLP for the past decade, Thariq has a rich background in AI Research and development. His career in AI began at Samsung R&D Institute, where he developed Language Models for Arabic and vision recognition systems integrated into Samsung Galaxy Note devices to enhance Online Handwriting Recognition. Previously, he developed AI models for Indian languages, significantly advancing the digitization of Indian texts. Following that, he created a Seq2Seq HR chatbot and a Computer Vision system for detecting theft in self-checkout systems at Target Corp’s U.S. stores.
Athul Mathew
Principal
Athul is a seasoned Computer Vision and Machine Learning engineer with a Master’s degree from Nanyang Technological University. With a decade of industry experience, he excels in crafting innovative solutions to complex problems using cutting-edge software and algorithms. Athul’s expertise spans diverse applications, from developing advanced perception systems for autonomous vehicles to optimizing facial recognition on resource-constrained edge devices and building critical low tact-time AI engines for factory visual inspection. Athul’s diverse background, honed through collaborations with startups and industry giants like ST Kinetics, Accenture and Panasonic, positions him as a valuable asset to any team seeking to harness the power of AI.
Haithem Hermassi
Senior Data Scientist
Haithem Hermassi received his PhD in Data Science and AI from the University of Tunis El Manar. With over 15 years of IT experience, he has worked on computer vision projects for retail and digital try-and-fit applications. Currently an Applied Scientist at Elm Research Centre, his research interests include computer vision, self-supervised learning, and generative AI.
Salman Khan
Senior Research Scientist
Salman Khan is a Senior Research Scientist at Elm. His research interests include advanced computer vision topics such as action/activity recognition, epistemic uncertainty estimation, and foundation models. Before joining Elm, Salman was a Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, where he completed his PhD in 2023. In addition to his research, he has served as a visiting lecturer at KAUST and Lady Margaret Hall (LMH), University of Oxford, delivering courses on AI and machine learning. He has co-organized workshops at leading AI conferences such as ECCV and ICCV and has published extensively in prestigious journals and conferences
Alexey Solovev
Data Scientist
Experienced AI/ML Engineer with over five years in computer vision, generative AI, and software engineering. Currently, Alexey is a key contributor at ELM Company, advancing novel view synthesis methods, diffusion-based approaches, and foundation models. Alexey holds a CS master’s degree from a top Russian university, Yandex department. Previously, he developed computer vision systems for a British electric vehicle manufacturer and created deep learning features for a photo app with 50 million users. He also boasts Math Olympiad wins and Kaggle expert status.
Faroq AL -Tam
Senior Principal
An experienced AI engineer with over 12 years in academia and industry, he excels in software development, optimization, and machine learning. He has led successful projects in the vehicle industry, communication, computer vision, and IoT. With extensive experience as a research and software engineering lead in various European centers and companies, he has developed numerous solutions. Currently, he leads the Remote Sensing Foundation Model and works on the LLM project, focusing on self-supervised learning and LLM alignment.
Andrew Carnell
Senior Principal
Dr. Andrew Carnell, a computer scientist at Elm Research Center, holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science. His research interests include deep networks, computer vision, satellite imaging, climate and energy modeling, 3D modeling, medical AI, multi-modal data fusion, spiking networks, time-series analysis, and neuromorphic computing. With experience in management consulting, Dr. Carnell leads teams to develop comprehensive AI solutions. He focuses on leveraging AI to provide valuable insights, tangible benefits, and significant societal value.
Mohammed Yahya Hakami
Data Scientist
Hakami, an Electrical Engineer from Umm Al-Qura University, has five years of diverse experience. His expertise spans software development, experimental design, robotics behavioural cloning (imitation learning, deep RL), and computer vision. He specialises in detection, segmentation, action recognition, keypoint analysis, and 3D reconstruction using photogrammetry and volumetric rendering, including NERF and Gaussian Splatting.
Zaheer Kalifullah Sheriff
Senior Data Research
Zaheer brings 13 years of experience as a Senior Chief Engineer at Samsung R&D, specializing in neural network platform optimization for Samsung’s Galaxy series. He co-founded the Samsung Neural Acceleration Platform in 2016, pioneering neural capabilities in CPUs using Neon and BLAS optimization for GPU, DSP, and NPU. Zaheer excels in productionizing Vision Transformer models, LVM/LLM model scheduling, and deploying over 10 DNN architectures with hardware acceleration.
Hutaf Aljohani
Data Scientist
Data scientist specializing in image and video understanding, with over three years of industry experience. She has a strong track record of delivering impactful solutions for governmental entities and leading data-driven projects that enhance the automation of visualization and reporting systems. Hutaf holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and her research focuses on image and video processing, and generative AI. Committed to community involvement, she regularly volunteers with non-profit organizations, inspiring young individuals in the Arabian region to pursue careers in science, technology, and mathematics.
Join our computer vision team
Are you eager to shape the future of robotics? At Elm Europe, we’re seeking passionate individuals to contribute to our groundbreaking robotics projects. Join our team of experts and play a pivotal role in driving forward innovative solutions in this exciting field.