Benji Alwis.
Researcher, Entrepreneur and Fencer.
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Benji Alwis
Researcher, Entrepreneur and Fencer.
About Me
"I envision myself as an explorer, traversing the vast landscape of knowledge with boundless curiosity, continually seeking opportunities to make a positive impact and contribute to the betterment of communities."
My Ventures
FineNeedles -Navigating the Complex Web of Investment Opportunities with AI Insights
While the world focuses on the obvious stars, Find Needles shines a spotlight on the hidden gems, ensuring investors stay ahead of competition.
WorkoutsBuddy -Elevate Fitness with AI
Empowering gym-goers and travelers alike, WorkoutsBuddy offers AI-driven tools for accelerated fitness progress.
BooksRack -Fostering connections between book donors and readers
BooksRack is a web platform that enables book donors to make their unwanted books available to potential readers.
BooksBridge is our new initiative, bridging school libraries worldwide. Our AI-driven platform recommends surplus books from libraries to others in need.
My Research
I currently work as a researcher under the guidance from Prof. Nick Pears and Dr. Pengcheng Liu at the York University Computer Science department.
My main research interests are in machine learning and robotics.
I have a long-standing interest in few-shot learning methods. I have been actively researching challenges related to robot pick-and-place tasks. Recently, I've also initiated a soft robotics project.
In a broad sense, my focus lies in the cross-disciplinary applications of AI and the examination of technology's evolution through the lenses of social science and history. To explore some of my recent work, please visit the publications section on this website.
My Publications
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Benji Alwis, Meta-Learning for Multi-View Visuomotor Systems, 2023. arXiv preprint arXiv: 2310.20414 Available at https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.20414
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Benji Alwis, Investigating Relative Performance of Transfer and Meta-Learning, Curiex journal, pp. 261-280, (34), 2023. arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.00727 Available at https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.00727
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Benji Alwis, Investigating AI's Challenges in Reasoning and Explanation
from a Historical Perspective, Curiex journal, pp. 472-489, (33), 2023.
arXiv preprint arXiv: 2311.10097 Available at https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.10097
Awards
WHERE I SHINE
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Diamond in Isaac Senior Physics Challenge (2022) - selected as one of the top 50 students nationally out of over 20,000 who participated in the challenge that included questions that were beyond A level knowledge.
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Arkwright Engineering Scholarship (2021) - selected as one of the top 289 applicants nationally out of the 1297 applicants
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Gold medals in all UKMT math challenge competitions from 2015 to 2021. Golds are nationally awarded to the top 8%-9% participants. I was awarded the best in school award in 2020.
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Silver in UK Chemistry Olympiad (2022 and 2023). Placed within the top 23% nationally.
