Tommy Sugiarto
Engineer
Hometown: Jakarta, Indonesia
I came to Taiwan in 2016 to study for my Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST). I applied to many different countries for my graduate study, Taiwan was the first to respond with an offer from a good university and also a prestigious scholarship from Taiwan Ministry of Education (MoE). I knew some of my classmates and seniors had already come to Taiwan, and I decided to give it a try. Taiwan exceeded my expectations I had before coming, it’s very safe and the infrastructure is excellent.
After two years I finished my MS and decided to study for my PhD. In my first year of PhD, I was recruited by ITRI for their scholarship program, under which I was hired as a full-time researcher at ITRI while at the same time they paid for me to continue my PhD program part-time during my employment.
I work at ITRI’s Electronics and Optoelectronics System Research Labs (EOSL) in the Embedded Systems Integration and Application Department. My research centers on AI and deep learning for human motion analysis, including action recognition and fall detection for senior care and biomedical applications. I also contribute to a LEO satellites program by developing testing software for satellite components.
A major focus of my work is Dynamic Vision Sensors: event-based cameras that report brightness changes asynchronously, providing microsecond-level timing, very high dynamic range, and low latency. I design event-stream algorithms and pipelines for high-speed tracking, stereo depth, and fusion with frame cameras and IMUs to improve robustness in challenging conditions. During my PhD in biomedical engineering, I helped initiate an international collaboration with Czech Technical University in Prague and the Hydronaut Project to develop a physiological monitoring system for space analog missions in isolated, confined, and extreme environments; I have since completed the PhD.
I like the research environment at ITRI, I feel like I am free to explore any solution I can come up with, I’m not limited to following certain paths. ITRI also gave me the flexibility to pursue my PhD during employment, I am allowed to manage my own time, as long as my work is getting done. I just finished my PhD recently, in 2025.
I lived in Taipei for my first few years at ITRI, then three years ago moved to Hsinchu to cut down my commute time. Hsinchu is nice, it’s quieter than Taipei. In my free time I like to explore with my family, we go to parks, playgrounds, and fun places in Hsinchu and other cities. Taiwan is a great place to raise my two young children, the childhood education system is very good. In the next year I plan to apply for permanent residency so I can settle here for the long term.