Meet Axel Lindberg and Aapo Nikkola

Once their studies were over, Axel Lindberg and Aapo Nikkola changed roles from students to employees at Turku University of Applied Sciences, and they started developing virtual worlds in the research group Futuristic Interactive Technologies. In VINCE, Axel and Aapo are responsible for developing the virtual platform, where we will provide integration services for migrants.

Axel Lindberg and Aapo Nikkola are ICT engineers. They both orientated in their studies on gaming and interactive technologies. They graduated from Turku UAS in 2020. Now they work as project engineers in the Future Interactive Technologies (FIT) research group at Turku UAS.

– After graduation, I worked for a while in a startup company called myTrueSound, which I joined already during my studies. At one point, I was also doing another job at the same time because I needed money to live on. When the company was not successful and the group went their separate ways, I applied for a job here, Lindberg says.

Nikkola, on the other hand, worked as a student assistant in the research group alongside his studies and also wrote his thesis for the research group.

After studying, you enter working life as a junior

The starting points of Lindberg and Nikkola’s studies were different. Lindberg knew already after high school that he wanted to be a developer, and the feeling grew stronger after his military service. Now he works as a programmer and writes code for many purposes. He specializes in audio matters and aims to become an audio engineer.

– I hadn’t written a single line of code before my studies. During my studies, I had to study different things on my own time, because courses alone were not enough, Lindberg mentions.

Nikkola noticed that he had found his own field in the third year of his studies, after the field-specific advanced studies had begun. After discovering 3D modelling, he knew he wanted to do more of it. Now his job is to create 3D graphics, especially virtual environments.

In the research group, the work consists of various projects. Both have enjoyed their work, where it is possible to plan their own working days. They say that working in a research group is a good way for recent graduates to gain experience.

“You enter working life as juniors, you learn the work from seniors. Alongside our work, we get to follow and learn from our older colleagues. For me, our project expert Jami Aho has been a mentor of a certain kind,” Nikkola says.

They work on various projects that have developed XR and metaverse technologies. XR is an umbrella term for augmented reality, which includes, among other things, AR, i.e. augmented reality, and VR, i.e. virtual reality. Metaverse technologies, on the other hand, refer to multi-user shared 3D virtual reality. The research group’s focus is to respond to the needs of industry with metaverse technologies.

– Augmented reality is illustrated by an example where you have a mobile application, you use your mobile phone to photograph the real world, and the application brings a 3D model there, Lindberg describes.

Lindberg and Nikkola have been involved in several projects. One example is the Virtual Training Certification (VTC) project, which examines whether different situations, such as fighting a fire or driving a forklift, can be practiced virtually and how the skill learned is translated into a real-life skill. The challenge is to get the physics right, and skilled people are needed for this.

However, an example project where both can demonstrate their abilities is Virtual Integration Home – promoting inclusion and empowerment digitally (VINCE). The project develops digital immigrant services in a virtual environment.

“We’re two young guys alone making a big app. It’s great that people trust us and that we get to show what we can do, Nikkola enthuses.

Services offered to immigrants virtually

There is still a lot of work to be done before services can be offered to customers virtually. The VINCE project began in the spring, and that was also when Lindberg and Nikkola’s major development work began, which began with “drawing the outline”.

– At first, outlines were drawn. I didn’t code, and Aapo didn’t model environments, but we participated in the project meetings. We listened to the needs, thoughts and opinions of our partners, and Aapo and I started brainstorming and shaping the idea of the application, Lindberg describes.

– After brainstorming, we started to form the application and its content. It is intended to support existing services and thereby help the end user as well as other parties involved in the project. Based on the meetings, it was decided, among other things, that the application would primarily be made for a mobile phone. Not everything is that clear yet, but things will become clear little by little, he continues.

In the meetings, it became clear that many immigrants do not have a computer, but they do have a phone. It also turned out that not everyone can read, so the application tries to use images as much as possible.

– For accessibility, a mobile application was chosen. The content of the application can be roughly divided into three parts, which are translations, data center, and virtual rooms. Artificial intelligence is used both for translations from speech and text into numerous languages and for compiling and filtering existing information. Virtual rooms, on the other hand, are a place to gather and experience a sense of community, and at the same time they make services for immigrants available to those living far away, Nikkola says.

Nikkola states that the aim has been to build the application modular from the beginning, so that it can also meet the needs of the project’s Swedish partners. Perhaps in the future, another city or even a Nordic country will also want to use the application. The VINCE project emphasizes multidisciplinary expertise both within Turku UAS and among project partners. Application development is carried out in close cooperation.

Text: Saija Vanhanen
Photo: Siiri Welling