Machine Learning Course: Project Guidelines (10% )
Objective:
The goal of this course project is to guide student teams in developing a comprehensive machine
learning project, either as a research study or a product-oriented idea. The project will be
completed through a series of milestones, each building upon the previous, to culminate in a final
deliverable that could be a research paper, a patentable idea, or a commercial product.
General Guidelines:
- Access to Resources:
- Research Papers: Utilize databases like Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, and PubMed for accessing
Open Access papers.
- Patents: Refer to patent databases such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO), UK Intellectual Property Office, IP Australia, and South African Patent Office.
- Use of Generative Models:
- You may use tools like ChatGPT to assist in brainstorming ideas, refining your writing, or even
generating code ippets. However, ensure that all generated content is original and properly cited.
- Plagiarism: Avoid copying text directly from generative models or other sources. Use these tools
to enhance your work, not replace your effort. Always ensure that your submissions are free from
plagiarism.
- Collaboration: While teamwork is encouraged, each member must contribute equitably.
Document the contributions of each team member.
- Feedback: Seek regular feedback during each milestone to ensure alignment with course
objectives.
- Submission: All deliverables must be submitted by the specified due dates through the course
platform Blackboard. Final Submission Deadline: October 16, 2024
Team Composition
- Team Size: Each project team should consist of up to 3 students.
Milestones and Submission Deadlines:
Milestone 1: Domain Discovery (Submission Deadline: September 13, 2024)
Objective: Identify and understand the specific domain of interest for your project.
- Task 1: Literature and Patent Review
- Access at least 10 relevant academic papers or patents. Utilize resources like Open Access
papers, US Patents (via [USPTO](https://www.uspto.gov/)), UK Patents, Australian Patents, and
South African Patents to gather information.
- Document the themes, challenges, and opportunities identified in these works.
- Task 2: Data Gathering and Understanding
- Identify and collect relevant datasets in your chosen domain.
- Perform exploratory data analysis (EDA) to understand the data's characteristics.
- Summarize findings and propose the specific research question or product idea.
Deliverable: A report summarizing the domain discovery process, including a review of
literature/patents, identified datasets, and initial data analysis.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Milestone 2: Related Work and Experiment Reproduction (Submission Deadline: September
25, 2024)
Objective: Explore existing works in your chosen domain by reproducing experiments to
understand the state-of-the-art.
- Task 1: Related Work Analysis
- Choose 2-3 key papers or patents closely related to your project idea and analyze their
methodologies, results, and limitations.
- Task 2: Experiment Reproduction
- Reproduce at least one experiment from these works using the original or similar datasets.
- Document the reproduction process, compare your results with the literature, and analyze any
discrepancies.
Deliverable: A report detailing related work analysis and experiment reproduction.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Milestone 3: Proposed Model or Idea (Submission Deadline: October 5, 2024)
Objective: Develop a novel model or idea that addresses the limitations of existing works or
introduces a new approach.
- Task 1:Model or Idea Proposal
- Propose a new model, algorithm, or product idea based on previous milestones.
- Define the objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes.
- Highlight how your proposal improves or differentiates itself from existing solutions.
- Task 2:Implementation Plan
- Develop a detailed implementation plan including required resources, timelines, and evaluation
metrics.
Deliverable: A proposal document outlining your model or idea and an implementation plan.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Milestone 4: Experimentation and Evaluation (Submission Deadline: October 16, 2024)
Objective: Implement and evaluate the proposed model or idea.
- Task 1: Model Implementation
- Implement your proposed model or product prototype using appropriate tools and technologies.
- Document the implementation process and challenges encountered.
- Task 2: Experimental Evaluation
- Conduct a thorough evaluation of your model using relevant datasets and metrics.
- Compare the performance against baseline models and analyze results.
- Task3 : Final Report/Product Presentation
- Integrate work from all milestones into a final report or product demonstration.
- The final report should include an abstract, introduction, methodology, results, discussion,
conclusion, and references.
- If presenting a product, prepare a demonstration including a business case or patent filing
summary.
Deliverable: A report detailing the implementation process, experimental setup, and evaluation
results.
