Overcoming the Adamastor: INESC-ID PhD Student wins third edition of the award “Vencer o Adamastor”
In an effort to reduce the time spent correcting errors in coding, Pedro Orvalho, who recently concluded his PhD thesis, at INESC-ID and Instituto Superior Técnico, and is now at the University of Oxford, has developed the artificial intelligence tool MENTOR, which has earned him the third edition of the award “Vencer o Adamastor” (“Overcoming the Adamastor”). On winning this recognition, the researcher shared that “it is an honour for me to receive this award, as it recognises the impact, both at a scientific and societal level, of the research work I developed during my PhD in collaboration with my supervisors, Vasco Manquinho here at INESC-ID, and Mikoláš Janota at CIIRC, at the Czech Technical University in Prague.”
The MENTOR system helps to automatically identify errors in computer programs, offering instant, personalised feedback to the students, while encouraging them to solve the problem themselves, as the system doesn’t provide solutions. This reduces the amount of simpler doubts and questions asked to the teachers, allowing their time to be dedicated to more complex or conceptual student issues, improving pedagogical support.
Tests have been carried out in Computer Engineering courses at Instituto Superior Técnico, with positive feedback. However, its use will not be exclusive to university level – according to Pedro “looking to the future, with the increasing digitalisation of society, programming will soon become a common subject at all levels of education, from basic to university. The MENTOR system thus appears as a learning tool that can help in the construction of this path, where each student can learn to program more autonomously.”
The award ceremony will take place tomorrow, April 11, at 17h00, at Técnico Innovation Center, attended by Rogério Colaço, president of Instituto Superior Técnico, Arlindo Oliveira, president of INESC, Luís Ferreira, Rector of the University of Lisbon, and Fernando Alexandre, Minister of Education, Science and Innovation.
The Prize “Vencer o Adamastor” (“Overcoming the Adamastor”), established by INESC and the newspaper “Público”, aims to reward “innovative works by young scientists, developed in Portugal, in the fields of electrical engineering , computing and the like, which reveal not only scientific excellence, but also potential for developments that benefit society”.