Benjamin Foxall Email & Phone Number

Manchester, United Kingdom

The Sharp Project, Manchester

Middlebrook, Bolton

For one of my final projects I was the AI Programmer for Little Hoods, a 3D, 2 player cooperative platformer built in Unity with a team of 5.The AI behaviour was handled using a finite state machine. The AI would patrol and chase the player after they had acquired loot. During the chasing state the AI would check its pathing to prevent it from bugging out when the player moved to inaccessible platforms. The AI used a simple notoriety system to shift between players; targeting the one with the largest loot when both entered its field of view.I enjoyed my experience developing the AI for Little Hoods so much that I made AI a centrepiece of my next project: AI4Archer. AI4Archer is a simple but solid AI routine for an archer unit. The real focus of the project is on the code's architecture. AI4Archer serves to address the problems encountered in Little Hoods. I'm developing a new deterministic finite state machine and designing the AI's states using the single responsibility principle.Over the past year I have learned to develop for Android, iOS and the Web. I've developed small apps that utilize various technologies including augmented reality using the Metaio SDK, RSA encryption using the Android KeyStore and accelerometers using the iOS Motion Framework.

Worked independently on a CASE studentship sponsored by the University of Manchester and e2v investigating the damage mechanisms in semiconductor devices. Headed the design and development of experimental setups for research into beta and UV radiation damage in semiconductor devices. Worked closely with technicians and translated several design concepts into hardware that was used to conduct the research.During this time I negotiated with technicians and research academics from both within and outside the department to expand the scope of the research. I successfully negotiated for the temporary utilization of equipment from inactive projects, which allowed for experiments to be conducted in a controlled climate as well as negotiating for the use of a strong beta radiation source, earning the responsibility to handle it safely without supervision.For four years I was active in maintaining the lab interiors, updating risk assessments and combining setups to improve experimental capabilities. I worked alongside other researchers and technicians to introduce a dry air supply to our probe station allowing the built in thermo-chuck to operate at lower temperatures without the risk of ice forming on the hardware.As part of my research I designed apparatuses that allowed our device characterizer to be used in conjunction with both a probe station and a deep level transient spectrometer. After the setup was complete I was responsible for planning and conducting experiments along with analyzing, simulating and plotting the data.My final responsibility was to present and defend my work to academics and engineers on a routine basis.

Diploma, Computer Games And Programming Skills, Pass, Cumulative Average: 88.04

Programming for Games, Web & Mobile is a new course introduced by VFS where students are exposed to several programming languages.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Physics

Master'S Degree, Physics, 2.1

Activities and Societies: Manchester Fencing

Kiruna, Department Of Space Science, Manned Space Flight (Ryma08), 7.5Ects-Credits

I attended a 3 week summer school in Kiruna, Sweden’s centre for space research to learn insight into the history of manned space flight.