{"id":12627,"date":"2025-08-08T09:32:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=12627"},"modified":"2025-08-08T09:32:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:32:25","slug":"how-math-and-impatient-driving-inspired-students-award-winning-startup","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/how-math-and-impatient-driving-inspired-students-award-winning-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"How math and impatient driving inspired student\u2019s award-winning startup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
UWM PhD student Joel Roberts is the founder of Shepherd Traffic, a company that uses computer vision, geometry and smart algorithms to capture more detailed and accurate traffic data than what\u2019s currently available. (UWM Photo\/Laura Otto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joel Roberts really hates sitting at red lights \u2013 especially the ones that hold you hostage while not a single car passes in the cross-direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting in traffic bothers me,\u201d said Roberts, a PhD student in civil engineering at UWM. \u201cSo, getting drivers through intersections efficiently is interesting to math guys like myself because it\u2019s basically an optimization problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, that everyday frustration has fueled something bigger: an award-winning startup.<\/p>\n

Roberts is the founder of Shepherd Traffic, a company that uses computer vision, geometry and smart algorithms to capture more detailed and accurate traffic data than what\u2019s currently available. The idea is to let the computer do the watching \u2013 and the counting.<\/p>\n

When traffic management professionals need to time a light or redesign roads, the initial data they need are object counts and classifications, which you can take from videos.<\/p>\n

His pitch for the company beat out top student innovators from across Wisconsin to\u00a0win the $2,500 grand prize<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0WiSys Big Idea Pitch Competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smarter intersections, less waiting<\/h2>\n

Traffic lights usually run on fixed timing patterns that do not respond to the small nuances of traffic, Roberts said. Timings get the main gist of traffic, but they can\u2019t optimize every exact situation. A fully adaptive system would.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I built was an algorithm that recognizes and calculates the delay for every object \u2013 cars, trucks, bikes, pedestrians \u2013 at any given point when the light changes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt figures out the best moment to switch to minimize everyone\u2019s wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

His system doesn\u2019t just count objects. It logs trajectories and could help predict movement.<\/p>\n

And unlike many competitors who still rely on manual traffic counting (clipboards and all), Roberts\u2019 approach is automated \u2013 making it faster, cheaper and more scalable.<\/p>\n

From idea to incubator<\/h2>\n

The turning point came two years ago when Roberts took his idea to UWM\u2019s Lubar Entrepreneurship Center. Encouraged by friends, he applied to I-Corps, a national program that helps turn university research into startups.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=86AE-ooq1uE?si=hpbOnwJeZAZSTjka&w=560&h=315]<\/p>\n

He applied to the program as a community member and met Xiao Qin, UWM professor of civil engineering and an expert in traffic systems. Qin not only agreed to help him but also encouraged Roberts to pursue his graduate studies at UWM, where he also received an assistantship.<\/p>\n

As a graduate student in the department, Roberts could work on his startup as part of his academic research.<\/p>\n

That turned out to be pivotal to advancing his goals, Roberts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed time to work on this project, deeper expertise and a way to support myself while doing it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful to Dr. Qin, who also is an expert in many aspects of what I\u2019m building my business on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The road ahead<\/h2>\n

Through I-Corps, Roberts learned that it\u2019s not uncommon for 40% of traffic project budgets to be spent just on data collection. That\u2019s a huge opportunity, he said, especially if his system can deliver better results at a lower cost.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, he plans to expand his data capabilities to include pedestrians \u2014 often overlooked in traffic studies \u2014 and to add the aspect of data involving \u201cnear misses,\u201d a topic that Qin has conducted research on.<\/p>\n

He hopes his system can one day help forecast risky driving behavior \u2014 such as the likelihood of someone running a red light. It\u2019s the kind of insight that could transform how cities plan intersections, adjust signal timing and improve safety.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also exploring two business models: selling the traffic insights directly or licensing the software behind them.<\/p>\n

For now, the demand may be modest. But as smart cities grow and infrastructure modernizes, Roberts believes his vision for data-driven intersections will be right on time.<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Laura Otto<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/how-math-and-impatient-driving-inspired-students-award-winning-startup\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joel Roberts really hates sitting at red lights \u2013 especially the ones that hold you hostage while not a single car passes in the cross-direction. \u201cSitting in traffic bothers me,\u201d said Roberts, a PhD student in civil engineering at UWM. \u201cSo, getting drivers through intersections efficiently is interesting to math guys like myself because it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":12630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[107],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-12627","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-milwaukee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/12627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=12627"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwtest.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=12627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}