Ulfa Octaviani

Projects

Industry research and things I've built myself, each with the full process: how I framed the problem, what I tried, what I found and what I'd do next. For my PhD and current academic work, see Research.

SpeechGestureI want…(pause)the, the cupDeicticIconic: drinkAgent asksIs this “drink” or “cup”?

Hackathon

Aphasia Annotate

A multimodal agent that helps speech-language therapists annotate gesture and aphasic speech from video, and asks when it isn't sure instead of guessing.

Role
UX research, interaction design and prototyping
Timeline
2026 (in progress)
Languages
JavaScript
  • Multimodal AI
  • Inclusive design
  • Human-AI collaboration

Referencewhat was said

terusakunggakisomulihsoaleudanderes

Baseline79.2% WER

terusakunggakisaМулихsoalnyaudanderesya

After diagnosis35.4% WER

terusakunggakisomulihsoaleudahderes

SubstitutedDeletedInsertedAn illustrative sentence (“then I couldn’t go home because of the heavy rain”), not from the dataset. WER figures are for the full development set.

Hackathon

Transcribing Code-Switched Indonesian–Javanese Speech

A speech recognition model kept transcribing Javanese conversations in Cyrillic and Chinese script. Reading its mistakes, rather than reaching for a bigger model, cut the error rate from 79% to 35%.

Role
Solo entrant (error analysis, pipeline and evaluation)
Timeline
Oct 2026
Languages
Python, Bash
  • Speech recognition
  • Code-switching
  • Low-resource languages
  • Evaluation
The switch at the bottom right turns the visual layer on and off. Key recommendation: make it opt-in.

Industry

Enhanced Podcasts at BBC R&D

A remote field study of an audio-visual podcast player, testing whether images, transcripts and chapters help or get in the way in everyday listening.

Role
UX research intern (end-to-end study)
Timeline
Apr – Sep 2019
Languages
R
  • Field study
  • Mixed methods
  • Media
Plant10 mm/dayDay 1Day 14
Onset rule from the prompt: over 10 mm a day for 3 days in a row. Illustrative data.

Personal

Corn Planting Predictor for Java

An AI tool that turns weather forecasts into plain-language planting advice for smallholder corn farmers in Java, Indonesia.

Role
Research, prompt design and development
Timeline
2026
Languages
JavaScript, HTML
  • AI for agriculture
  • Prompt engineering
  • Climate adaptation
Kew GardensSwiss CottageBattersea Park
In bloomBudding soonNot yet

Personal

London Cherry Blossom Map

A map of where and when cherry blossoms are blooming across London, built quickly with AI and checked against what people were posting in real time.

Role
Design, development and testing
Timeline
Mar 2026
Languages
HTML, CSS, JavaScript
  • Rapid prototyping
  • Maps
  • Real-world testing