About
I'm Louis Ryan.
Who I am
I build computer vision systems. I've been doing this for thirteen years — long enough to have learned that most vision problems are really lighting problems, mounting problems, or problems where nobody agreed what the answer should look like before they called me.
Before I worked independently, I spent most of my career in industrial inspection. I helped build systems used by medical device manufacturers to check for defects in metal, measure components to tight tolerances, and inspect stents for breaks — the kind of job where getting it wrong has consequences beyond the factory floor. In aerospace, the same systems checked for glass beads left behind after cleaning, and verified that wiring harnesses had the right colour wire in the right place. I hold six patents on computer vision from that period, plus others from earlier work on broadcast television equipment.
The last product I worked on before going independent was a vision system that a customer could train themselves — on their own products, on their own faults. It was used in medical device plants, pharmaceutical laboratories for counting colonies in samples, and on farms for counting pest populations to guide targeted spraying instead of blanket insecticide. The very first project I used AI for was counting yeast cells in samples for British Sugar. That was a long time ago now.
I work with businesses that have a specific job to do and no software department. That's most of the ones I like working with.
Where I am
Portlaoise, County Laois. I work with clients across Ireland and I'll come to your site — for anything involving a camera in a real place, I need to see the place.
How I work
- You get in touch and describe the problem in your own words. No forms to fill in first, and no need to know any of the terminology.
- We talk for half an hour, usually on the phone. I'll tell you honestly whether this is a computer vision problem at all. Sometimes it isn't, and that call costs you nothing.
- I come and look, if a camera is involved. I take photographs in the actual light and the actual mess, because a system built on ideal pictures fails on real ones.
- You get a written proposal: what it will do, what it won't, a fixed price, and a date. One page, in plain English.
- I build it in stages and show you the first working version early, usually within two or three weeks. You tell me where it's wrong while it's still cheap to change.
- I install it and train whoever uses it, then stay available for a month afterwards at no extra cost while it settles in.
What you get at the end
Working software, installed and running on your own equipment. The source code, which is yours. Written instructions for whoever operates it, in the same plain English as this site. A note of what it does badly and where it needs a person to check.
No subscription, unless you specifically want me to host and monitor something, in which case I'll say so up front and price it separately.
What happens if I'm not available
You're hiring one person to build something your business will rely on, so it's fair to ask what happens if I'm ill, busy, or doing something else in three years' time. Here's the honest answer.
Everything I build is documented so another developer can pick it up: standard tools, no unusual dependencies, plain-language notes on how it works, and the code in a repository you own a copy of. Nothing runs on a service only I can log into. If you ever need someone else to take it over, they get a working project rather than a mystery — and I'll talk them through it.
For changes later on, I keep past clients' work at the front of the queue, and I'll always tell you what my availability actually is rather than what you'd like to hear.
What I don't do
- Medical diagnosis. Regulated, and not my field.
- Facial recognition for identifying members of the public. I'll help you count people without identifying anyone, which is usually what's actually needed. See the faces section for why.
- Anything covert. If the people in front of the camera aren't told about it, I'm not the person to build it.
- Websites, apps and general software. Cameras and pictures only.
- Very large multi-site rollouts. One person can't staff that honestly, and I'd rather say so than take the work.
Capacity
I take on a small number of projects each year, which means I'm sometimes booked a couple of months out. Ask and I'll tell you where the queue actually stands.
Getting in touch
Email louis.ryan@computervision.ie or ring . I reply to everything within one working day.
Want to know if your problem fits?
The quote tool gives you an indicative price and the questions I'd need answered, in about a minute.