Below is a list of currently available research project at RRL. If you are interested in carrying out one of the projects please contact the person responsible.
You can check the previous projects here.
Affective and Immersive Interactive Surfaces Augmenting Visual and Auditory Perception
Section: Mechanical Engineering
Supervisors: Serhat Demirtaş, Prof. Jamie Paik (EPFL)
Number of Credits: 10-12 ECTS (300 hours) or Master Thesis
Timeline: Spring 2023
Humanity steps into a world where reality and imagination seamlessly blend together, as we push the boundaries of what is possible. Through cutting-edge technology, we strive to create immersive tangible environments that not only captivate your visual and auditory senses but also respond to your physical presence, allowing you to interact with reconfigurable surfaces that are able to bear the weight of humans, evoke a wide range of motion primitives, and convey emotions. Inspired by nature, we incorporate an artistic mindset to complement our effort to create a full-body experience into the inner world of a tree, evoking corresponding feelings.
If you want to join us in building unforgettable user experiences, please contact us.
More information: http://www.ersinhanersin.co.uk/
Contact: [email protected], [email protected]
Robotic Eye
Section: Mechanical Engineering, Microengineering
Supervisors: Prof. Martin Rolfs (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Prof. Jamie Paik (EPFL)
Number of Credits: 10-12 ECTS (300 hours) or Master Thesis
Timeline: Spring 2023
Humans actively sample information from the visual world, picking up new information with each glance. To do so, we make rapid eye movements (known as saccades) that place the fovea — the central portion of the retina with the highest density of photoreceptors and resolution — at relevant locations of the scene that deserve closer inspection. While the human eye has three axes of rotations, its rotations are specified in a two-dimensional plane (Listing’s plane), and its rapid and frequent movements follow stereotypical kinematic laws. The goal of this thesis project is to implement a robotic eye that is able to faithfully reproduce this behavior in real time.
The project is implemented in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Martin Rolfs (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), an expert in oculomotor control and active human perception. The physical implementation of a robotic model of the human eye would have impact in various domains of active human perception research. Its applications would range from the systematic assessment of eye tracking technology to closed-loop experiments on the perception of gaze behavior.
Check paikslab.com for more information.
Contact: [email protected]
Master Projects (with Logitech)
Shape Tunable Mouse
Mechanical development of new designs with increased capabilities. Projects have been conducted on this topic already and but we would like to explore new paths. In this one the transportability constraint would be less important and the shape movement more complex.
Adaptive Simulation Pedals
We would like to try adding some kinesthetic haptic to our simulation pedals. Meaning when the player drives a car in the game he can feel some active feedback from the pedals (road, braking, ESP)
Low Profile Scroll wheel
Thin mice today uses touch areas and there is a loss of physicality. We would like to have a “flat” scroll wheel to keep the physicality of a wheel while it being small in height.
For any questions on those project, contact directly Prof. Jamie Paik
Origami Variable Stiffness Structure through Bistability
Section: Mechanical Engineering, Microengineering
Supervisors: Fabio Zuliani, Prof. Jamie Paik
Number of Credits: 10-12 ECTS (300 hours) or Master Thesis
Type: 20% theory, 30% design, 20% modeling, 30% prototyping
Timeline: Spring 2021
Description:
Several ways to vary the stiffness in origami structures are investigated in the Lab. Bistable mechanisms allow a single system, in our case a single origami joint, to have different slopes of stiffness depending on its folding state. Understanding, modeling and designing such a system will allow us to use this concept towards human-machine interactive structures with a mechanical intelligence that allows the structure to vary its stiffness depending on various position inputs in a mechanical automatic manner.
Expected work:
• State-of-the-art of bistable mechanisms and bistable logic
• Understanding current physical models and design
• Propose various design ideas and challenge them
• Select the best design and create a scenario to make a prototype
• Define a scientific testing methodology to assert the design and validate the models
• Characterize the system to understand limitations and further steps
Origami Structures Stiffness Modeling
Section: Mechanical Engineering, Microengineering
Supervisors: Fabio Zuliani, Prof. Jamie Paik
Number of Credits: 10-12 ECTS (300 hours) or Master Thesis
Type: 20% theory, 40% modeling, 20% design, 20% testing
Timeline: Spring 2021
Description:
Origami structures as used in the Lab to create novel human-machine interactive devices taking advantage of their mechanical benefits. A strong emphasis is put on understanding the stiffness behavior and propagation into such structures given their inherently thin and compliant structures.
This project aims to start a stiffness modeling framework of origami structures used in the lab and generalize them to broader structures in order to understand, optimize and control such structures, in particular in a vision to use them for haptic feedback in interactive devices.
Expected work:
• State-of-the-art of structural stiffness modeling
• Understanding current physical models and design constraints of existing structures
• Propose a broad approach to tackle general as well as more specific stiffness modeling
• Make a prototype to test and validate your modeling
• Define a scientific testing methodology to assert the design and validate the models
• Characterize the system to understand limitations and further steps for generalization