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Research Projects (184)

Experience Sharing for Long-term Autonomy in Multi-Robot Systems

In long-term missions, robots repeat their programmed tasks over and over again, creating new plans each time. One of PhD student Argentina Ortega's research goals is to investigate how robots can improve their planning by using information from their previous runs. From this information, she creates experience models so that robots can reuse their previous plans in an optimised form. This reduces deployment costs while increasing transparency, explainability and system throughput.

Multisensory View Management for Augmented Reality

Data glasses are glasses in whose field of vision all imaginable information is displayed visually at the same time. However, even modern data glasses only have a very limited field of vision. Unwanted side effects such as distortion, incorrect depth interpretation or poor legibility of information are the result - especially with increasing information density. At H-BRS, common interdisciplinary view management methods are researched and improved. For example, part of the visual digital information is to be converted into audio and vibration stimuli. Alexander Marquardt's focus is on the design, development and technical implementation of this novel, multisensory information supply. His goal is to reduce visual complexity. It also aims to draw the user's attention in the most intuitive way possible to the information that is of particular interest to him or her.

Automatized multi-scale optimization of force-field parameters for molecular modeling

Force fields have a very large influence on the simulation results of molecules and are the subject of Robin Strickstrock's PhD. The main focus of his research is the (further) development of an automated, algorithm-driven optimisation of the force field parameters, which enables the computer simulations to reproduce or predict properties of new substances on both a molecular and macroscopic level.  

Variants of the democratisation of the health care system - results of a survey on the design of citizen participation in the German health care system

In recent years, the collective participation of citizens has increasingly found its way into the German health care system in order to make health policy decisions that better meet the needs of patients. Because of the challenges in the implementation of collective participation  as well as the ongoing discussion about the democratic deficit in the German health care system, PhD student Sandra Wrzeziono examines  the understanding of democracy of citizens by means of qualitative interviews. The project aims to shed more light on the implications for the future design of institutionalized citizen participation.

Microspectroscopic investigations to determine surface contamination on chemically complex background matices in food safety

Raw meat quickly shows bacterial infestation. If the infected meat is consumed, it can be a health hazard above a certain amount. Daniel Klein therefore wants to make contaminations (e.g. bacteria) visible on complex surfaces (e.g. meat). He combines spectroscopic data from IR and Raman spectroscopy from the same measuring regions to show where contaminations can be found. The combination of the two methods should increase the information content of the data set and at the same time reduce the error rate in contamination detection. 

Development of new phosphate/silicate/agarose-based hybrids as bone substitute materials with release function for bisphosphonate drugs

What can't be cured must be endured, however, researchers are trying to change this fact and are aiming to improve and provide new treatment options for a variety of different diseases. One of these diseases are large, so-called “critical size” bone injuries, which cannot heal in the life span of an individual without extensive interventions. One approach to change this is using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) which have shown a great potential for treatment of such conditions. They can differentiate into bone cells and release therapeutic factors in addition. Under specific circumstances however, they can be limited in quantity and they cannot retain their abilities during prolonged lab culture. Recently, the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), for which the Nobel Prize was given in 2012, offered a new approach. These cells can be generated into mesenchymal stem cells (iMSCs) in the lab on-demand and are thus providing a possible alternative technique. iMSCs have similarities to MSCs but still little is known about them. In this project, Sarah Shoushrah will discern how similar and effective iMSCs are in comparison to MSCs for future applications in bone repair.

Development of a multidimensional, mobile GCIMS system for use in safety research (product, environmental and occupational safety) and health research

N-nitrosamines are partly highly volatile compounds that can be formed in many different industrial processes and are classified as carcinogenic. Due to their high health risk, it is of acute interest that reliable, sensitive and mobile systems for the detection and quantification of N-nitrosamines are developed. Doctoral student Jana Hinz is working on the development of a GC-FAIMS system, a measuring device for the rapid analysis of N-nitrosamines. This system is to be used in various branches of industry. Compared to common methods, GC-FAIMS offers the advantage of being fast, applicable on site and cost-efficient.

Optimisation and validation of qualitative and quantitative methods for the gas-phase analytical determination of VOCs for the identification of quarantine pests

  Due to their highly sensitive olfactory system, sniffer dogs have the special ability to sniff out drugs, explosives, people or animals on the basis of their scent. But how sensitive is the dog and how reliable is its detection? To get to the bottom of this, doctoral student Jennifer Braun is looking into methods for the quality-assured quantification of VOCs, which primarily involve instrumental analysis but also the sniffer dog.  

Performance Enhancement of 3D Time-of-Fight Camera Systems

In recent years, 3D cameras based on the time-of-flight method - also driven by the use in smartphones - have increasingly found their way into our everyday lives. The possible applications of this technology are immense, be it for automatic environment detection in the automotive sector, security and automation functions in robotics, tasks of automatic area monitoring, biometric problems or even the contactless control of technical devices. The aim of the research work of PhD student Markus Rohde is to expand the application areas of such 3D cameras. For example, the range for outdoor applications, which is currently limited to about 10 meters, is to be extended to more than 20 meters. For this purpose, innovative infrared laser illuminations are being developed and approaches to signal processing close to the sensor are being researched.

Towards Technology-Based Informational Self-Determination in the Workplace While Respecting Employees' Privacy Perceptions and Mental Models

The ongoing digitalisation and introduction of new information systems in everyday working life means that ever larger amounts of personal data of employees are processed by their employers. This development is particularly problematic with regard to employee data protection when employees have neither sufficient knowledge nor control over the processing and thus the right to informational self-determination as a fundamental element of human dignity is threatened. To compensate for the lack of knowledge and skills in exercising the right to privacy at the workplace, Dokorand Jan Tolsdorf is designing and testing an assistance system in the form of a "privacy dashboard" for everyday work. For its prototypical implementation, design guidelines are to be derived from the mental models and privacy perceptions of employees, with the help of which data processing and data flows in the work environment can be prepared in an understandable way, sensitised to possible infringements of privacy and options for intervention can be shown, so that employees become capable of acting.

Contact Points

Centre for Science and Technology Transfer (ZWT)

Room

F 405

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

Telephone

+49 2241 865 745

Vice President Research and Young Academics

Campus

Sankt Augustin

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

Telephone

+49 2241 865 602