If you are looking for a bachelor/master thesis or a job as a student research assistant, you may find some interesting opportunities on this page.

The knowledge base visualization allows to display semantic environment maps, objects, human poses, trajectories and similar information stored in the robot's knowledge base. Its current version is written in Java and has grown old over the years. Recently, there has been much progress in creating interactive 3D visualizations for ROS that can also be accessed with a web browser. This project is about creating a web-based version of the visualization using these techniques.

Requirements:

• Good programming skills
• Experience with JavaScript development
• Knowledge of Web technologies (HTML, XML, OWL)

Contact: Moritz Tenorth

As part of the CogWatch EU project, we are working on the analysis of observations of Apraxia patients. After suffering brain damage, these patients lack important motor coordination skills that result in various kinds of errors in performing everyday activities. Based on data from the extensive patient trials, the student is to learn statistical relational models that characterize which errors are made in which circumstances.

Requirements:

• Good knowledge of machine learning (Bayesian networks, statistical relational models)
• Programming skills (Java)

Contact: Moritz Tenorth

There are several options for doing a project related to the acquisition of knowledge from Web sources like online shops, repositories of object models, recipe databases, etc.

Requirements:

• Programing skills (Java)
• Experience with Web languages and datamining techniques is helpful
• Depending on the focus of the project, experience with database technology, natural-language processing or computer vision may be helpful

Contact: Moritz Tenorth

In the field of Machine Learning, numerical optimization techniques play a focal role. However, as models grow larger, traditional implementations on single-core CPUs suffer from sequential execution causing a severe slow-down. In this thesis, state-of-the-art GPU frameworks (e.g. CUDA) are to be investigated in order implement numerical optimizers that substantially profit from parallel execution.

Requirements:

• Skills in numerical optimization algorithms
• Good programming skills in Python and C/C++

Contact: Daniel Nyga

Markov Logic Networks (MLNs) combine the expressive power of first-order logic and probabilistic graphical models. In the past, they have been successfully applied to the problem of semantically interpreting and completing natural-language instructions from the web. State-of-the-art learning techniques mostly operate in batch mode, i.e. all training instances need to be known in the beginning of the learning process. In context of this thesis, online learning methods for MLNs are to be investigated, which allow incremental learning, when new examples come in one-by-one.

Requirements:

• Experience in Machine Learning.
• Experience with statistical relational learning (e.g. MLNs) is helpful.
• Good programming skills in Python.

Contact: Daniel Nyga

In the context of the European research project RoboHow.Cog [1,2] we are investigating methods for combining multimodal sources of knowledge (e.g. video, natural-language recipes or computer games), in order to enable mobile robots to autonomously acquire new high level skills like cooking meals or straightening up rooms.

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence is hiring a student researcher for the development and the integration of probabilistic methods in AI, which enable intelligent robots to understand, interpret and execute natural-language instructions from recipes from the World Wide Web.

This HiWi-Position can serve as a starting point for future Bachelor's, Master's or Diploma Theses.

Tasks:

• Implementation of an interface to the Robot Operating System (ROS).
• Linkage of the knowledge base to the executive of the robot.
• Support for the scientific staff in extending and integrating components onto the robot platform PR2.

Requirements:

• Studies in Computer Science (Bachelor's, Master's or Diploma)
• Basic skills in Artificial Intelligence
• Optional: basic skills in Probability Theory
• Optional: basic skills in Machine Learning
• Good programming skills in Python and Java

Hours: 10-20 h/week

Contact: Daniel Nyga

[1] www.robohow.eu
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eIryyzlRwA

Competent object interaction requires knowledge about the structure and composition of objects. In an ongoing research project, we are investigating how part-based object models can automatically be extracted from CAD models found on the Web, e.g. on the 3D warehouse.

We are looking for a student research assistant to push this topic forward. In close collaboration with the researchers of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the student will work on extending the software for mesh segmentation, implement novel algorithms, improve the integration of the methods into the robot's knowledge base, and update the modules for visualizing the segmentation results. Depending on the results, cooperation on joint publications may be possible.

This HiWi position can serve as a starting point for future Bachelor's, Master's or Diploma Theses. Alternatively, we could extract a research project that could be worked on as a Master's or Diploma Thesis.

Requirements:

• Good Java programming skills
• Basic knowledge of 3D geometry calculations
• Experience with working with 3D models is helpful

Contact: Moritz Tenorth