About Me

I am interested in robust spatial perception for interaction and collaboration.

I am particularly interested in questions of perception in the context of interaction with ( semi-)autonomous systems, which explicitly concerns both directions of perception: the perception of the environment by the system, as well as the perception of the system by humans and how these depend on each other. The central theme of my research group is the mutual understanding of human and robot, which is what makes true collaboration possible.

I understand robust spatial perception to be a continuum of methods addressing the combination of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) with semantic concepts, dynamic aspects (e.g. human motion), as well as object recognition, while taking into account the presence of outliers and false positives on all levels. Robust methods are ideal for safety critical and commercial devices as their goal is not only to be resilient to variations in input data but also to non-optimal parameter settings or user errors due to non-expert users. In the grand vision of intelligent autonomous helpers for everyday tasks operating with humans in a multitude of environments, these are critical capabilities.

Similar considerations apply to applications in other fields: In service robotics in consumer or nursing settings, where robots should act within the same workspace as humans, robustness to user error as well as robust perception of humans, their actions, and related objects is especially important. In safety, security and rescue robotics (SSRR), robustness to clutter and significant changes in appearance as well as drift and wheel slip on uneven ground is required. Autonomous driving applications, especially in GPS-denied settings, require robust and safe localization and perception of surrounding objects under the influence of lighting and weather changes as well as perceptual aliasing.

Conversely, actions taken by the system may not always be interpretable to a human. Therefore, the system must facilitate the perception by the human through technical means, for example by augmented or virtual reality. We develop interactive visualizations and close the loop to planning and control methods.

In my current role as group manager and principal scientist for Human Robot Collaboration at the OFFIS Institute for Information Technology, I apply these concepts in robotics applications in close proximity or direct cooperation with humans. These applications occur in industrial and nursing/consumer settings.

Brief Curriculum Vitae

Education

Research and Leadership Experience

OFFIS Institute for Information Technology, Oldenburg, Germany

Jacobs University Bremen, Germany

Invited Talks and Lectures

Safety in Production, Lecture in the International Summer School on Human Computer Interaction in Safety Critical Environments, OFFIS Institute for Information Technology, Oldenburg, July 2019

Robuste Umgebungswahrnehmung in der Robotik, Talk at the Department for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Siegen, Germany, September 2018

Robust Spatial Perception for Underwater Robotics, Talk in the Brown Bag series at the Robotics Innovation Center, DFKI, Bremen, Germany, December 2016

Towards Robust Perception for Mobile Robots, Talk at the Institute for Robotics and Process Control, Technical University Braunschweig, Germany, November 2016

Robuste Lokalisierung und Kartenerstellung: Methoden gegen Ausreißer und Mehrdeutigkeit, Talk at the Institute for Computer Engineering, Universität zu Lübeck, Germany, June 2016

Robust Perception for Underwater Robotics Applications, Talk at the Computer Science Institute, Universität Bonn, Germany, January 2016

Robust Perception in Underwater Robotics, Talk in the seminar series of the Institute of Sensors, Signals and Systems at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, October 2015.

Underwater Human-Robot Collaboration, Talk reporting on the ongoing CADDY project at the IROS2015 Workshop on Bioinspired Underwater Robotics, Hamburg, Germany, October 2015.

Ambiguities in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, Talk at the Computer Science Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, April 2014.

Anticipation in Robotics, Invited guest lecture in the Master module “Anticipation in Cognitive Literary and Cultural Studies” at Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany, October 2012.

Online SLAM with Visual and Sonar Data, Invited lecture with Heiko Bülow for more than 100 university students at the 1st MORPH summer school, co-located with SAUC-E (Student Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge, Europe) 2012 in La Spezia, Italy, July 2012.

Image Mosaicking for Seabed Mapping, invited talk at the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH), Hamburg, Germany, February 2012.

A Spectral Image Registration Method and its Use in Underwater Maximum-Likelihood SLAM, invited lecture with Heiko Bülow in the symposium series at the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR), Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal, November 2011.

Data Analysis and Simulation, hands-on session at the 2nd Co3AUVs Summer School, Bremen, Germany, July 2011.

Multi-Robot Pose Graph SLAM: Theory and Practice, lecture at the 2nd Co3AUVs Summer School, Bremen, Germany, July 2011.

Introduction to SLAM: Particle Filters and the Pose Graph, lecture at the 2nd Co3AUVs Summer School, Bremen Germany, July 2011.

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, lecture and hands-on session at the 1st Co3AUVs Summer School, Bremen, Germany, June 2010.

Virtual Robot Experiments in a High Fidelity Simulation, Talk at the Forum on “Mobile Robots” at Hannover Fair, Hall 22, co-located with RoboCup German Open, Hannover, Germany, April 2009.

Quality Measures for Mapping: From Test Environments to Analysis Tools, Talk at the Workshop on Good Experimental Methodology & Benchmarks in Cognitive Robotics at CogSys 2008, Karlsruhe, Germany, April 2008.

Teaching

At Jacobs University Bremen, Germany

Service

Awards and Honors