Topics Advanced Seminar & Projektpraktikum
General information
Teaching and Learning Method: assisted self-organized project
Assessment: written summary and final presentation
Exam Dates & Registration: on verbal agreement
Advanced Seminar Cognitive Systems (ASCS)
Semester weekly hours: 3
Content: literature search on topics of humanoid robotics or robotics in general
Objective: how to search, review and organize technical and scientific papers
Practical Project Cognitive Systems (PPCS)
Type: research lab training
Semester weekly hours: 4
Content: practical topics on humanoid robots and robotics in general
Previous Knowledge Expected: programming skills
Objective: problem solving, enhancing programming skills, and understanding of robots
(Updated May 2025)
Final presentation:
- Date: Monday, 28. July 2025
- Time: 16:00
- Room: 2026 Seminarraum Karlstr. 45
- Mode: Only in person
- Duration: 8 minutes presentation + 2 mins Q&A
- Report submission deadline: 27. July Midnight
Topics Advanced Seminar
Advanced Seminar Topic: State of the art on walking over partial footholds
Advanced Seminar Topic: State of the art on walking over partial footholds
Advisor: Dr.-Ing. J. Rogelio Guadarrama O.
- Foot step planing
- Control architectures
- Robot capabilities
- Applications
Practical Project: Migrate Hardware interface to ROS 2 Control
Goal:
- Implement HI on ros2_control
- Implement the default controller configurations
- Implement safety protections
- Test on the real robot
Requirements
- ROS 2 knowledge
- Basic robotics
- C++ coding skills
- Familiar with linux systems
Practical Project: Migrate Hardware interface to ROS 2 Control.
Goal:
- Implement HI on ros2_control
- Implement the default controller configurations
- Implement safety protections
- Test on the real robot
Requirements
- ROS 2 knowledge
- Basic robotics
- C++ coding skills
- Familiar with linux systems
Practical Project: ROS 2 control hardware interface for torque controlled robots
Goal:
- Implement HI on ros2_control
- Implement the default controller configurations
- Implement safety protections
- Test on the real robot
Requirements:
- ROS 2 knowledge
- Basic robotics
- C++ coding skills
- Familiar with linux
systems
E-Skin: Tactile Sensors and Tactile Sensing Systems (AS)
Description: Literature survey on tactile sensors and/or tactile sensing systems. Focus on force, proximity, temperature, and shape sensing
Goal:
- State-of-the-Art overview
- Recent advancements
- Open questions
Type: Advanced Seminar
Contact: Dr.-Ing. Florian Bergner, florian.bergner@tum.de
E-Skin: Tactile Sensors (PP, FP)
Description: Evaluation of new tactile sensors for e-skin system applications
Goal:
- Implementation: Force, or Proximity, or IMU sensing
- Evaluation of applicability in e-skin system
Requirements:
- C/C++, Python
- Microcontroller (STM32, CMake, STM32 LL + HAL)
- Optional/Plus: PCB Design (Eagle, KiCad)
Contact: Dr.-Ing. Florian Bergner, florian.bergner@tum.de
E-Skin: Low-Level High Speed Communication (PP, FP)
Description: Setup of high speed UART + DMA communication in STM32 microcontrollers.
Goal:
- Implementation of an efficient Low-Level Protocol
- Evaluation of applicability in e-skin system
Requirements:
- C/C++, Python
- Microcontroller (STM32, CMake, STM32 LL + HAL)
Contact: Dr.-Ing. Florian Bergner, florian.bergner@tum.de
E-Skin: Wireless Communication (PP, FP)
Description: Setup of high speed communication between STM32 and ESP32microcontrollers.
Goal:
- Implementation of an efficient Low-Level Protocol
Evaluation of applicability in e-skin system
Requirements:- C/C++, Python
- Microcontroller (STM32, CMake, STM32 LL + HAL)
- ESP32 WLAN SoC
Contact: Dr.-Ing. Florian Bergner, florian.bergner@tum.de
Bus-Motors: Embedded Protocol Implementation (PP, FP)
Description: Implementation and evaluation of Bus-Motor Protocol for STM32 masters.
Goal:
- Implementation of the Bus-Motor protocol
- Read sensors, write motor commands
- Evaluation of motor control
Requirements:
- C/C++, Python
- Microcontroller (STM32, CMake, STM32 LL + HAL)
- Optional: HiWonder Bus Servo Motors
Contact: Dr.-Ing. Florian Bergner, florian.bergner@tum.de
3D Geometry Construction via Human Pose and Hand
Gesture Tracking Using Depth Cameras (PP/FP)
Description: interpret human pose and hand gesture into 3D geometric models
Goal:
- Track hand/pose trajectory
- Map the trajectory to basic geometries: box, cylinder…
- Move and place the geometry
- * Integrate with VR glasses
Requirements:
- Python or C++
Contact: hao.xing@tum.de
Static and Dynamic Scene Modeling Through Basic Geometric Primitives (FP/PP)
Description: leverages foundational geometric primitives (e.g., cubes, spheres, cylinders, planes) to represent both static scenes and dynamic scenes.
Goal:
- Simplify the scene complexity
- Real-time processing
- 6D pose tracking
Requirements:
- Python or C++
Contact: hao.xing@tum.de
Hauptseminar Cognitive Systems; Supervisor(s): Alireza Malekmohammadi Title: Neural tracking of music based on EEG/MEG
You need to:
- Read at least 20 papers up to 25 papers (depends on the quantity of the
papers)
- Summarizing the papers in a good shape (abstract, motivation, methodology;
how to process EEG and how to process music, Discussion)
- Categorizing all the topics
- Suggesting new ideas for the future work
Requirement:
- Excellent signal processing (filtering, FFT, ...)
- Having a basic knowledge of Machine learning
References
Ahissar, Ehud and Nagarajan, Srikantan and Ahissar, Merav and Protopapas, Athanassios and Mahncke, Henry and Merzenich, Michael M. 2001. "Speech
comprehension is correlated with temporal response patterns recorded from auditory cortex." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (National
Acad Sciences) 98: 13367--13372.
Aiken, Steven J and Picton, Terence W. 2008. "Human cortical responses to the speech envelope." Ear and hearing (LWW) 29: 139--157.
Di Liberto, Giovanni M and O’Sullivan, James A and Lalor, Edmund C. 2015. "Low-frequency cortical entrainment to speech reflects phoneme-level
processing." Current Biology (Elsevier) 25: 2457--2465.
Ding, Nai and Simon, Jonathan Z. 2009. "Neural representations of complex temporal modulations in the human auditory cortex." Journal of neurophysiology
(American Physiological Society Bethesda, MD) 102: 2731--2743.
Khalighinejad, Bahar and da Silva, Guilherme Cruzatto and Mesgarani, Nima. 2017. "Dynamic encoding of acoustic features in neural responses to
continuous speech." Journal of Neuroscience (Soc Neuroscience) 37: 2176--2185.
Prinsloo, Kevin D and Lalor, Edmund C. 2020. "General auditory and speech-specific contributions to cortical envelope tracking revealed using auditory
chimeras." bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory).
Smith, Zachary M and Delgutte, Bertrand and Oxenham, Andrew J. 2002. "Chimaeric sounds reveal dichotomies in auditory perception." Nature (Nature Publishing Group) 416: 87--90.
alireza.malekmohammadi@tum.de
Hauptseminar Cognitive Systems; SHauptseminar Cognitive Systems; Supervisor(s): Alireza Malekmohammadi Title: Cross-Frequency Phase–Phase Coupling between Theta and Gamma Oscillations
You need to:
- Read at least 20 papers up to 25 papers (depends on the quantity of the
papers)
- Summarizing the papers in a good shape (abstract, motivation, methodology;
how to process EEG and how to process speech, Discussion)
- Categorizing all the topics
- Suggesting new ideas for the future work
References
Jensen, Ole, and Laura L. Colgin. "Cross-frequency coupling between neuronal oscillations." Trends in cognitive sciences 11.7 (2007): 267-269.
Belluscio, Mariano A., et al. "Cross-frequency phase–phase coupling between theta and gamma oscillations in the hippocampus." Journal of
Neuroscience 32.2 (2012): 423-435.
Canolty, Ryan T., and Robert T. Knight. "The functional role of cross-frequency coupling." Trends in cognitive sciences 14.11 (2010): 506-515.
Jackson, Jesse, and Frances K. Skinner. "Hippocampus, Theta, Gamma, and Cross-Frequency Coupling." Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience.
New York, NY: Springer New York, 2022. 1617-1627.
Wang, Wenjing. "Brain network features based on theta-gamma cross-frequency coupling connections in EEG for emotion recognition." Neuroscience
Letters 761 (2021): 136106.
Scheffer-Teixeira, Robson, and Adriano BL Tort. "Theta-gamma cross-frequency analyses (hippocampus)." Encyclopedia of computational neuroscience.
New York, NY: Springer New York, 2022. 3419-3433.
alireza.malekmohammadi@tum.de
Sensors for Prosthetic Hands to Support Sensory Feedback (already taken)
Advisor: Nicolas Berberich
Abstract: The goal of this seminar project is to critically analyze state-of-the-art research on the development of sensors for prosthetic hands. A special focus should be put on which sensor modalities are included, where the sensors are placed on the prosthetic hand and how the measured sensor values are used for sensory feedback to the prosthesis user. Methodologically, it is furthermore important to review how the sensors are scientifically evaluated, e.g. through objective performance tests or subjective user feedback.
References:
- Jaemin Kim et al. “Stretchable silicon nanoribbon electronics for skin prosthesis”, Nature Communications, 2014
- Jacob Segil et al. ”Multi-modal prosthetic fingertip sensor with proximity, contact, and force localization capabilities”, Collaborative and Controllable Robotics for Biomedical and Industrial Applications – Research, 2019
- Ahmad Alhaddad et al. “Toward 3D printed prosthetic hands that can satisfy psychosocial needs: grasping force comparisons between a prosthetic hand and human hands”, International Conference on Social Robotics, 2017
Projektpraktikum Cognitive Systems; Supervisor(s): Alireza Malekmohammadi Title: EEG competition
Here are the rules:
1) If you are relaxed, you will win
2) If you get excited, you will lose
Criteria: Alpha / Beta Moving:
- Increased Beta power
Listening to music:
- Decreased Alpha power
- Increased Beta power
alireza.malekmohammadi@tum.de