Leveraging novel information sources for protein structure prediction

Michael Bohlke-Schneider, December 2015

Three-dimensional protein structures are an invaluable stepping stone towards the understanding of cellular processes. Not surprisingly, state-of-the-art structure prediction methods heavily rely on information. This thesis aims to leverage new information sources: Physicochemical information encoded in predicted structure models and experimental data from high-density cross-linking / mass spectrometry (CLMS) experiments. We demonstrate that these information sources allow improved structure prediction and the reconstruction of human serum albumin domain structures from experimental data collected in its native environment, human blood serum.

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Multimodal human computer interaction in virtual realities based on an exoskeleton

Ingo Kossyk, August 2012

The key features of this system are a high degree of immersion into the computer generated virtual environment and a large working volume. The high degree of immersion will be achieved by multimodal human-exoskeleton interaction based on haptic effects, audio and three- dimensional visualization. The large working volume will be achieved by a lightweight wearable construction that can be carried on the back of the user.

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Efcient Motion Planning for Intuitive Task Execution in Modular Manipulation Systems

Markus Rickert, Mai 2011

Computationally efficient motion planning mus avoid exhaustive exploration of high-dimensional configuration spaces by leveraging the structure present in real-world planning problems. We argue that this can be accomplished most effectively by carefully balancing exploration and exploitation.

Exploration seeks to understand configuration space,
irrespective of the planning problem, and exploitation acts to
solve the problem, given the available information obtained
by exploration. We present an exploring/exploiting tree (EET)
planner that balances its exploration and exploitation behavior.

The planner acquires workspace information and subsequently
uses this information for exploitation in configuration space. If
exploitation fails in difficult regions the planner gradually shifts
to its behavior towards exploration.

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Interactive Perception of Articulated Objects for Autonomous Manipulation

Dov Katz, 2011

This thesis develops robotic skills for manipulating novel articulated objects. The degrees of freedom of an articulated object describe the relationship among its rigid bodies, and are often relevant to the object's intended function. Examples of everyday articulated objects include scissors, pliers, doors, door handles, books, and drawers. Autonomous manipulation of articulated objects is therefore a prerequisite for many robotic applications in our everyday environments.

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Predicting protein contacts by combining information from sequence and physicochemistry

Kolja Stahl, February 2016

In this thesis we present a new contact predictor that combines evolutionary, sequence-based and physicochemical information. The contact predictor uses a new and refined feature set with drastically reduced dimensionality.

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Force-Controlled Action Primitives for Interactive Perception

Georg Flick, Oct 2015

Advisors: Roberto Martín-Martín, Sebastian Höfer and Oliver Brock

Interactive Perception exploits the robot capabilities to interact with the environment to reveal hidden properties, like the kinematic structures of articulated objects. However, when the robot faces a new environment, it needs to decide on how to interact to maximize the information gain based on sensor data, and use compliant controllers that allow the articulation to guide the motion...

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Motion Planning in Dynamic Environments

with Probabilistic Connectivity Roadmaps

Peter Lehner, March 2014

We present an incremental method for motion generation in environments with unpredictably moving and initially unknown obstacles. The key to the method is its incremental nature: it locally augments and adapts global motion plans in response to changes in the environment, even if they significantly change the connectivity of the world.

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Using recurring spatially contiguous substructures in the Protein Database for protein structure prediction

Mahmoud Mabrouk, November 2012

In this work, we present a new approach for protein structure prediction using a novel source of information: Building Blocks. These are sequentially non-continuous, but structurally contiguous, structural motifs that are retrieved according to a given sequence. 

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Evaluation of Three Sensor Technologies for Use in Soft Robot Fingers

Stefan Schirmeister, März 2016.

Sensing for soft continuum actuators as a necessary technology has emerged recently with the development of so called soft hands, which exploit the high deformability of soft structures and materials. Unfortunately, soft, stretchable sensors capable of withstanding a stretch of 100% are commercially not available. At the same time their tight integration into actuators is required to address the specific challenges of continuously deforming actuators. The thesis evaluates three potential sensor technologies for their suitability in soft hands. The thesis investigates their robustness, ease of use, long term stability and responsiveness with respect to the intended application in soft hands.

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