Projects

Social robots can generate added value in care institutions by taking on non-nursing tasks. This interdisciplinary project focuses on the technical further development and the social, value-oriented integration of a Swiss robot into a care institution.

Duration: 2023 - 2025
Project Lead: Prof. Dr. Theresa Schmiedel
Partners: Jinn-Bot Robotics & Design, Regional Care Center Baden
Sponsors: Innosuisse

Development of prototype of an augmented-reality application for the digital rendering of polychromy of the frescoes based on project results. An augmented reality (AR) app prototype will be developed to make it possible to experience this recreation in situ. The AR prototype will include visual outcomes from each site, i.e., sketches, photographs, 3D visualization, and suchlike. It will overlay the digital information on the exact positions of the paintings in situ (where applicable) using marker-based and location-based hybrid augmented reality technology. Furthermore, ex situ visualizations using markerless augmented reality with mapping technology will be implemented, which will scan the environment and overlay the visualizations on a flat surface.

Duration: 2022 - 2026
Project Lead: Prof. Dr. Giovanni Cavallo (SUPSI). Internal lead: Safak Korkut
Partners: USI Università della Svizzera Italiana
Sponsors: Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF

Value-Sensitive Design of Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly influencing economic and social life, with both opportunities and risks. The added value of artificial intelligence for society depends enormously on how the technology is designed. It is therefore of great importance that AI is developed and applied with the inclusion of societal and social values and with a focus on potential user groups. In this project, a module for bachelor students from technology and business studies will be developed in which they will learn theoretical, conceptual, and practical basics of Artificial Intelligence, reflecting on it with the approach of Value Sensitive Design (VSD). VSD aims at adapting technologies to human values and thus prevent people from being passively controlled by technologies. Students will thus be enabled to understand, analyze, and design technologies, especially AI, considering human and societal values and thereby contribute to an added value of AI for society.

Duration: 2021 - 2022
Project Manager: Prof. Dr. Theresa Schmiedel
Partners: Various Swiss StartUps in die field of Artificial Intelligence
Sponsors: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)

Identifying user-centered design requirements of humanoid robots: The goal of this project is to foster the integration of user perspectives into the design of the robot Joey by Jinn-Bot Robotics & Design for its application in areas where the robot can provide added value through taking over assistive tasks, such as elderly care. Especially in the care sector the integration of user perspectives into the design of humanoid robots is of utmost importance, because people in need of care represent an especially vulnerable user group whose perspectives need to be considered. This project provides three benefits: First, we gain empirically derived insights into how potential users perceive the robot Joey. Second, the technological design requirements resulting from research enable to further develop Joey and technically implement required features from a user perspective. Finally, this project serves as a preparation for an InnoSuisse Proposal with the goal to advance the robot for its application in the care sector. 

Duration: 2021 - 2021
Project Manager: Prof. Dr. Theresa Schmiedel
Partners: Jinn-Bot Robotics & Design GmbH
Sponsors: Innosuisse - Swiss Innovation Agency

Technical Blueprint for Value-Oriented Robot Design: The successful application of robots in different contexts requires that robot designers and developers integrate the functional requirements into robots based on the needs of different user groups. This project conceptualizes a technical blueprint for value-centered robot design and illustrates it with an application example in the healthcare sector. This blueprint empowers leaders and organizations in the context of social robotics to technically develop value-driven robot applications that are accepted by their users in the respective application areas. The results of our project contribute to a value-based digitalization of society and economy, which is still an under-researched field internationally, and will have a lasting impact on the development of social robots.

Duration: 2021 - 2022
Project Manager: Prof. Dr. Theresa Schmiedel
Sponsors: Foundation FHNW

Interaction Patterns in Social Robots: The use of social robots has demonstrated positive effects in various application fields, whereby a smooth interaction between humans and social robots is key to the achieved effects. This doctoral research will investigate these interaction patterns while leveraging HRI-relevant attributes for the desired human-robot interaction quality. The project aims to 1) identify interaction patterns between humans and social robots, 2) empirically investigate attributes that affect social interactions, and 3) specify attributes for the selected interaction patterns. The project results will contribute to the understanding, designing and evaluation of HRI, from which the companies that develop and use social robots and robot users will benefit.

Duration: 2019 – 2022
PhD Student: Vivienne Jia Zhong
PhD Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sanaz Mostaghim, Prof. Dr. Theresa Schmiedel
Partners: Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
Sponsors: FHNW School of Business

Social Robot in the Reception Area: In cooperation with Max Zeller Söhne AG, the project investigates the usefulness and acceptance of a social robot as the first contact person in the reception area of the company. For this purpose, detailed usage scenarios are first developed, which are then realized in a technical prototype and first tested in the laboratory. The use of the robot on site aims at evaluating user interactions in order to draw conclusions about acceptance and usefulness. Max Zeller Söhne AG is a medium-sized Swiss family-owned company that specializes in the development, manufacture and marketing of herbal medicines with clinically proven efficacy. The use of the robot is intended to make the unoccupied reception area more attractive.

Duration: 2020 – 2021
Project Leader: Prof. Dr. Theresa Schmiedel together with Prof. Dr. Hartmut Schulze
Partner: Max Zeller Söhne AG, FHNW School of Business, FHNW School of Applied Psychology
Sponsor: FHNW Strategic Initiative RoboLab

SI RoboLab: Within the scope of a strategic initiative of FHNW, four Schools will investigate the potential of social robots, implement them into education scenarios and develop practical design options as well as tools. These will support SMEs in their decision, whether they need to implement robots.

Aims: This project aims to identify the potential of social robots by means of interdisciplinary collaboration. More specifically, the robots should be adapted for the requirements of SMEs. In addition, the FHNW Robo-Lab will be established which will act as an interdisciplinary, application-oriented competence and collaboration network for research in Switzerland.

Results: The most recent findings and progress will be regularly updated on https://www.fhnw.ch/en/about-fhnw/strategic-initiatives/robo-lab/media/fhnw-robo-lab

Running Time: 2018-2020
Project Manager: Rolf Dornberger (and other Project Managers from other Schools)
Partners and Sponsors: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)

AR technology in cultural tourism cases: This doctoral thesis is in progress at the USI Università della Svizzera Italiana and aims to study the extent to which Augmented Reality (AR) technology can support cultural tourism through visualization of invisible assets on a heritage site. This research study foresees state-of-the-art mobile AR and interaction combinations with analytical reasoning for the benefit of pre, peri and post activities related to information acquisition in a cultural tourism site.

Duration: 2017 – 2023
PhD Student: Safak Korkut
PhD Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Lorenzo Cantoni (USI)
Partners: USI Università della Svizzera Italiana
Sponsors: FHNW School of Business

Professional Language Teaching for Train Drivers Using Novel Methods and Technologies: With the opening of the new Gotthard tunnel in 2016, several Swiss railway companies expanded their business portfolio to reach the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino by rail. This new situation meant that the Swiss South-Eastern Railway (SOB) was training its own German-speaking train drivers in Italian for professional purposes. The SOB project "Italiano per macchinisti" (level A1+) aims to provide SOB train drivers with professional work-related and competence-based learning opportunities in order to be able to communicate and engage in dialogue with the conductors. In addition to the interactions in the classroom, the curriculum for the second language also includes media richness. By media richness we mean the use of multimedia and almost real-simulation-based scenarios, Augmented Reality, audios and videos as well as haptic learning experiences with the wooden railway Brio Bahn.

Duration: 2018 - 2021
Project leader: Terry Inglese together with Safak Korkut
Partners and sponsors: Swiss Südostbahn AG and Dynamic Railway System Model Association

AACSB: As part of the accreditation of the AACSB, the data landscape of the HSW must develop strongly. For this purpose, a task force was set up internally, which takes up the organizational, economic and technical requirements of the quality management and the AACSB Group and embeds them in an existing IT infrastructure of the FHNW. Operational activities include the analysis of this data and the preparation of dynamic reports for the AACSB steering committee. It displays current and future data in order to be able to guide the organizational units in the best possible way and to be able to take proactive measures.

Duration: ongoing
Project Leader: Jonas Lutz
Sponsor: FHNW School of Business

Activity tracking application: In collaboration with Pro Innerstadt Basel and the Institute for Competitiveness and Communication, we are investigating how digital communication technologies and the use of smartphones can promote city center presence, provide real insights into how people move in the city center and how these flows affect the local businesses. We conduct a feasibility study to develop an incentive-driven activity tracking application which provides near-real-time and anonymous data on how the flows move, how much time is spent, and conducting focus group workshops on how to establish a fair use of data and full transparency and trust in the data sharing paradigm.

Duration: 2020 – 2021
Project Manager: Dr. Raymond Dettwiler together with Safak Korkut
Partners: Pro Innerstadt Basel, Heartbeat GmbH, FHNW School of Business - Institute for Competitiveness and Communication
Sponsors: Innosuisse Innovation cheque

VR in Negotiating HIV and STI Protection: The objective for this sub-project is to develop a virtual reality (VR) prototype that recreates critical negotiating situations about sexual consent and bridges the gap between rigid interview settings and integrated case scenarios. The overall goal is to give insights into the sexual consent negotiation process and its impact on HIV prevention. In particular, our contribution foresees the implementation of interactive virtual reality (VR) scenarios using a 360-degree interactive video displayed via a head-mount VR display. The interviewees will use the interactive elements to give answers in order to negotiate in the situations presented, i.e. convince the possible intercourse partner to use a condom or other means of protection against HIV. The assessments will then be evaluated and discussed in depth in a follow-up session with the interviewees.

Duration: 2019 – 2021
Project lead: Prof. Dr. Daniel Gredig together with Safak Korkut
Partners: FHNW School of Social Work
Sponsors: Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF

Supplier management: New challenges have emerged in acquisition due to the increasing complexity of the supply chain, which will continue to grow due to ongoing globalisation and technical development. The original question, however, remains unanswered: How does a manager make good decisions? This project investigates the changes in acquisition of Supply Chain Management, identifies basic structures, elements, and methods which will aid in the decision-making process. Specifically, a recommendation system is to be developed which will provide possible solutions for decision-making situations upon request.

Aims: In this project, a recommendation software will be developed that saves past acquisition situations according to selected acquisition characteristics and then, based on this data, offers possible solutions upon request. The main aim of this project is to develop a procedure that enables acquisition departments to implement tools specifically designed for acquisition situations and thus increases the financial effectiveness of their strategic and international acquisition projects.

Results: The first results are expected for mid-2019.

Running time: 2017-2019
Project Manager: Herbert Ruile
Partners and Sponsors: KTI, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW): School of Business, Miebach Consulting AG, Procure.ch.

BioCompass: A lifestyle-information platform for convenient and efficient analysis of human blood biomarkers. Health and fitness are basic human needs; the success of motion tracking devices indicates the desire people have to monitor and improve their health and fitness. However, up to now, fitness information was mostly limited to activity data. Thus, there is a significant unmet need for fitness and health data on a molecular level. Blood-based tests address the need to assess the real physiological status of an organism.

Aims: Conceptualise and develop an information platform for the vast range of proteomic, metabolic, and trace element markers in blood and additionally identify or create algorithms to convert the analytical data to useful lifestyle guidance information so that no medical training is required for data interpretation. Commercial application of the prototype shall improve the current solution by recommending food instead of supplements to complement the deficient blood markers.

Results: The product has been launched and is available on www.baze.com

Running time: 2016-2018
Project Manager: Jonas Lutz
Partners and Sponsors: KTI, FHNW: School of Business, School of Life Sciences, Institute for Chemistry and Bioanalytics, Sanalytica GmbH, SwissAnalysis AG, Biognosys AG

This project is associated with visual network research and investigates the ego-centred networks of the elderly. The different types of existing network constellations were analysed. Specifically, the network size, the relationships, their quality, the geographical distance of its members, and existing network resources were investigated thoroughly. New approaches for the visualisation of ego-centred networks were studied that can aid in developing concepts for the support of the elderly.

Aims: Develop new and analogue approaches for network visualisation that support the research process and the acquisition of knowledge about ego-centred networks of the elderly and show the existing resources. The focus of visualisation lies on the comparability of multidimensional aspects of ego-centred networks of the elderly to enable new interpretations and possibilities of analysis in order to establish new concepts to support the elderly.

Results: This project demonstrates with new types of visualisation what ego-centred support networks of the elderly look like and how these are connected to well-being. http://www.altersatlas.ch/

Running time: 2016-2017
Project Manager: Safak Korkut
Partners: Strategic Initiative «Alternde Gesellschaft» of University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) in collaboration with the Institute for Integration and Participation of the School of Social Work and the Institute for Information Systems of the School of Business

Lokahi Inside: Development of an intranet search engine with an interactive knowledge map. Within the Lokahi Inside Project, a visual concept browser was added to an intranet search engine according to the “browse instead of search” vision. Company employees, therefore, can interactively search relevant topics without having to type exact search terms. Additionally, employees are able to archive their own knowledge, making it automatically accessible to others.

Aims: The aim of the project was to combine bottom-up and top-down approaches for the structuring of knowledge in order to automatically generate a knowledge map which can be used for concept browsing within a semantic intranet-search.

Results: Development of a detailed solution as well as a prototype.

Running Time: 2014-2015
Project Manager: Jonas Lutz
Partners: KTI, Institute for Information Systems of the University of Berne, FIVE Informatik

Age-Atlas: An interactive information platform concerning the ageing society in Switzerland. The atlas offers a diverse platform for the visualisation of age-specific information for a broad audience. It connects data form different sources and renders them user-friendly. The dynamic connection of data and the visual support via diagrams form data into stories. The platform resembles a map and enables the user to obtain age-specific information with only a few clicks.

Aims: The aim of the age-atlas was to illustrate the change in ageing structures within social and circumstance-specific dimensions, e.g., the distribution of age groups or the demographic development with help of a map of the ageing society in Switzerland, especially for the cantons in which FHNW is situated: Aargau, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Solothurn. The idea was to maintain the explanatory and connectivity dimensions of the traditional atlas while avoiding the image of a dusty library book with which an atlas is often associated. Thus, the age-atlas was conceptualised as an interactive platform, readily available online.

Results: Since 15th December 2017 the age-atlas is available under wwww.altersatlas.ch for a broad audience as a service of the FHNW strategic initiative “Alternde Gesellschaft”

Running time: 2015-2017
Project Manager: Safak Korkut
Partners: Strategic Initiative «Alternde Gesellschaft» of University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) in collaboration with the Institute of Geomatics of the School of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geomatics and the Institute for Information Systems of the School of Business.

Tourney: A learning platform independent of content. Tourney describes the innovative, digital learn–play platform developed at FHNW, in order to motivate students to learn and to foster their collaboration, creativity and reflection. The name tourney is the combination of the words “tournament” and “journey”.

Aims: Develop an application which, on the one hand aids lecturers in designing their lessons innovatively and individually, and on the other hand to offer a tool for students to monitor their learning process and to reflect.

Results: Tourney was developed as a Learning Progress Visualisation Tool (LPTV) and is accessible to the public. It has been used as a basis in various scientific experiments and during class.

Running Time: 2013-2016
Project Manager: Jonas Lutz
Partners: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) School of Business, School of Engineering, School of Applied Psychology, School of Education, and the Academy of Art and Design

RapRad: The learn–play platform Tourney and second specialised level of development RapRad offer all necessary modules without requiring content. Thus, the administrators can produce their own structured content. A game can be produced with pre-defined modules and fed with information and learning materials. Thus, one of the most important advantages of the learning platform is that it can be implemented in every discipline due to its diversity, flexibility and neutrality.

Aims: Development of an e-learning platform based on the learn–play platform Tourney for a targeted training for students, radiologists in early continuing education as well as assistant physicians based on an initial tutorial and assessment test, followed by intense, repetitive and focused training with direct feedback and final scoring.

Results: RabRad was uploaded to a server at the hospital and is now used in the further education of radiologists. A project platform was developed with Tourney which is optimally adapted to the requirements. We were able to successfully implement repetitive and high frequency learning as well as gamification approaches as the basis of this project.

Running Time: 2014-2016
Project Manager: Jonas Lutz
Partners: University Hospital of Basel, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) School of Business