Interactive Robotics in Medicine and Care
© Bielefeld University / Patrick Pollmeier
Courses
Our courses can be found here.
Final theses
Computer Science
Medicine
Other
Perception and acceptance of Blossom robot movements for a specific user group (ID: M24)
Type of work: BA/MA/project work (Medicine)
Keywords: Blossom, movement perception, acceptance, target group customisation
Subject area: Medicine
Status: available
Supervisor: Dr Mara Brandt, Kira Loos
Description:
The thesis investigates how specific movements of the Blossom robot are perceived and evaluated by a specific target group. Based on a systematic literature research, relevant criteria are defined, which are then used to record various robot movements and present them to the participants. The evaluation is carried out by means of questionnaires, qualitative assessments or interviews in order to identify user preferences and derive requirements for personalisable movements and to evaluate the tested movements.
Personalizable and variable movements for the Blossom robot for a specific user group (ID: C24)
Type of work: BA/MA/Project Thesis (Computer Science)
Keywords: Blossom, personalisation, user-centricity, adaptive robotics
Subject area: Computer science
Status: available
Supervisor: Dr Mara Brandt, Kira Loos
Description:
The aim of this thesis is to develop a concept and prototypical implementations for the personalisation and variation of robot movements for Blossom. Parameters are to be identified and modelled that make the robot's movements adaptable for different user groups (e.g. intensity, speed, etc.). The work includes a literature review on the perception of robot movements in social contexts and the development of an adaptive movement framework.
Examine and critically judge VR-Training (ID: MC3)
Type of thesis: Project thesis/Survey thesis (Medicine, Computer Science)
Keywords: Scoping Review, VR-Training
Field of Study: Medicine, Computer Science
Status: available
Supervisor: Robin Helmert
Description:
Conduct a literature research/scoping review on existing approaches on VR-Training and uncover the research gaps and not yet existing features in commercial products.
Use of a hospital information system license in medical education (ID: M4)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: Hospital Information System (HIS), medical education
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: completed
Supervisor: Isabel Klemme, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
Create an overview of the manufacturers of hospital information systems and the various functions of an HIS. Then develop a concept for how these functions can be used in teaching so that students learn how to use the HIS.
Concept and Evaluation of the usage of social low-cost-robots in nursing homes (ID: M3)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: low-cost-robot, nursing home, interaction
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: in progress
Supervisor: Kira Loos, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
This thesis develops a concept for the use and evaluation of a low-cost social robot in nursing homes. The robot is intended to serve as a communication-promoting or mediating agent, thereby supporting interaction in everyday nursing care.
Integration of pipetting robots into existing laboratory infrastructures: requirements and challenges (ID: M5)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: pipetting robot, Laboratory Infrastructure, Workflow-Compatibility, Integration, Technical and organizational requirements
Field of study: Medicine
Status: available
Supervisor: Kira Loos, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
This project investigates the requirements and challenges associated with integrating pipetting robots into existing laboratory infrastructures. Both technical and organizational perspectives are considered to develop a comprehensive understanding of implementing such systems in real laboratory environments. The technical focus lies on compatibility with existing devices, interfaces, and software solutions, as well as on reliability and workflow precision. From an organizational perspective, the work addresses workflow structure, task distribution, and staff acceptance. The goal is to identify key success factors and potential obstacles to derive recommendations for efficient and sustainable integration.
Development of an annotation scheme for disease terms as part of a corpus analysis (ID: M6)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: annotation scheme, corpus work, literature-based
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: completed
Supervisor: Kira Loos
Description:
In this thesis, an annotation schema is developed for disease-relevant terms that were identified during corpus creation. Both the corpus and the schema serve as a basis for the evaluation of a paper-based data mining process.
Showroom goes Wissenswerkstadt (ID: M9)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: Knowledge workshop, assistive technology, public relations
Field of study: Medicine
Status: available
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
Conception of a temporary or permanent exhibition or exhibit as a branch of the Showroom Interactive Assistance in Medicine and Care of the Medical School OWL in the Wissenswerkstadt in Bielefeld.
Perception of humanoid robots (Pepper and NAO) in children (ID: MC2)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Survey thesis) (Medicine); BA/MA (Computer Science)
Keywords: Perception, Humanoid Robots, Acceptance, Child-Robot Interaction (CRI)
Field of Study: Medicine, Computer Science
Status: available
Supervisor: Dr. Mara Brandt
Description:
[Medizin: Literature Survey on: / Informatik: Implementation and Study on:] How do pre-school children perceive humanoid robots depending on factors such as height, distance etc. ?
Detecting the Willingsness to Communicate with the Robot temi (ID: C1)
Type of thesis: MA (Computer Science)
Keywords: Human-Robot Interaction, Behaviour Analysis, Communication Initiation
Field of Study: Computer Science
Status: completed
Supervisor: Dr Mara Brandt
Description:
Development of an algorithm to detect whether a person perceived by the robot Temi has the intention to interact with the robot.
Development and evaluation of a scheme for measuring the therapeutic success of playful NAO use with buzzer interactions in children with muscular dystrophy (ID: M10)
Type of thesis: BA (Medicine)
Keywords: robotics, physiotherapy, muscular dystrophy, buzzer, evaluation scheme, playful therapy
Type of thesis: Medicine
Status: completed
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer, Kira Loos
Description:
This thesis deals with the development of an interaction model that adaptively adjusts the motivational strategy in a play scenario depending on the personality of the respective child aged 5 - 7 years. The adaptive selection of the motivational strategy depends on the probability of success of the game.
For this purpose, different coloured buttons that can play sounds are connected to the interaction with the NAO robot via Bluetooth. The work also includes the development of several button games to motivate children to move.
Interpretation of Verbal Explanations of Children for Robot Learning (ID: C3)
Type of thesis: BA/MA/Project thesis (Computer Science)
Stichworte: Robot-Teaching, Child-Robot-Interaction, Speech Processing, ChatGPT
Field of study: Computer Science
Status: available
Supervisor: Dr. Mara Brandt
Description:
Adaptation of the bilboquet scenario with the robot Pepper. Children should teach Pepper the game with verbal feedback, like “this is too hight/too low” to manipulate the trajectory.
Development of a simple anxiety training program (exposure therapy) in VR or AR (ID: C7)
Type of thesis: BA/MA/Project thesis (Group project) (Computer Science)
Keywords: Meta Quest, XR, anxiety training
Field of Study: Computer science
Status: available
Supervisor: Robin Beierling
Description:
The aim of this project is to develop a simple training programme for overcoming anxiety in XR. The starting point is the principle of exposure therapy, in which those affected are gradually confronted with anxiety-inducing situations. The project focuses on the technical implementation (e.g. for the Meta Quest and the AR mode) as well as the design of interactive, customisable scenarios. The aim is to develop a prototype system that depicts therapeutically relevant exposure situations and enables initial evaluations in terms of user experience and effectiveness.
"Warm-up" with a virtual robot at home for familiarization before the interaction with a real robot (ID: MC1)
Type of thesis: BA/MA/Project thesis (Computer Science, Medicine)
Keywords: Children, Mobile App, Virtual Robot, Child-Robot-Interaction
Field of Study: Computer Science, Medicine
Status: available
Supervisor: Dr. Mara Brandt
Description:
Implementation of a mobile app with a virtual representation of a robot that prepares children for a visit to a hospital or some kind of medical examination. Children should feel more relaxed, because a robot they already know is with them during examination.
"Warm-up" with the Robot Miroka (ID: C5)
Type of thesis: BA/MA/Project thesis (Computer Science)
Keywords: Child-Robot-Interaction, Robot, Gamification
Field of study: Computer Science
Status: available
Supervisor: Dr. Mara Brandt
Description:
Implementation/Design of an engaging interaction for children with the robot Miroka to prepare them for challenging situations such as medical examinations.
Cognitive training in VR/Cognitive training in MR (ID: C4)
Type of thesis: BA/MA (Computer Science)
Note: This work has two alternative versions, which are mutually exclusive. You can decide in favour of one of the two. The first version focusses more on literature research and the creation of a small trainer.
The second version naturally also includes research, but on a much smaller scale. However, the programming effort is higher and the result can be used on a broader scale. Besides, there is hardly anything like it yet!
Keywords: Cognitive training, VR, AR, MR, Meta Quest, literature research
Field of Study: Computer science
Status: available
Supervisor: Robin Beierling
Description:
In this thesis, an exemplary cognitive training in VR is to be created. For the creation, a research should first be carried out and already known cognitive trainers should be worked out and contrasted.
Or
In this thesis, a cognitive training in mixed reality is to be created. With the help of Meta Quest 3, AR features are to be used to initially only display the real room. This can, for example, counteract sensory overload. Cognitive training is then to be created with minimal virtual elements.
This means that cognitively impaired people who are afraid of VR, for example, can still use this trainer.
Handling of aggressive patients by nursing staff (ID: M8)
Type of thesis: BA/MA (Medicine)
Keywords: Virtual reality training, aggressive patient behaviour
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: available
Supervisor: Robin Beierling
Description:
Even if no real situation can be reproduced exactly, VR simulations can be realistic enough to prepare for certain scenarios such as aggressive patient behaviour.
In this work, a simulator is to be developed that prepares nursing staff for aggressive patients. Various patient behaviours are to be implemented and the reaction of the nursing staff trained. There is an optimal behavioural pattern and the extent to which this is adhered to is evaluated. The aim is to test over several trials whether and how the participants' reactions to aggressive patients change.
Usage of chatbots in the psychotherapy of depression and anxiety disorders (ID: M7)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: literature research, chatbots, psychotherapy, treatment
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: completed
Supervisor: Robin Beierling
Description:
Around 350 million people worldwide suffer from depression, and 25 per cent of all people will develop an anxiety disorder at least once in their lives. Despite increasing social awareness of mental health problems, many sufferers remain underserved due to barriers such as stigmatisation, high costs or limited availability of specialists. In Germany, for example,
(as of 2019) has an average of 27.4 psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants.
In view of this lack of therapeutic resources, digital solutions are increasingly coming to the fore. Chatbots can offer an innovative way to support those affected with low-threshold services. Their potential
lies particularly in offering continuous support for people with mental illness, regardless of time and place, and adapting interventions to the individual needs of patients.
In times of digital change and globalisation, the need for services to deal with mental health problems is also changing.
Due to their ubiquity in most living environments, smartphone-based support options have increasingly become the focus of developers, therapists and patients in recent years.
The advantages of using apps to improve or treat a mental disorder compared to other platforms can primarily be explained by three aspects: (1) ease of habit formation, low effort expectancy and a high level of hedonic motivation.
The aim of this project is to investigate the role of chatbots in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. By summarising current research results and analysing the functionalities of the most common technologies, the work should contribute to developing a deeper understanding of the possible applications and limitations as well as the effectiveness of chatbot-based therapy tools.
AR in the emergency room – a feasibility study (ID: M2)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: literature research, augmented reality, shock room, visualisation
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: in progress
Supervisor: Robin Beierling
Description:
Modern emergency medicine faces many challenges. In order to ensure good patient care in emergency situations, it is necessary to quickly record and process all available data in a targeted manner. Nevertheless, around eleven per cent of medical complications that are actually avoidable are due to failures in the transfer of information. Adequate information recording and backup is therefore essential.
Around 60 per cent of deceased polytrauma patients die pre-hospital, 10-20 per cent within the first 24 hours of clinical treatment. A key aspect here is the rapid recognition and management of haemorrhagic shock. If relevant patient information, such as vital signs, could be visualised and implemented centrally in the emergency room during acute treatment
, this could
reduce the mortality of polytrauma patients.
Augmented reality (AR) offers a promising approach. This paper examines the possible supportive effect of AR in the trauma surgery shock room using the example of the Bethel Protestant Hospital (OWL University Hospital). The following aspects are examined in more detail:
❏ Current use of AR in medical practice
❏ Relevant parameters for determining the patient's condition
❏ Interface description and integration of AR using the example of the EVKB
❏ Visual representation of relevant data in AR.
Development of motivating robot-child interaction regardless of personality with the help of developed wireless buzzers (ID: C2)
Type of thesis: MA (Computer Science)
Keywords: Human-Robot Interaction, NAO, Motivation
Field of study: Computer science
Status: completed
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer, Dr Mara Brandt
Description:
This work focused on the development of an adaptive interaction model that adapts the motivation strategy in a game scenario to the personality of children aged 5-7 years. The adaptive selection of the motivation strategy depends on the player's success and the child's current motivation.
For the game scenarios, different colored buttons that can play sounds and light up were integrated into the interaction with the NAO robot via Bluetooth. The games with the buttons were developed to motivate children to move.
VR-training program for everyday activities (ID: C6)
Type of thesis: MA (Computer Science)
Keywords: VR-Training, Rehabilitation, Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
Field of Study: Computer Science
Status: available
Supervisor: Robin Beierling
Description:
Implement a framework for training/rehabilitation in VR on the Meta Quest Pro based on experimental tasks of daily living on a Valve Index
Trajectory analysis for everyday activities (ID: C9)
Type of thesis: BA/MA/Project thesis (Survey thesis) (Computer Science)
Keywords: Trajectories, comparative measures, spatial data analysis
Field of Study: Computer Science
Status: available
Supervisor: Robin Beierling
Description:
The trajectories obtained during the study will be analysed for given and newly acquired qualities. These trajectories provide much more information than just position and location. Orientation and semantic interactions are also present and should be taken into account when analysing them.
Useful questions are then, for example: How well was the bread sliced? What were the most common mistakes made by the 60 participants in the study? Are there differences in the controls analysed? What is already being implemented by the research and what is not?
To verify the answers and analyses, extensive video material and analysis results that have already been carried out are available and may be used.
Investigating the accuracy of identifying errors in exercise performance, considering various camera perspectives and participant attributes (ID: C8)
Type of thesis: MA (Computer Science)
Keywords: Pose Detection, Sports Therapy, Performance Feedback
Field of Study: Computer Science
Status: completed
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Britta Wrede, Robin Beierling
Description:
It is well known that physical activity has a positive impact on a person’s health. Physical activity can benefit physical, cognitive and even mental health in children, adults and older people leading to improvements in quality of life. Research has shown that physical activity and health status have a linear correlation, meaning that increasing physical activity leads to improvements in health. According to WHO recommendations for children from the age five to 17, it is recommend to do vigorous-intensity aerobic activities at least on three days a week. These recommendations, however, are not met in most cases. Studies from the Robert Koch Institute showed that only 22.4% girls and 29,4% boys have reached these recommendations.
The main goal of this research is to develop a system that can identify errors in exercise performance in real time including a high accuracy. The system is meant to be robust and to maintain a high accuracy even when facing challenges like various perspectives and occlusions by the own body. Perspective variability is necessary due to variations in the camera setup. Since the setup will happen without a technical supervisor, variations in the camera angle towards the patient can occur. Hence, the perspective is ought to be robust to angles towards the front of the camera. In addition to perspective variability, the program needs to detect poses in 3D. Typical exercise errors of the sports program can contain errors that are only visible from a 3D perspective, especially with varying angles. Therefore, the system needs to estimate horizontal, vertical and depth coordinates. Although external objects are excluded from the camera frame, body parts of the patient can still occlude each other from different perspectives. Thus, it raises the need for occlusion handling. Another challenge is to consider different participant attributes, since the program is developed for children and teenagers, the error detection has to deal with different body types. The error detection is supposed to work on every participant.
Research into concepts used by test subjects in robot training (ID: D1)
Type of thesis: MA (Didactics)
Keywords: Robot Learning, Didactics, Explainable Robotics
Field of Study: Didactics
Status: completed
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Carsten Schulte, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
What influence do selected concepts of “enabling architecture” have on the successful training of an adaptive robot?
Pain detection with people that cannot articulate themselves - a scoping review (ID: M1)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: pain recognition, scoping review
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: completed
Supervisor: Isabell Klemme, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
Which signs or parameters are used to recognise pain in people who cannot express themselves? Which approaches are the most promising and what difficulties are there?
Scenario creation for SEED diagnostics for people with cognitive impairments (ID: M18)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (medicine)
Keywords: SEED diagnostics, people with cognitive impairment, Extended Reality (XR)
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: completed
Supervisor: Phillip Richter, Robin Beierling
Description:
Digital development and the ever-increasing use of technological tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and extended reality (XR) are changing many aspects of our daily lives. These changes can also be seen in medicine and clinical practice, for example in therapy or diagnostics.
The SEED scale is a scale for diagnosing the emotional developmental status of people with intellectual developmental disorders. The scale can also be used to diagnose behavioural disorders. This makes it possible to gain a better insight into the inner experience and behaviour of the diagnosed person. The scale is used in institutions for the disabled and psychiatry, among others, and is applied by means of semi-structured interviews with caregivers in everyday situations.
The subject of this thesis is the question of whether and to what extent XR and AI technologies can be helpful in the SEED diagnosis of people with cognitive impairments. To this end, scenarios using these technologies are to be created and then evaluated to what extent they improve SEED diagnostics.
Concept development and evaluation for breathing exercises with Blossom to calm the metabolism and the mind (ID: M21)
Type of thesis: BA (Medicine)
Keywords: social robot, Blossom, breathing exercises, calming, well-being, interaction, human-robot interaction, evaluation, concept development
Field of study: Medicine
Status: in progress
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer, Kira Loos
Description:
In this project work, various breathing exercises are conceptualised that are intended to help calm the metabolism and promote emotional well-being with the help of the Blossom robot. The target group is people with cognitive impairments and neurodiverse people with ADHD and autism. Suitable breathing techniques are selected on the basis of literature and transferred to interaction scenarios with Blossom. Accompanying the work, a prototype implementation of individual tutorials (in connection with lecture/seminar) will be carried out by the working group to test their feasibility. In addition, an evaluation concept will be developed to systematically record the effect and usability of the tutorials (in connection with lecture/seminar). The aim is to develop a well-founded, practical overall concept for the use of Blossom in calming breathing interventions.
Study of the Feasibility of Employing a Motivating Robot Sports Coach for Older People (ID: CH1)
Type of thesis: BA/MA/Project thesis (Computer Science, Health Education)
Keywords: HRI-Study, Sports for Older People
Field of study: Computer Science, Health Education
Status: available
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
Conceptualizing, conducting, and analysing HRI-feasibility with a NAO robot and existing exercise-program. acceptance, flow/engagement, motivation, (fitness/mobility-level)
Pain recognition via physiological data (ID: C13)
Type of thesis: BA/MA/project work (Computer Science)
Keywords: pain detection, physiological parameters, machine learning
Field of study: Computer Science
Status: available
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
People with cognitive impairments, e.g. in the autism spectrum, often do not show pain in a way that can be easily recognised. Physiological parameters such as skin conductivity, pulse, blood pressure and heart rate variability are used to recognise pain in patients at Mara Hospital. To this end, training data will be collected during medical procedures such as blood sampling and a corresponding model will be trained.
Pain recognition through facial data (ID: C23)
Type of thesis: BA (Computer Science)
Keywords: real-time pain recognition, facial expression analysis, facial action units (FAUs), emotion recognition, feature extraction
Subject area: Computer Science
Status: completed
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer, Christian Schütze
Description:
The aim of the work was the real-time implementation of a software for pain recognition based on facial expressions. So-called facial action units were used, which are automatically recognised in order to subsequently train classifiers. Four different machine learning methods were tested and evaluated in order to find the best possible solution.
Development and conception of learning scenarios for the serious game "Overcare" in the field of medical education and science communication (ID: M23)
Type of thesis: BA/Project Thesis (Medicine)
Keywords: Serious games, medical education, science communication, simulation, scenario development
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: available
Supervisor: Kira Loos
Description:
As part of this project, scenarios for the serious game Overcare are to be developed that contribute specifically to medical training and science communication. The aim is to design learning and interaction situations in which medical knowledge, teamwork and decision-making processes can be vividly conveyed.
To this end, the student should design various level concepts that depict specific processes, roles and tasks in a clinical environment. These scenarios should describe in detail how the levels are structured (rooms, resources, agent behaviour, parameters, etc.), which learning objectives are pursued and how these can be supported mechanically.
In addition, new features or concepts can be proposed that expand the framework and contribute to achieving the learning objectives.
Can a humanoid robot get children moving? - Piloting the MobiRobot project in paediatric and adolescent psychiatry (ID: M22)
Type of thesis: BA (Medicine)
Keywords: depression, sport, social robot, motivation, child-robot interaction
Field of Study: Medicine
Status: in progress
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anna-Lisa Vollmer
Description:
Exercise plays a central role in the treatment of depressive disorders in children and adolescents. Nevertheless, many patients show low motivation and drive problems, which means that sports activities are often only used to a limited extent in everyday clinical practice. Social assistance robots could offer a new way to promote motivation and participation. The humanoid robot NAO can demonstrate movement exercises, provide verbal guidance and support with praise. The MobiRobot project is investigating whether the use of such a robot in paediatric and adolescent psychiatry is accepted, increases the joy of movement and motivation and has a positive influence on depressive symptoms.
Participatory design of an XR application for the simulation of cognitive perception disorders (ID: M12)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (medicine)
Keywords: XR, participatory development, cognitive impairment
Field of study: Medicine
Status: completed
Description:
This project aims to develop a concept for simulating cognitive disorders in XR. The work should be participatory in order to take into account the impressions and needs of people with cognitive perceptual disorders. In order to be able to develop the concept on a sound basis, the medical background and its effects on perception are to be analysed and described.
The impact of surgical robotics systems on teamwork and communication during surgical procedures (ID: M11)
Type of thesis: Project thesis (medicine)
Keywords: surgical robotics, collaborations, communication, medicine
Field of study: Medicine
Status: completed
Description:
In this project, a systematic literature review was carried out to analyse how the use of surgical robotics systems affects collaboration in the operating theatre. In particular, the different modalities of the OR robotic systems and their influence on communication should be analysed. The effects on patient safety and job satisfaction will also be analysed.
