Available Topics & Tasks

• [Intelligence] Deep Recognition of Audiovisual Objects (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Develop modules for the recognition of audiovisual objects recorded by handheld devices using deep learning (CNN, RNN). Particular object types are precisely defined in the first meeting. Requires good knowledge in the application of deep learning techniques and machine learning in general.
• [Multimedia] FFMPEG Video Classification (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Implement an FFMPEG extension that is able to classify videos (films) into different categories depending on the recording system (home HD recording, professional), type of content (film, documentary, etc.) and genre (drama, action, etc.). Due to the usage of the FFMPEG library requires good programming skills and, particularly, C++ programming experience.
• [Multimedia] From Blubbering to Poetry App (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Implement a smartglass application that converts a speech audio input stream into poetry by reading lip movements and converting them into proper TTS read poetry provided by a database. One application could be to overlay a blubbering partner with poems of Walt Witman; another to overlay a ranting boss by Schiller, etc. Requires good knowledge in computer vision and audio retrieval (ideally, courses Similarity Modeling 1/2) as well as minimal Android programming knowledge. If done as a diploma thesis, it has to include an extended user study based on real smart glasses (e.g. from Vuzix or Toshiba).


• [Multimedia] Homesick Sound App (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Develop a mobile app that exchange the sounds created by the city you live in with the sounds of your home city. Requires implementing a server for sound upload and categorization (to be done by the app automatically in the background, classification e.g. into "traffic", "market", etc.) and of a feature-based classification app that is able to understand the current sound environment and to replace it (over earphones) with cached sounds from the place that you chose on installing the app. An example: The app should help to make someone from Mumbai feel at home in Zurich. Requires good knowledge in audio signal processing.
• [Multimedia] Is the BitTorrent Archive Cultural Heritage? (Master Thesis or Bachelor Thesis) Investigate the legal status of the multimedia content of the BitTorrent archive. In particular, evaluate whether or not the entire collection or certain - rare - elements justify a comparison of this archive with other online archives that are assumed to be cultural heritage. Collect, discuss and judge arguments pro/contra this argumentation, including obvious copyright infringements as well as educational and digital heritage purposes. Requires solid multimedia background and a serious interest in legal aspects of digital asset management.


• [Software] A Like Button for the Legislative (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis or Practicum) Develop a server-based system that satisfies the following requirements: (1) Periodic (e.g. annually) grabbing of the contents of the Austrian Database of Laws (RIS), (2) flexible UI for usage on desktop & mobile systems, (3) a server job that computes the changes in content per paragraph from one year to another, (4) content reading functions for browsing, search & random access for the changes/paragraph, (5) presentation of the individual changes with a feedback widget for (-2="hate it"..+2="love it" & "don't know/care"), 86) at times, ask the user for her/his political preference:"left - center - right", (7) reporting functions for aggregated results that filter out too many too quick answers (spam), out of Austria geoblocking, indiscriminate haters/lovers, etc. Open issues are: (1) the implementation of a reward function, a seeding algorithm, offering of "thematic paths" in the browsing function. Requires solid programming skills, can be done by a group of two students, ideally suited for students who passed VU Ruby Business Programming.
• [Intelligence] Looking through the Fog of War (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Investigate how much planning makes sense in strategy games (reinforcement learning) under partial informations ("fog of war"). The idea is that for deeper exploration assumptions have to be made, which might be wrong & thus lead the exploration process into the wrong direction. Goal should be to develop a rule based on game complexity (what is that?) that limits the exploration process. For gaming experts: Please notice that this is not about the balance of exploration vs. exploitation but about the balance of vertical vs. horizontal exploration. The topic is ideally suited for students who passed VU Strategy Game Development and requires solid programming skills.
• [Virtuality] Reduction of Motion Sickness by Force Simulation and Olfactory Stimuli (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Investigate the effect of force simulation and the effect of refreshing olfactory stimuli on motion sickness in the Jumpcube environment. The hardware and software setup is provided by the research group. Furthermore, a sensor for the detection of motion sickness is provided by the electrical engineering faculty. Requires experience in the conduction of user studies and statistical evaluation skills.


• [Multimedia] Multi-Purpose Visual Object Recognition Application (Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Extend an existing Android mobile application so that it can download image data from the SD card of an Arduino, forward the data to a server and there, perform simple object recogniton based on a standard deep learning environment there (e.g. based on Keras/Tensorflow). A first version of the mobile app that performs the Bluetooth connection & download is provided. For the object recognition, free Python code can be used. Hence, the main task is the provision of the global software environment with mobile app + server environment.
• [Virtuality] Rolling Climbing Wall Calibration (Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Develop a tool that is able to perform the following task: Scan the grips on a rotating climbing wall through CV (based on a webcam), check their alignment, compare the alignment to the one of their virtual equivalents (existing 3D models) and, if necessary, change the alignment of the virtual grips. Please note that this is a computer vision task in a VR environment. Hence, good CV knowledge is required as well as a minimum understanding of the Unity game engine. The rest can be learned on the task.


• [Multimedia] Voice Identification with an Artificial Corpus (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Develop an approach for the sampling of a corpus of artificial words (based on literature in form of texts/ebooks) that represents the typical distributions and combinations of phonemes in existing languages statistically correct. Should focus on the Serbian, Hungarian and Turkish languages.
• [Virtuality] VR Motion Sickness recognition based on Audio Analysis (Master Thesis, Bachelor Thesis, or Practicum) Implement an application that is able to recognize the physical sickness of a person in an VR environment by audio analysis. Statements such as "uh, I am feeling sick" etc. should be recognized by the system and proper countermeasures should be taken (e.g. reducing the speed of the VR application). Furthermore, statistics should be recorded, when and in which applications test subjects tend to develop motion sickness. Requires interest in media analysis and a basic understanding of audio analysis with deep neural networks.

Running Tasks

• [Intelligence] A Toolbox for Artificial Consciousness (Practicum) Design and implement a toolbox of components for the modelling, simulation and evaluation of artificially conscious neural networks. Eventually, the toolbox should include models of neurons, forms of association by convolution, temporal aggregation, bundling of neurons into pathways, central pattern generators, etc. + testing methods and an environment for sensual stimulation, random pattern generation and motor neuron simulation. Requires profound knowledge of artificial neural networks. Students of Media and Brain 1/2 are preferred.
• [Multimedia] Base Dosimeter (Bachelor Thesis) Develop a dosimeter (long-time noise recording) exclusively for the base frequencies. Should include proper recording hardware, if necessary, band pass filtering, RMS computation and optionally, recording of the source signal on an embedded device (e.g. a Raspberry Pi) + a data analysis and reporting component on the PC. Requires maker skills and good programming knowledge in one high-level programming language.
• [Virtuality] Construction of a Virtual Tasting Device (Bachelor Thesis) Build a virtual taste device that imitates the approach taken in https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3123440 - only for taste stimulation, not for virtual cocktails -, i.e. creation of gustatory sensations by electrical stimulation of the tongue. The final prototype should include a hardware prototype, a software interface for Unity & project documentation (BoM, building instructions, etc.). Requires good electronics skills. A well-equipped lab + funds for hardware are available.


• [Virtuality] Let's rock: Application of Vibrations in Virtual Reality (Master Thesis) Implement haptic sensations based on vibration patterns in existing virtual reality applications. Requires good knowledge of Unity or Unreal and readiness to learn programming the other game engine. Hardware for the generation of vibration patterns is already available (Buttkicker system). If done as a diploma thesis, it has to include a user-based evaluation on the perception of the vibration patterns.
• [Virtuality] Robot Arm Sonification (Bachelor Thesis) Explore the use of sonification in the control of robot arms: Build a setup that consists of a robot arm + an underwater work task (e.g. manipulating a cable) and/or provide a software environment for avatar-based control of such a robot arm. Provide sonification of movement and touch sensors. If done as a diploma thesis should involve an evaluation of easier learning and/or more precise handling of the robot arm in the defined task. Requires good programming skills and interest in robot technology.
• [Software] Strategy Game Environments (Bachelor Thesis) Develop environments for the implementation of game agents for strategy games. Target games include ones with full information (Abalone, Halma, etc.) and ones with partial information/chance (Risk, card games, dice games). The environment must be java-based and include a simple board representation, default agents for depth search and Monte Carlo tree simulation, HOWTOs for programming and usage + optionally, an environment for the automatic play & scoring of entire tournaments. Requires good programming skills in Java & strategy game programming experience (students of VU Strategy Game Programming are preferred).


• [Software] TIS2 Management of Student Practica (Bachelor Thesis) Develop a component for the workflow management of student works, in particular practica based on given requirements. Requires good knowledge in business programming.
• [Virtuality] Virtual Distributed Rowing Application (Bachelor Thesis) Develop a virtual reality application (e.g. in Unity) that allows multiple, spatially distributed persons to perceive the sensation of rowing a boat together simultaneously. Requires the implementation of an audiovisual system that simulates rowing as well as of a broker-based messaging system for the synchronization of the rowing movement. The system should support two applications: (1) live distributed rowing, and (2) rowing of one human with computer partners. The entire application should be based on standard commercial rowing simulator equipment. If done as a master thesis, has to require extensive user testing. Requires good game engine programming skills (Unity or Unreal).
• [Multimedia] Virtual Twister Game (Practicum) Based on our rotating climbing wall Vreeclimber develop a game like the ones presented in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwticv9ai_Q - including person tracking, wall rotation/tilting, visualization and scoring. The hardware setup is already available. Requires an interest in game design.


• [Virtuality] Virtual Ziplining: Extended Modelling (Practicum) Improve an existing virtual reality ziplining application by additional content and interaction. For example, populate a lake with fish, the sky with birds and aircrafts, the landscapes with traffic, animals and humans, etc. Requires good 3D modelling skills & ideally, Unity programming know-how.
• [Virtuality] Visualization of Bitcoin transaction data in a 3D universe (Master Thesis) Implement a system for the 3D mapping of existing Bitcoin transaction data (e.g. by multi-dimensional scaling or a force-directed graph) and their intuitive visualization in a virtual reality environment. Requires good data analysis and information visualization skills + programming experience in a game engine (Unity or Unreal). If done as a master thesis, has to include user-based testing of the similarity mapping and the intuitiveness of the visualization.
• [Multimedia] Web Information System for a Virtual Reality Project (Bachelor Thesis) Provide a state-of-the-art web-based system for the presentation and management of an ongoing Virtual Reality project. Tasks include (1) performing adequate requirements engineering with the customer (your supervisor), (2) making appropriate technology decisions, (3) provision of digital artefacts (menu structure, web pages, images + possibly, a short introduction video), (4) fine-tuning of the system in a user-centered process. Requires good knowledge of web-based technologies and agile information system design & implementation.

Finished Tasks, since 2019

• [Multimedia] Audio Analysis Software for Raspberry Pi (Bachelor Thesis) Develop content-based audio analysis components that are able to run on a Raspberry Pi processor. Potential topics include sound effects and the recognition of voice/music transitions. Eventually, the software should run on our Raspberry Pi radio system Tuvoli. Requires basic knowledge in audio analysis and signal processing.
• [Multimedia] Babelfish App (Bachelor Thesis, Practicum) Develop a mobile app that translates spoken content from one language to another using already existing services for speech recognition, translation and speech synthesis. The service should be limited to German and English.
• [Virtuality] Distributed Multi-User Virtual Miniature Golf Application (Bachelor Thesis) Develop an application for miniature golf playing with virtual reality. Includes a bit of hardware design (attaching a Vive handheld to a stick) and the development of a gaming environment in Unity or Unreal. Once the basic application has been developed, the framework should be extended to distributed multi-user usage - potentially by using collaborative VR technology developed at the IMS. If performed as a diploma thesis, the project must include a user-based evaluation of the prototype.

Please see the static snapshot of the IMS website for tasks started and/or finished between 2000 and 2018