Student Projects

Currently, the following student projects are available. Please contact the responsible supervisor and apply with your CV and transcripts.

If you are looking for a Master internship HST/BWS or would like to carry out a Studies on Mechatronics project in our group, please contact the assistant working on, or closest to, the research topic you are interested in.

Causal Machine Learning and Data Fusion with Experts in the Loop for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)

Causl Discovery aims to find causal relations from data, being increasingly important in various fields such as health science. Despite the growing amount of work on applying causal discovery methods with expert knowledge to areas of interest, few of them inspect the uncertainty of expert knowledge (what if the expert goes wrong?). This is highly important since in scientific fields, causal discovery with expert knowledge should be cautious and an approach taking expert uncertainty into account will be more robust to potential bias induced by individuals. Therefore, we aim to develop an iterative causal discovery method with experts in the loop to enable continual interaction and calibration between experts and data. Besides, fusing datasets from different sources is essential for holistic discovery and reasoning. This project will also focus on developing methods of machine learning and data fusion over distinct contexts under the scope of SCI. Based on the qualifications of the candidates, we can arrange a subsidy/allowance to cover traveling or living costs.

Keywords

Causal Discovery, Expert Knowledge, Iterative Algorithm, Data Fusion, Spinal Cord Injury

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Master Thesis

Project Background

Causal graphical models (CGM) can be determined via randomized controlled experiments (and this is the golden standard to determine the causal relations and quantify the causal effects), learned purely from data[1](i.e., structural learning or causal discovery) or elicited by domain experts based on their knowledge and experiences. It is also feasible to learn the CGM from data with prior expert knowledge when data become not reliable due to insufficient sample size or measurement errors. Early works in causal discovery utilized constraint-based approaches, such as the PC algorithm and the FCI algorithm. These methods exploit conditional independence relationships among variables to infer causal structures. They can restrict the output graph space through conditional independence assumptions or background knowledge about causal relationships [2]. Score-based approaches, such as the GES (Greedy Equivalence Search) algorithm, aim to find the best causal structure that optimizes a scoring criterion, e.g., the BIC (Bayesian Information Criterion) score. These methods often incorporate expert knowledge through prior specifications or domain-specific constraints on the model parameters [3, 4, 5]. Recent advancements in causal discovery involve hybrid approaches that combine elements of constraint-based and score-based methods. These approaches aim to leverage the strengths of both approaches to improve the accuracy and efficiency of causal structure learning. They may incorporate expert knowledge through the integration of domain-specific constraints and scoring functions. In addition to observational data, causal discovery methods have also been developed to handle experimental data, where interventions or randomized experiments are conducted. These methods utilize the causal effects of interventions to infer causal relationships. Expert knowledge can be incorporated by designing well-controlled experiments or interventions based on domain expertise. Despite the growing amount of work on structural learning with expert knowledge in scientific fields, few of them inspect the uncertainty of expert knowledge (what if the expert goes wrong?). This is highly important since in medical applications, causal discovery with expert knowledge should be taken cautiously and sometimes experts can give false knowledge, leading to serious mistakes. An approach considering the expert uncertainty during CGM construction will be more robust to potential bias induced by individuals. This idea is made possible by recent progress toward evaluating and falsifying a given CGM from observational data without ground truth[6]. Therefore, we hope to develop an iterative causal discovery method with experts in the loop for continual interaction and calibration between experts and data. In the meantime, we are also trying to develop an interactive user interface for medical experts to input their knowledge and edit the learned graph. References [1] Glymour, C., Zhang, K., & Spirtes, P. (2019). Review of causal discovery methods based on graphical models. Frontiers in genetics, 10, 524. [2] Flores, M. J., Nicholson, A. E., Brunskill, A., Korb, K. B., & Mascaro, S. (2011). Incorporating expert knowledge when learning Bayesian network structure: a medical case study. Artificial intelligence in medicine, 53(3), 181-204. [3] O’Donnell, R. T., Nicholson, A. E., Han, B., Korb, K. B., Alam, M. J., & Hope, L. R. (2006). Causal discovery with prior information. In AI 2006: Advances in Artificial Intelligence: 19th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Hobart, Australia, December 4-8, 2006. Proceedings 19 (pp. 1162-1167). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. [4] Perković, E., Kalisch, M., & Maathuis, M. H. (2017). Interpreting and using CPDAGs with background knowledge. arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.02171. [5] Kleinegesse, S., Lawrence, A. R., & Chockler, H. (2022). Domain Knowledge in A*-Based Causal Discovery. arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.08247. [6] Eulig, E., Mastakouri, A. A., Blöbaum, P., Hardt, M., & Janzing, D. (2023). Toward Falsifying Causal Graphs Using a Permutation-Based Test. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.09565.

Your Task

1. Literature Review on Causal Discovery: You will study classic and state-of-the-art causal discovery methods (preferably on real datasets with mixed-type variables) that incorporate expert knowledge, leading to a systematic review of causal discovery methods in different categories (constraint-based vs. score-based) with different assumptions (e.g., latent variables, causal mechanism/function forms, and cycles) for different settings (e.g., static data or time series). 2. Data Exploration and Analysis: You will explore analyze and datasets collected for HAPI (Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury) and Hospital Stay after PI Surgeries. The data record hundreds of patients into dozens of mixed-type variables including patients’ demographic features, lab testing values, and health conditions observed during their stay. Apart from clinical data, you will also have access to multivariate time series extracted from bio-signals on SCI people under intervention experiments. We aim to learn the causal relations among these variables of interest from the above data with experts’ knowledge. Additionally, we will probe some public datasets of other fields such as heart diseases and earth science with ground-truth graphs. 3. Methodology Development and Deployment: You will help develop and validate an iterative algorithm for causal discovery with the expert in the loop against benchmarks using the simulated and real datasets. There are two potential exploring directions: 1. How will the correct expert knowledge help reduce the search space of graphs to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm? 2. How to encode prior knowledge or design a post-modification strategy with uncertainty from experts’ input to increase the robustness of the algorithm? Based on the methodology, an interactive web/application interface for doctors to input their knowledge and edit the learned graph is expected. If possible, you will assist in deriving the mathematical guarantee for the iterative algorithm in terms of convergence and stability properties. 4. Presentation and Documentation: You will prepare a high-quality manuscript for publication with a clear and scientific presentation of the results and methodology.

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Published since: 2025-09-29 , Earliest start: 2025-11-15 , Latest end: 2026-05-31

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr.

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Mathematical Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences

Guiding blind alpine skier by an appropriate loudspeaker

This semester or master thesis aims to redesign the speaker currently in use so that the athlete receives clear commands under all conditions.

Keywords

alpine sport, parathletes, auditory cues

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Semester Project , Master Thesis

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Published since: 2025-09-28 , Earliest start: 2025-10-13 , Latest end: 2026-05-29

Applications limited to Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering , Department of Health Sciences and Technology , Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Wolf Peter

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Engineering and Technology

Label-Efficient Representation Learning for EEG Time Series

This master`s thesis aims to explore self-supervised learning and transformer-based sequence models to develop label-efficient EEG representations.

Keywords

Deep Learning; Label-efficient Learning; Transformers; Sequence Models

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Published since: 2025-09-06

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Dey Sharmita

Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences

Advancing Vibrotactile Sensory Stimulation for Brain Imaging

Design of comfortable textiles and stimulation protocol for a pneumatic, MRI-compatible vibrotactile stimulator

Keywords

touch sensation, tactile illusions, neurorehabilitation, MRI

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Semester Project , Internship , Master Thesis

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Published since: 2025-08-28 , Earliest start: 2025-09-15 , Latest end: 2026-06-26

Applications limited to ETH Zurich , EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Wolf Peter

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Engineering and Technology

Markerless Pose Tracking for Remote Physical Therapy

The aim of this project is to collect a comprehensive dataset of human movements, and augmenting it with synthetic datasets, to train computer vision models for accurate human pose estimation in therapeutic settings.

Keywords

Human Pose Estimation, Physiotherapy, Movement Science, Motion Capturing

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Internship

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Published since: 2025-08-20 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01 , Latest end: 2026-09-01

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Rode David

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Engineering and Technology

Kinematics and Dynamics of Human-Like Locomotion in LocoMuJoCo Simulations

This Master’s thesis at ETH Zürich focuses on benchmarking and improving humanoid locomotion policies in the LocoMuJoCo simulation environment. The project develops a complete pipeline for analyzing kinematic and dynamic metrics, enabling direct comparison of simulated humanoid locomotion with real-world human motion capture data.

Keywords

Humanoid Locomotion, MuJoCo, Motion Analysis, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Simulation

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Internship , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2025-08-12 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Paez Diego, Dr.

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Mathematical Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology

3D Pose Estimation to Understand Orthosis Effects in Cerebral Palsy

This Master’s thesis at ETH Zürich develops a 3D pose estimation pipeline to evaluate the effects of orthotic devices on gait patterns in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Using a CP-specific dataset, the project benchmarks multiple 2D and 3D pose estimation models, fine-tunes the best-performing model, and applies time-series analysis to assess joint-level kinematic differences across healthy, CP without orthosis, and CP with orthosis conditions. The goal is to support clinical assessment through non-invasive motion analysis.

Keywords

3D Pose Estimation, Cerebral Palsy, Gait Analysis, Orthosis, Deep Learning

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Internship , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2025-07-23 , Earliest start: 2025-07-23 , Latest end: 2025-09-30

Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab

Hosts Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr.

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences

Internship / Research assistant / Semester project in Biosensing for Robotics Care and Body Simulation (~12 months)

Join a team of scientists improving the long-term prognosis and treatment of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) through mobile and wearable systems and personalized health monitoring. Joining the SCAI Lab part of the Sensory-Motor Systems Lab at ETH, you will have the unique opportunity of working at one of the largest and most prestigious health providers in Switzerland: Swiss Paraplegic Center (SPZ) in Nottwil (LU).

Keywords

App development, Machine Learning, Data bases, Data engineering, Systems Engineering, Data Modelling

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Internship , Lab Practice , Student Assistant / HiWi , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2025-07-23 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01 , Latest end: 2026-12-31

Applications limited to ETH Zurich , EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , IBM Research Zurich Lab , Institute for Research in Biomedicine , Hochschulmedizin Zürich , Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics , University of Lucerne , University of Zurich , Zurich University of Applied Sciences , Zurich University of the Arts , Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts , Berner Fachhochschule

Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab

Hosts Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr.

Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences

Master Thesis: Development of a Customized Knee Orthosis for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) presents a significant challenge in healthcare, necessitating innovative solutions to alleviate pain, enhance mobility. This thesis documents the research and development journey of an OA knee orthosis within the Spinal Cord and Artificial Intelligence Lab (SCAI-Lab) at ETH Zurich. This thesis is a close collaboration between the ORTHO-TEAM Group and the SCAI-Lab at ETH Zurich. The collaboration offers a unique exchange of expertise and resources between industry and academia. Together, we aim to make meaningful progress in the field of and empower students to make valuable contributions to their academic pursuits.

Keywords

Osteo Arthritis, Orthosis, Biomechanics, AI, Medical Data, Healthcare

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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2025-07-17 , Earliest start: 2025-04-15 , Latest end: 2026-01-31

Applications limited to ETH Zurich , EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , Empa , University of Basel , University of Berne , Zurich University of Applied Sciences , Università della Svizzera italiana , Hochschulmedizin Zürich , Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts , Institute for Research in Biomedicine , CSEM - Centre Suisse d'Electronique et Microtechnique

Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab

Hosts Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr.

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Engineering and Technology

Internships (Industrial or Research) on Body Modelling and Sensing Technology for Health Care in SCI

This hands-on work (internship or semester project) within a clinical setting will bring you close to intelligent health management while exploring multiple data systems. You will experience multimodal data of robotics rehabilitation, general clinical practice, and detailed clinical studies applied in classification and dimensionality reduction.

Keywords

Machine learning, time-series, HR, ECG, BP, wearables, nearables, Medical and health science, healthcare, Android studio, App development

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Semester Project , Internship , Lab Practice , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis , Other specific labels , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2025-07-10 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01 , Latest end: 2026-06-30

Applications limited to ETH Zurich , EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , Empa , Eawag , Zurich University of the Arts , Zurich University of Applied Sciences , Wyss Translational Center Zurich , University of Zurich , University of St. Gallen , University of Lucerne , University of Lausanne , University of Geneva , University of Fribourg , University of Berne , University of Basel , Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts , Institute for Research in Biomedicine , IBM Research Zurich Lab , Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics , CSEM - Centre Suisse d'Electronique et Microtechnique , Corporates Switzerland , CERN , Hochschulmedizin Zürich , Université de Neuchâtel , Università della Svizzera italiana , Swiss National Science Foundation , University of Konstanz , University of Hamburg , University of Erlangen-Nuremberg , University of Cologne , Universität zu Lübeck , Universität Ulm , Universität der Bundeswehr München , TU Dresden , TU Darmstadt , TU Berlin , Technische Universität Hamburg , Max Planck Society , Otto Von Guericke Universitat, Magdeburg , RWTH Aachen University , Ludwig Maximilians Universiy Munich , Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin , European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) , Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen , Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) , Technische Universität München , Imperial College London , National Institute for Medical Research , Royal College of Art , UCL - University College London , University of Aberdeen , University of Cambridge , University of Manchester , University of Nottingham , University of Oxford , University of Leeds , Delft University of Technology , Maastricht Science Programme , Radboud University Nijmegen , Utrecht University

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr.

Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology

Master Thesis: Vibro-tactile feedback in ventricle puncturing during External Ventricular Drain (EVD) procedure

EVD is a common procedure in Neurosurgery, nevertheless its placement is non-ideal in up to 40% of the cases because of lack of hands-on experience of residents. To try and solve the issue we propose a medical simulator that will merge haptic feedback with hardware components. Vibro-tactile feedback has been proven useful in medical simulations and could give a more complete and realistic experience to the training surgeon, either as supplementary information to the force feedback or as stand alone information. In order to feed back the vibro-tactile information to the user, the haptic device has to be instrumentalized with appropriate custom-made hardware.

Keywords

Vibro-tactile feedback, Haptic feedback, Medical robotics, Surgical simulators

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Published since: 2025-07-07 , Earliest start: 2025-03-01

Organization Bio-Inspired RObots for MEDicine-Laboratory (BIROMED-Lab)

Hosts Gerig Nicolas, Dr. , Sommerhalder Michael , Ettori Sara Lisa Margherita

Topics Engineering and Technology

Master Thesis: Contact force evaluation of robotic endoscopic system based on Series Elastic Actuation

In the BIROMED-Lab we have been developing an endoscopic system for safer neurosurgeries with inspiration from human finger anatomy. Its two degrees of freedom allow the endoscope to investigate areas of the brain that would be inaccessible with standard rigid endoscopes. Thanks to springs in the transmission between the motors and the movable endoscope tip, the interaction forces between the instrument and the brain tissue can be reduced. Furthermore the interaction forces can be estimated by measuring the deflection of the spring. To make the telemanipulation of the endoscope safer and more intuitive for the surgeon, force feedback was also implemented.

Keywords

Robotic surgery, Neurosurgery, Telemanipulation, Haptic feedback, Robotic endoscope

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Published since: 2025-07-07 , Earliest start: 2025-03-01

Organization Bio-Inspired RObots for MEDicine-Laboratory (BIROMED-Lab)

Hosts Ettori Sara Lisa Margherita , Gerig Nicolas, Dr. , Sommerhalder Michael

Topics Engineering and Technology

Personalized Low Latency Interactive AI Project

We are seeking one highly motivated student to join our innovative project focused on developing a cutting-edge voice recognition and personalization platform for wheelchair users This project aims to deliver low-latency, context-aware, and personalized AI interactions in noisy, multi-user environments, leveraging advanced models and distilled LLMs, combined with biosignal tracking and GDPR-compliant data management.

Keywords

Voice recognition, AI personalization, low latency, LLMs, biosignal tracking, neurofeedback, multi-user environments, audio processing

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Semester Project , Internship , Master Thesis

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Published since: 2025-06-11 , Earliest start: 2025-08-01

Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab

Hosts Paez Diego, Dr. , Paez Diego, Dr.

Topics Engineering and Technology

Your own project ideas?

It is always possible to find a project for motivated students with own ideas in the fields of assistive healthcare technologies , augmented feedback in motor learning, and sports engineering. Please send an email to the indicated contact person of our current research pillars that most closely matches your idea.