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.
Simulating User Input to Control Certified Rehabilitation Robots
Our LLM-based voice control interface is ready to be integrated into an exoskeleton for rehabilitation therapy. The robots are used in clinical settings and are medically certified. Together with the robot manufacturer, we will create an auto-clicker that simulates user input to the existing interface to retain the CE-marking. In this project you will learn about certifications, code an auto-clicker, and evaluate it.
Keywords
rehabilitation, therapy, exoskeleton, LLM, integration, certification, robot, interface, voice control
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Semester Project , Internship , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-06-05 , Earliest start: 2026-06-08 , Latest end: 2026-12-31
Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab
Hosts von Max-Ole
Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology
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: 2026-06-04 , Earliest start: 2026-08-01 , Latest end: 2027-02-28
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
Human Communication Framework and Therapists' Needs for Instructing Rehabilitation Robots
This work will focus on the human side of human-machine-interaction. We are looking for a motivated student to contribute to the conceptualization of our voice control interface. We are targeting exoskeletons for rehabilitation therapy and wish to make them easier to control. To do so, we must understand the needs of the physio-therapists. We must identify their expectations towards robot interfaces and how they usually communicate with their patients to convey their intentions. As part of this project, you will interview clinicians, join them during therapy sessions, and formalize the findings.
Keywords
communication, intention, psychology, rehabilitation, therapy, robot, exoskeleton, AI, interface, voice control
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Semester Project , Internship , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-06-03 , Earliest start: 2026-06-07 , Latest end: 2026-11-30
Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab
Hosts von Max-Ole
Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Journalism, Librarianship and Curatorial Studies , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences , Studies in Human Society
Evaluation of Biomechanical Models Built Using Lokomat Robotic Data
A semester project or internship opportunity with the Sensory-Motor Systems Lab at ETH Zürich. This work will support ongoing work in the EU TAILOR MSCA Doctoral Network which aims to optimise and elevate robotic gait rehabilitation interventions. The work will specifically focus on the evaluation of the quality and capacity of human biomechanical models that are built from data exported from the Lokomat during robotic rehabilitation sessions. The overarching goal is to reduce the extent to which a robot's presence interferes with how a therapist assesses a patient and provide novel metrics to aid in clinical decision making. *Supervision will be remote from September to December 2026 due to a scheduled international research stay of the main supervisor*
Keywords
OpenSim, Biomechanical Modelling, Lokomat, Rehabilitation Robots
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Semester Project , Internship , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-06-02 , Earliest start: 2026-07-06 , Latest end: 2027-02-28
Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab
Hosts Thirlwell Florence
Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Engineering and Technology
Social VLA for Socially-Aware Robot Navigation in Human-Centered Environments
This project aims to develop a Social Vision-Language-Action framework for robot navigation in crowded and human-centered environments. Unlike conventional navigation methods that mainly optimize collision avoidance and goal reaching, the proposed system will explicitly reason about human social interactions, group formations, pedestrian intent, personal space, and socially acceptable passing or yielding behaviors.
Keywords
Social navigation; Vision-Language-Action models; socially-aware robotics; human-robot interaction; robot navigation; crowd-aware navigation; trajectory generation; social reasoning; robot learning; embodied AI.
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-06-02 , Earliest start: 2026-09-07 , Latest end: 2027-04-30
Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab
Hosts Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid
Topics Engineering and Technology
Connecting AI Agents and Controllers for Instructing Rehabilitation Robots
We are looking for a motivated student to contribute to the integration of our LLM-based voice control interface into a robot. Ultimately, we are targeting exoskeletons for rehabilitation therapy. This work will focus on a demonstration robot, likely a Novint Falcon haptic system. You will build Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers (or similar) to integrate with both robot controllers and the AI and you will help handle the connection to the server where we are hosting the LLM.
Keywords
rehabilitation, therapy, exoskeleton, LLM, MCP, integration, robot, interface, voice control
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Semester Project , Internship , Bachelor Thesis , Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-05-18 , Earliest start: 2026-06-01 , Latest end: 2026-10-31
Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab
Hosts von Max-Ole
Topics Medical and Health Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology
ROS2 Robot Systems and Autonomous Navigation (Student Internship)
Develop the core software and autonomy stack for a new mobile robot platform using ROS2. The project focuses on robot localization, autonomous navigation, system integration, and remote robot operation, with an emphasis on building a reliable and extensible robotics platform for future research and real-world deployment.
Keywords
ROS2, Mobile Robotics, Autonomous Navigation, Localization, SLAM, Path Planning, Robot Systems
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Internship
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Published since: 2026-05-06 , Earliest start: 2026-05-03 , Latest end: 2026-10-31
Applications limited to ETH Zurich , University of Zurich
Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab
Hosts Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid
Topics Engineering and Technology
Constrained Reinforcement Learning for Robot Navigation
This project proposes a Constrained Reinforcement Learning (CRL) framework for social robot navigation that explicitly enforces safety, smoothness, and social-distance constraints. Unlike traditional reward-based RL, the approach integrates multiple constraints and a safety filter to ensure robust and human-compliant navigation across varying crowd conditions.
Keywords
Constrained Reinforcement Learning (CRL) Social Navigation Robot Navigation Safety Constraints Human-Aware Navigation
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-05-05 , Earliest start: 2026-09-01 , Latest end: 2027-04-30
Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab
Hosts Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid
Topics Engineering and Technology
Learning-based Mapping for Robot crowd-aware Navigation
Learning-based crowd mapping predicts global crowd density and flow from sparse robot observations, enabling crowd-aware global planning beyond local perception. The approach integrates multi-modal priors (e.g., calendars via LLMs) to capture temporal patterns and is validated in simulation and real-world navigation tasks.
Keywords
SLAM Crowd mapping Robot navigation Global planning LLMs Spatio-temporal modeling
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-05-05 , Earliest start: 2026-09-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-31
Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab
Hosts Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid
Topics Engineering and Technology
Reinforcement Learning for Crowd-Aware Robot Navigation
This project focuses on improving RL-based social navigation by creating a simulation framework with diverse and realistic human behaviors. Current RL methods often train on simplified crowds where all pedestrians behave similarly, which limits generalization in real-world environments.
Keywords
RL, Robot Navigation
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-05-05 , Earliest start: 2026-09-01 , Latest end: 2027-03-31
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Spinal Cord Injury & Artificial Intelligence Lab
Hosts Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid , Alyassi Rashid
Topics Engineering and Technology
Estimating Clinical Assessment Scores Using Rehabilitation Robotic Exoskeletons
A 2–3-month internship that supports an ongoing study investigating machine learning approaches to predicting clinical assessment scores using data from an upper extremity robotic exoskeleton. This internship will specifically support further data collection with healthy participants in the ANYexo 2.0 robotic exoskeleton and preliminary data processing for the ML model. The overarching aim of this work is to automatically include the administration of clinical assessments in prescribed active therapy sessions using a robotic exoskeleton.
Keywords
ANYexo, Robotic Exoskeleton, Data Collection, Data Processing, Machine Learning
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Internship , Lab Practice
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Published since: 2026-04-17 , Earliest start: 2026-05-25 , Latest end: 2026-09-27
Applications limited to ETH Zurich , University of Zurich , Zurich University of Applied Sciences , Balgrist Campus , Hochschulmedizin Zürich , Fernfachhochschule , EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , Swiss National Science Foundation
Organization Sensory-Motor Systems Lab
Hosts Thirlwell Florence
Topics Medical and Health Sciences , 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.