1st place for Natalia Quiroga Perez at the AFCEA Bonn e.V. study award ceremony

24.10.2024 AFCEA-Studienpreis - Platz 1 für Natalia Quiroga Perez (H-BRS-Fachbereich Informatik)

Since 2008, the AFCEA Bonn e.V. has awarded annual study prizes to promote the scientific qualification of young talents. Prizes are awarded for outstanding theses in the fields of applied computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, automatic speech processing, communications engineering, radar technology, automation technology and robotics. This year, the first prize of 6,000 euros went to Natalia Quiroga Perez from Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS). The prize is endowed with a total of 20,000 euros and was presented on 24 October 2024 at the IT conference in Koblenz.

20241024-Natalia Quiroga Perez (H-BRS) freut sich mit Prof. Dr. Teena Hassan (H-BRS, links im Bild) über die Auszeichnung mit Platz 1 auf der AFCEA e.V. Bonn - Preisverleigung

From left: Prof Dr Teena Chakkalayil Hassan (H-BRS) is delighted with Natalia Quiroga Perez (H-BRS)for winning 1st place Photo: AFCEA e.V. Bonn

In her master's thesis entitled Experience-Based Path Planning Framework for Real-Time Learning from Demonstration, Quiroga Perez developed a robotics-independent system for learning upper body movements from human demonstrations and their subsequent execution by a robot, specifically using skeletal data, as part of the Master Autonomous Systems programme at H-BRS. The aim was to enable end users, such as therapists, to adapt the behaviour of a robot by demonstrating new movements.

The interdisciplinary project combines approaches from cognitive robotics, machine learning and computer science. To enable the learning process for robots, three main stages were carried out: Offline learning, online learning of movements and movement execution.

The method was tested at the A2S Institute on the three robots QTrobot, NAO and Freddy . The video shows the execution of various dance movements by the robots:

Dancing Robots

A2S Institute

As part of the MigrAVE project, which aims to develop a robotic assistant to support children with autism spectrum disorders, Quiroga Perez's master's thesis has made an important contribution to personalised robotics in therapeutic applications. The thesis was completed within the ZAT Rhein-Ruhr project and supervised by Prof Teena Chakkalayil Hassan, Prof Paul Plöger and Dr Alex Mitrevski.

Through this innovative approach, the work demonstrates the potential of interdisciplinary research and opens up new perspectives for the use of robotics in social and medical contexts.

At the AFCEA Student Award ceremony during the IT conference in Koblenz, Hassan personally congratulated the winner on her outstanding success and recognised her impressive achievement in the field of robotics research. The university joins in the congratulations and wishes Quiroga Perez continued success in her scientific endeavours.