"The term crossmodal learning refers to the adaptive, synergistic synthesis of complex perceptions from multiple sensory modalities, such that the learning that occurs within any individual sensory modality can be enhanced with information from one or more other modalities. Crossmodal learning is crucial for human understanding of the world, and examples are ubiquitous, such as: learning to grasp and manipulate objects; learning to walk; learning to read and write; learning to understand language and its referents; etc. In all these examples, visual, auditory, somatosensory or other modalities have to be integrated, and learning must therefore be crossmodal." website

DEXMAN is an international collaborative research project hold by three partners: Universität Hamburg, Universität Bielefeld, and South China University of Technology, together founded by DFG (Germany) and NSFC (China). The goal of DEXMAN is to develop learning and control approaches based on multimodal data to improve the ability of robot dexterous and compliant manipulation. [more information]

ZIM-KamEl is a joint project together with Neotech AMT, a leading manufacturer of manufacturing technologies for 3D Printed Electronics. The project, funded by Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) from the German Federal Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), will run until September 2022. Automated Quality Assurance (QA) will be developed with which the manufacturing processes can be monitored online in the 5-axis manufacturing cell. [more information]

The ULTRACEPT project proposes an innovative solution with brain-inspired multiple layered and multiple modalities information processing for trustworthy vehicle collision detection. It takes the advantages of low cost spatial-temporal and parallel computing capacity of bio-inspired visual neural systems and multiple modalities data inputs in extracting potential collision cues at complex weather and lighting conditions. The project, funded within the EU Horizon 2020 programme, will run until November 2022. [more information]

CINACS is an international graduate colleg that investigates the principles of cross-modal interactions in natural and cognitive systems to implement them in artificial systems. Research will primarily consider the three sensory systems vision, hearing and haptics. This project, accomplished by the University of Hamburg and the University of Tsinghua, Beijing, is funded by the DFG and the Chinese Ministry of Education. [more information]

The overall aim of the RACE project is to develop an artificial cognitive system, embodied by a service robot, able to build a high-level understanding of the world it acts in by storing and exploiting appropriate memories of its experiences. Experiences will be recorded internally at multiple levels: high-level descriptions in terms of goals, tasks and behaviours as well as constituting subtasks, and finally sensory and actuator skills at the lowest level. In this way, experiences provide a detailed account of how the robot has achieved past goals or how it has failed, and what sensory events have accompanied the activities. The group TAMS is the coordinator of this project.
The RACE Integrated Project is part of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and runs from 12/2011 until 11/2014. [more information] [poster1] [poster2]

The aim of the CareToy project is to exploit new ICT and mechatronic technologies to promote early intervention in the first year of life and to reinforce therapy initially performed in a high-competence medical institution by a portable low-cost instrumented setting tele-monitored by the medical centre, thus augmenting the medical effectiveness of the therapy while reducing the cost for the Healthcare Systems. The development of an innovative smart system for rehabilitation of infants at home proposed is based on smart tools, like toys, usable in natural settings, such as the infants’ home, in a non-invasive and transparent way, to stimulate, monitor and measure infants’ rehabilitation.
The CareToy Project is part of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and runs from 11/2011 until 10/2014. [more information]

The objective of the Robot-Era project is to develop, implement and demonstrate the general feasibility, scientific/technical effectiveness and social/legal plausibility and acceptability by end-users of a plurality of complete advanced robotic services, integrated in intelligent environments, which will actively work in real conditions and cooperate with real people and between them to favour independent living, improve the quality of life and the efficiency of care for elderly people.
The Robot-Era Integrated Project is part of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under contract 288899 and runs from 01/2012 until 12/2015. [more information], [project website]

The HANDLE project aims at understanding how humans perform the manipulation of objects in order to replicate grasping and skilled in-hand movements with an anthropomorphic artificial hand. The goal is to evolve robot grippers from current best practice towards more autonomous, natural and effective articulated hands. The project will focus both on technological developments and fundamental multidisciplinary research in order to endow the proposed robotic hand with advanced perception capabilities, high-level feedback control, and elements of intelligence that allow recognition of objects and context.
The HANDLE Integrated Project is part of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and runs from 02/2009 until 01/2013. [more information]

The goal of MING-T is to research, develop, prototype, integrate and validate the interoperability and handover issues of the representative mobile digital broadcast standards developed in China and Europe. MING-T will address the issues of convergence between broadcast standards and mobile communications network technologies. The MING-T Project is part of the EU's sixth Framework Programme (FP6) for Research and Technological Development. [more information]

Aim of the project IVUS is the development of a 3D-Vision System for the use in service robots. The planned camera possesses an integrated processor with high computing capability. Pictures of the environment are reduced to symbolic values. Crucial is the acquisition of 3D-Information from pictures, without the use of auxiliary sensors. The main processor of the service robot is almost free of orientation tasks. Thus one important requirement for real time navigation of the service robot is realised. The project is part of the national research program Leitinitiative Servicerobotik funded by the BMBF. [more information]

EUROPRACTICE is a European Commission initiative, funded by the EU Information Society Technologies (IST), which is now also part of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The aim is to improve the competitiveness of European industry by the adoption of advanced electronics technologies. EUROPRACTICE has become internationally recognised as a quality brand name for European service-type projects in the Microsystems and Microelectronics fields. [more information]

The E-Learning-Consortium Hamburg is a board of experts from several university-level institutions in Hamburg. The group TAMS accomplished three projects founded by the E-Learning-Consortium:

• The Interactive Script
• Multimedia-based Cognitive Tutor
• Practical Course "Mobile Robots" with Simulation and Teleoperation

We proposed two kinds of climbing robots recently. One is a lightweight smart wall-climbing robot for rescue missions, which was developed as a flexible mobile platform carrying a CCD camera and other sensors. The second one is a new kind of pneumatic climbing robot to meet the requirements of glass-wall cleaning for high-rise buildings. The robot is actuated by pneumatic cylinders and attaches itself to walls with vacuum suckers. These projects are accomplished by the University of Hamburg and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. [more information]

The main concern of our insitute's research work is to examine the interaction of different modalities of sensory and cognitive systems like vision, writing, hearing, talking, touching/feeling or grasping. The interaction between people and technical information systems and communication systems is directly related to mulitmodality. One main focus of our work therefore is on applications in intelligent service robotics. There are several in-house projects like PhD, diploma and master theses which study service robotics and man-machine interaction. [more information]