ETH Competence Center for Materials and Processes (MaP)Acronym | MaP | Homepage | http://www.map.ethz.ch/ | Country | Switzerland | ZIP, City | 8093 Zürich | Address | Leopold-Ruzicka-Weg 4 | Phone | +41 44 633 37 53 | Type | Academy | Parent organization | ETH Zurich | Current organization | ETH Competence Center for Materials and Processes (MaP) | Members | |
Open OpportunitiesMeeting the demands of evolving manufacturing and environmental landscapes frequently entails the development of pioneering processes and materials. Yet, generating innovative materials presents its own set of challenges. This project necessitates the establishment of a methodology for producing rods and wires, facilitating the production of powder for novel alloys. To accomplish this task, a forging machine known as a round swage will be employed. The created rods and wires will be used to produce powder using Ultrasonic Plasma Atomizer (UPA) and the wires will be used as is for Directed Energy Deposition (DED), an additive manufacturing technology. - Alloy Materials, Composite Materials, Manufacturing Engineering
- ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis
| Following trauma or due to degeneration it can be necessary to replace one or more intervertebral discs with an implant, a so-called Total Disc Replacement (TDR). Such devices enable motion though surfaces articulating against each other. While this treatment is clinically successful, it is connected to considerable complication and reoperation rates. Therefore, we are optimizing the design of such an implant to address these issues.
While many different designs and design types have been proposed and are used in clinical practice, there is no consensus on what design or design type is the most beneficial. However, it is hypothesized, that replicating the situation that is present in healthy (asymptomatic) subjects as closely as possible, is optimal. Since the motions of the cervical spine are coupled (coupling of rotation and translation as well as multiple rotations) the optimal design of the articulating surfaces is not obvious. Therefore, this master’s thesis project aims at designing the implants articulating surfaces using parametric design optimization in LS-OPT based on finite element simulations. - Engineering and Technology
- Master Thesis
| Materials made with fungal mycelium have recently gained popularity as novel material in various industries, among others to produce meat analogues. So far, we successfully devised a straightforward technique for producing foamed hydrogel scaffolds that facilitate the growth of fungal mycelium.
Our next objective involves refining the design of the 3D food matrix to serve as a host material, allowing us to guide the growth of mycelium and create an anisotropic material with fibrous texture similar to meat fibers. This will be achieved by employing a variety of triggers known to influence the direction of fungal mycelial growth. - Biomaterials, Biotechnology, Industrial Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Mycology, Other
- ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis
| qCella, a deep tech startup from ETH Zurich, specializes in innovative materials for resistive heating applications. Their paper-thin, flexible heating mats aim to replace traditional heating wire technology in various products like car seats, clothing, and shoes. They are looking for master's students in Materials Science or Chemistry to contribute to product and material development, tackle research challenges with practical applications, design and conduct experiments, and analyze results. - Chemistry, Engineering and Technology
- Master Thesis, Semester Project
| This project addresses the task of 6D pose estimation for general-purpose objects, particularly when dealing with occlusion. We aim to leverage recent deep learning methods and synthetic data generation schemes to enable robust object manipulation. - Intelligent Robotics
- Master Thesis, Semester Project
| In the past few years, there has been significant progress in developing 3D in vitro cancer models. These models serve as a link between 2D cell culture models and in vivo xenograft mouse models, which are considered the gold standard in cancer research and preclinical drug assessment. Various 3D methods have been explored, and among them, spheroids have shown great potential as an alternative to traditional methods. These are often used in a scaffold-free context lacking the physical environment and interactions present in vivo. Therefore, scaffold-based approaches have gained more attention due to their ability to mimic the tumor microenvironment (TME), which is a crucial factor in tumor behavior. By providing a scaffold that mimics the TME, we can gain a better understanding of the influence of TME on tumor spheroid behavior and drug response.
This project aims to establish a 3D scaffold-based spheroid tumor model that mimics the behavior of human squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) at varying degrees of aggressiveness. The model will be designed to replicate the tumor and its microenvironment using a molecular and biophysical defined system. The ultimate objective is to create optimized models that have a physiological similarity to human SCC, which can enhance overall knowledge and increase the predictive value, enabling preclinical-to-clinical translation. By doing this, we hope to provide a 3D in vitro model that can reduce and potentially replace the use of animal models as whenever possible. - Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Medical and Health Sciences
- Internship, Master Thesis
| Drying (e.g. Pasta drying) is the most energy intensive process step, sometimes taking up more than 50% of the total energy consumption of a plant. Superheated steam drying could present an energy efficient alternative to classical hot-air drying systems used today. This new technology could have a massive impact on the carbon-footprint and sustainability of food-drying; making it a highly future-oriented and potentially impactful innovation. - Interdisciplinary Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
- ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis, Semester Project
| The goal of the project is to assess the feasibility of using commercially available plantar pressure monitoring devices (so called smart insoles) on the diabetic population. Pressure ulcers are a common complication of the diabetic foot, and monitoring plantar pressure continuously is a potential measure of prevention. Diabetic patients are often prescribed personalized footwear (e.g., curved insoles that accommodate any deformity in the feet). This project aims at assessing the potential of the smart insoles available on the market to monitor plantar pressure in diabetic patients with such custom footwear. - Biomedical Engineering, Medical and Health Sciences
- Bachelor Thesis, Semester Project
| The remarkable agility of animals, characterized by their rapid, fluid movements and precise interaction with their environment, serves as an inspiration for advancements in legged robotics. Recent progress in the field has underscored the potential of learning-based methods for robot control. These methods streamline the development process by optimizing control mechanisms directly from sensory inputs to actuator outputs, often employing deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. By training in simulated environments, these algorithms can develop locomotion skills that are subsequently transferred to physical robots. Although this approach has led to significant achievements in achieving robust locomotion, mimicking the wide range of agile capabilities observed in animals remains a significant challenge. Traditionally, manually crafted controllers have succeeded in replicating complex behaviors, but their development is labor-intensive and demands a high level of expertise in each specific skill. Reinforcement learning offers a promising alternative by potentially reducing the manual labor involved in controller development. However, crafting learning objectives that lead to the desired behaviors in robots also requires considerable expertise, specific to each skill.
- Information, Computing and Communication Sciences
- Master Thesis
| Humanoid robots, designed to mimic the structure and behavior of humans, have seen significant advancements in kinematics, dynamics, and control systems. Teleoperation of humanoid robots involves complex control strategies to manage bipedal locomotion, balance, and interaction with environments. Research in this area has focused on developing robots that can perform tasks in environments designed for humans, from simple object manipulation to navigating complex terrains. Reinforcement learning has emerged as a powerful method for enabling robots to learn from interactions with their environment, improving their performance over time without explicit programming for every possible scenario. In the context of humanoid robotics and teleoperation, RL can be used to optimize control policies, adapt to new tasks, and improve the efficiency and safety of human-robot interactions. Key challenges include the high dimensionality of the action space, the need for safe exploration, and the transfer of learned skills across different tasks and environments. Integrating human motion tracking with reinforcement learning on humanoid robots represents a cutting-edge area of research. This approach involves using human motion data as input to train RL models, enabling the robot to learn more natural and human-like movements. The goal is to develop systems that can not only replicate human actions in real-time but also adapt and improve their responses over time through learning. Challenges in this area include ensuring real-time performance, dealing with the variability of human motion, and maintaining stability and safety of the humanoid robot.
- Information, Computing and Communication Sciences
- Master Thesis
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