Tag: ETH Zurich – Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control

Vision-based tactile sensing

Visu­al­iz­ing robot­ic touch: concept illus­tra­tions for tact­ile sens­ing tech­no­logy. This pro­ject explores how robots can learn to “feel” by using a cam­era to sense pres­sure on soft mater­i­als. Instead of rely­ing on com­plex elec­tron­ics, the sys­tem uses a simple setup: a cam­era under a soft lay­er filled with tiny particles. When some­thing presses on the […]

Juggling ensemble

3D Anim­a­tion & Data Visu­al­iz­a­tion for Dynam­ic Sys­tems Research.

Between 2009 and 2015, the Insti­tute for Dynam­ic Sys­tems and Con­trol at ETH Zurich developed robots that can juggle balls—without cam­er­as, micro­phones, or tra­di­tion­al sensors. The pro­ject served a deep­er research pur­pose: to val­id­ate algorithms and tools used to con­trol dynam­ic sys­tems.

I was brought in to visu­al­ize what hap­pens when 32 of these robots juggle sim­ul­tan­eously. Using motion-cap­ture data from a single exist­ing robot, I built a 3D anim­a­tion where each vir­tu­al robot was indi­vidu­ally driv­en by real recor­ded motion data. The res­ult is a highly syn­chron­ized, almost hyp­not­ic sim­u­la­tion that makes a com­plex tech­nic­al sys­tem both under­stand­able and visu­ally com­pel­ling.

To add depth and real­ism, I also recor­ded the ori­gin­al robot’s mech­an­ic­al sounds and cre­ated a cus­tom audio sample track, syncing it to the anim­a­tion to enhance the immers­ive effect.

This pro­ject blends data-driv­en anim­a­tion, sci­entif­ic visu­al­iz­a­tion, and sound design—an example of how mul­tidiscip­lin­ary design can sup­port research com­mu­nic­a­tion in cre­at­ive, enga­ging ways.

Distributed Flight Array

3D Anim­a­tion for Mod­u­lar Fly­ing Robots Research.

At the Insti­tute for Dynam­ic Sys­tems and Con­trol at ETH Zurich, research­ers have been explor­ing a futur­ist­ic concept since 2008: mod­u­lar fly­ing robots that can autonom­ously coordin­ate, dock with each oth­er mid-ground, and fly togeth­er as a single aer­i­al plat­form. Once air­borne, these units hov­er for sev­er­al minutes before des­cend­ing back to the ground—a grace­ful demon­stra­tion of advanced robot­ics and con­trol sys­tems.

To com­mu­nic­ate this com­plex research in a com­pel­ling way, I cre­ated a concept anim­a­tion that visu­al­izes how these indi­vidu­al fly­ing mod­ules work in sync. Each unit was anim­ated using motion cap­ture data, ensur­ing a real­ist­ic and tech­nic­ally accur­ate por­tray­al of the system’s beha­vi­or. Through dynam­ic cam­era move­ments and 3D com­pos­i­tion, the anim­a­tion cap­tures the eleg­ance and innov­a­tion of the pro­ject while mak­ing its abstract mech­an­ics visu­ally intu­it­ive.

This is a great example of how anim­a­tion, data-driv­en visu­al­iz­a­tion, and mul­tidiscip­lin­ary design for aca­dem­ic audi­ences can bring com­plex tech­no­lo­gies to life in a way that’s clear, enga­ging, and mem­or­able.