Researcher
Research focus: Mixed reality applications for Industrie 4.0 and especially Human-Robot collaboration
Caspar specializes in mixed reality applications for Industrie 4.0 in general and for human-robot collaboration in particular. In both cases, Augmented and Virtual Reality have high potential to create new intuitive userinterfaces with the ability to blend abstract information, e.g. coming from a digital twin, and the real working environment. With his expertise in AR, VR, 3D environment reconstruction and 3D computer graphics in general, Caspar as a PhD student is well prepared and one of the early protagonists for the upcoming field of the Industrial Metaverse. Since 2022, Caspar is the initiator and key-developer for the VR-part of the joint DFKI-ZeMA RICAIP demonstrator, showing cross-site human-human collaboration using a UR-10 robot as embodiment for the remote worker. The demonstrator was shown at Hannover Fair 2022 and is the basis for one of RICAIP’s collaborative use-cases as well as for Wizard-of-Oz style studies within the context of human-robot collaboration in RICAIP. As such, the demonstrator will be extended in cooperation with the testbeds in Prague, Brno and Saarbrücken.
What is your personal motivation for a research career?
What motivates me most about my work as a researcher is that I always have to deal with the latest technologies, always have direct access to scientific findings and can help shape our digital future. The curiosity is what drives me forward and gives me joy every day anew.
Where are you headed next?
The emerging field of industrial metaverse will deprive me of sleep in the future. As it combines all my interests and requires high research in the areas of applications, benefits and interaction paradigms. A PhD thesis on this topic will probably be the next step.
Would you have any piece of good advice for students?
Something I would like to recommend to every student: Take the time to find out what gives you joy in life. Too many students try to get their degree as quickly as possible and forget to find out what they enjoy and what they are actually good at.
