Available MSc topics
Must read: brief instructions and rules
For all students interested in the MSc theses done so far in CRTA, you can view the theses here. All MSc theses done within the old laboratory were defended before 2021. All theses from 2021 and 2022 were created and implemented within CRTA. Students who choose a master thesis topic expect active engagement and responsible work on the assigned topic. All students who choose a master's thesis in one of the provided topics will be equipped with all necessary equipment, workstations, and (shared) computers in the laboratory and/or practicums. If the thesis involves an experimental part, students will be enabled to access to the appropriate laboratory where the experiments will be carried out: Laboratory for Autonomous Systems, Laboratory for Medical Robotics, or Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. In addition to working in laboratories, students also have access to two practicums whose occupation schedules can be seen here. While working in the laboratories and practicums, students must adhere to all rules of behavior as well as rules for the use of the computer, laboratory, and other equipment. After work, it is necessary to leave the workstations in CRTA clean and tidy.
In addition to laboratories and laboratory equipment, in the student section of CRTA, students have their 3D printers, various student tools, and equipment that are necessary for a large number of topics that include practical experimental work.
Researcher Luka Rabuzin is responsible for working with students and other tools, and he will provide you with all the necessary guidelines when you start working on your topic.
For any general questions and experiences, you can always reach out to our current students, graduates, or demonstrators.
What is a "Project" and how is it related to the master's thesis?
The project in the 9th semester of studies, which precedes the enrollment of the master's thesis, is a necessary prerequisite for applying for the master's thesis topic, especially if the mentor or comentor is a professor from the CRTA. The project topic is closely related to the master thesis topic and forms a cohesive unit with the thesis. When registering the project in the Studomat, it is necessary to agree with the future mentor or comentor on the scope of the project. The project typically involves solving specific parts of the master's thesis topic (addressing certain aspects of the described topics). The project is submitted to the mentor (and comentor) in digital format.
Writing and submission of the MSc thesis
The master's thesis should be written in accordance with the official guidelines and template for the master's thesis, which can be found here. Before writing the thesis, it is necessary to thoroughly study all the materials and contact mentor or comentor for any questions.
Before starting to write the thesis, it is suggested to discuss the structure of the thesis with the mentor or comentor. Considering the chosen submission deadline for the master's thesis, the complete written thesis should be submitted to the mentor or comentor for review (Word and PDF formats) via email at least 10 days before the official submission deadline. The thesis sent for review must be complete free of spelling or grammar errors (make sure to perform a spell check using ispravi.me).
List of available topics
- Designing and automatic calibration of a smart 3D camera system for a robotic arm
- Development of an end-effector for physical human-robot interaction and physiotherapy
- Dual-handed assembly of a fuse housing
- Robotic handling of objects in an unstructured state
- Executing advanced missions using the KUKA KMR iiwa robot and the Robot Operating System (ROS2)
- Development of an interactive setup for the game of Tic-Tac-Toe
If you are interested in an area or topic that is not suggested, feel free to suggest your own topics, ideas and projects to one of the CRTA employees, and then you can discuss your topic proposal with a potential mentor and/or comentor and collaborators on the topic. For any other questions, feel free to email the teacher responsible for a specific topic or visit them during consultation hours.
Detailed description of available topics
Designing and automatic calibration of a smart 3D camera system for a robotic arm
The task is to integrate a complete solution for setting up and calibrating an embedded 3D camera system on a robotic arm:
- Designing and manufacturing (3d print) housing for 3D camera (Realsense D435) and embedded computer (Jetson Nano) with connection to the flange of the robot arm (Universal robot UR5),
- Setting up the Jetson Nano operating system and programming environment (Realsense SDK, c++, OpenCV),
- Creating a program that, using a calibration panel, enables automatic calibration (calculating the transformation matrix between the robot's flange and the camera's coordinate system) of the 3D camera,
- Carry out measurements to determine the accuracy of the calibration.
For more details on this topic, please contact dr. sc. Filip Šuligoj
Development of an end-effector for physical human-robot interaction and physiotherapy
Languge of the Master thesis: English
Mentor: Doc. dr. sc. Marko Švaco
Comentor: Doc. dr. sc. Tadej Petrič – homepage
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are referred to as the pandemic of the modern world. They account for the majority of all recognized diseases in the European Union and cause millions of lost working days each year. MSDs are soft tissue injuries caused by sudden impact, force, vibration, and unbalanced positions. The treatment of MSDs has been summarized in several clinical practice guidelines.
In the scope of this thesis, a detailed state-of-the-art analysis of active projects and research in the field of robotic physiotherapy needs to be done. All types of physiotherapy should be investigated such as physical contact, massage, ultrasound, heat, etc.
In the scope of the thesis, a prototype of a robotic end-effector based on the human hand should be researched, developed, and tested in the Laboratory for medical robotics at CRTA on a robot arm with position and impedance control.
This task details investigation into biomechanics and the anatomy of a human hand (palm, fingers, thumb, fist) used in physiotherapy. The developed end-effector of the collaborative robot is intended to reproduce therapeutic movements and apply forces on a human subject in a laboratory mockup scenario. Important mechanical (stiffness, hardness, elasticity, etc.) and physical properties (induced pressure, temperature, friction, etc.) should be measured with the purpose of developing a highly effective end-effector.
For more details on this topic, please contact doc. dr. sc. Marko Švaco.
Dual-handed assembly of a fuse housing
With the increasing application of dual-arm industrial robots, the possibilities are significantly expanded compared to single-arm robotic workstations. Within the laboratory for artificial intelligence, there is a dual-arm robotic system equipped with 15 degrees of freedom, two 2D industrial cameras, tool changers, grippers, and a worktable with an industrial product - a fuse housing. In order to achieve complete automation and robotization of the fuse housing assembly process, with the existing dual-arm Yaskawa CSDA10F is is necessary:
- to reshape and enhance the machine vision system (hardware and software) to make it robust and functional,
- to reshape and enhance the robotic tools, tool holders, magazines, pallets, fixtures, and delivery paths used for the preparation and positioning of the components in the fuse housing assembly,
- to develop an algorithm for learning the desired arrangement of fuses and relays based on 2D perception and image processing,
- to program the process of autonomous assembly of fuse casings according to the learned schedule from the previous step,
- to create a simple graphical user interface (GUI) for controlling a robotic station,
- to develop and implement an algorithm for quality control (inspection) of the assembled fuse box enclosure.
The thesis must be validate on the equipment in the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. For the developed application it is necessary to design and manufacture all the required structural, mechatronic, and other elements/components. The demonstration on the laboratory equipment should be enabled in an automatic mode of operation through a user interface.
For more details on this topic, please contact doc. dr. sc. Marko Švaco and dr.sc. Josip Vidaković.
Robotic handling of objects in an unstructured state
Industrial robots are increasingly being used in unstructured work environment where the goal is to manipulate objects with all six degrees of freedom (three translations and three rotations) unknown. In the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems at CRTA, the problem of extracting parts from a box using a stationary industrial 3D vision system needs to be solved on the existing experimental setup. As a preliminary research step, it is necessary to study previously conducted student works on similar topics. In this thesis, it is necessary:
- to develop the necessary constructon and programming solutions for automatic tool changing on a robot,
- to create a tool for calibrating the vision system and robotic arm
- to select at least nine workpieces of different shapes (rectangular, cylindrical, disc-shaped, flat, etc.) and different dimensions,
- for selected subjects it is necessary to examine, implement and describe all available functions for 3D detection and localization.
The thesis must be validate on the equipment in the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems. For the developed application it is necessary to design and manufacture all the required structural, mechatronic, and other elements/components using the available equipment it the laboratory. The demonstration on the laboratory equipment should be enabled in an automatic mode of operation through an arbitrary user interface.
For more details on this topic, please contact doc. dr. sc. Marko Švaco.
Executing advanced missions using the KUKA KMR iiwa robot and the Robot Operating System (ROS2)
Mobile robot KUKA KMR iiwa has the possibility of programming and implementation using the KUKA Sunrise environment. The Sunrise environment requires robot programming in the JAVA programming language, which may not be practical for robotics engineers compared to Python or C++. Therefore, at the Norwegian University has been developed an interface that enables control of the mobile robot and reading its sensors using the ROS2 environment. In addition to easier programming in the ROS2 environment, one of the features of ROS2 is that it allows the application of other mapping, localization, and navigation algorithms, not just those provided by KUKA. The KUKA KMR mobile robot also includes the KUKA iiwa industrial collaborative robot, which can also be implemented in the ROS2 environment along with the MoveIt package, offering exceptional flexibility in working with the robot. In this thesis, it is necessary:
- to investigate and implement communication from ROS2 to the KUKA KMR robot (hardware interface)
- to investigate and implement communication from ROS2 to the KUKA iiwa robot using the MoveIt package
- to select the most appropriate algorithms for simultaneous localization and mapping and implement them on the robot
- to select the most suitable algorithm for autonomous navigation of the robot in space
- to define and execute the task of object retrieval, object manipulation, and object placement at a predefined location.
For more details on this topic, please contact doc. dr. sc. Marko Švaco and Ph.D Branimir Ćaran.
Development of an interactive setup for the game of Tic-Tac-Toe
Ambient and motor intelligence enable people to navigate and adapt to many new situations. One of the areas in which the perception of the environment and human intelligence come to the fore are various games. One of the relatively simple games is the Tic-Tac-Toe game. To enable a robotic system to play the game of Tic-Tac-Toe against a human opponent, it requires the integration of various sensory and motor capabilities into the robotic system. Perception of the game board is a challenging task as robust perception is influenced by several variable parameters such as lighting direction and intensity, color, thickness, and dimensions of the "X" and "O" markers on the game board. Furthermore, motion planning for the robotic arm is not a trivial task as it requires avoiding collisions with the environment and planning movements that avoid singularities, large decelerations, and velocities of individual robot joints or the tool tip. On the existing Tic-Tac-Toe setup in the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems, it is necessary:
- to analyze the robot's workspace with the aim of increasing the effective playing area,
- to analyze and propose a new arrangement of the vision system (one or more cameras) for robust perception of the playing area on the game board,
- to develop and implement a computer vision algorithm for recognizing the planar position of the game board and the game symbols "X" and "O",
- to create a graphical user interface for interacting with the player and running the entire application,
- to analyze and verify each robotic motion before execution, using simulation software packages such as RoboDK,
- to make the necessary structural, control, and other modifications to the experimental setup,
- to create a procedure for automated calibration of vision systems and robots.
Master's thesis must be done on the existing setup with the UR5 robot in the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems in CRTA.
For more details on this topic, please contact doc. dr. sc. Marko Švaco and dr.sc. Filip Šuligoj.
Grading criteria for graduate theses
The graduate theses must be written according to the official guidelines of the FMENA. The grade of the mentor and comentor is formed by adherence to formal regulations and directions, but more importantly by work on the undergraduate thesis, independence, and originality. In addition to the individual grade of the graduate thesis, a grade is also awarded during the presentation in front of the committee.
Pozivamo sve studentice i studente da obavezno pročitaju sva rules and instructions vezane uz izradu diplomskih radova. Za upute za izradu prezentacije diplomskog rada obratite se izravno vašem mentoru.
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