Research Overview

Welcome to the AIT Lab where AI meets Interactive Technologies. We do research at the intersection of Machine Learning, Computer Vision and Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Our main mission is to develop new ways for humans to interact with complex interactive systems (computers, wearables, robots), powered by advanced algorithms and technologies in machine perception, planning and data driven user modelling. Please see research and publications for more information.

The AIT Lab, led by Prof. Dr. Otmar Hilliges, is within the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich. The group is jointly affiliated with the Institute of Visual Computing and Institute of Pervasive Computing.

Latest News

05.02.2021
We have 2 papers accepted at RA-L.
23.01.2021
We have 1 paper accepted at CHI'21.
28.09.2020
We have 2 papers accepted at NeurIPS'20.
22.09.2020
Yufeng Zheng joins the AIT lab. Welcome!
18.08.2020
Our paper on capturing subjective first-person view videos by drones will be presented at SIGGRAPH'20.
03.08.2020
Marcel Bühler and Zicong Alex Fan join the AIT lab. Welcome!
08.07.2020
Gengyan Li joins the AIT lab. Welcome!
06.07.2020
We have 5 papers accepted at ECCV'20.
Check here for previous news.

Open PostDoc positions

We are currently looking for 2 post-docs with a background in either i) machine learning, bayesian optimisation, active learning, variational methods, deep-learning or related areas or ii) computer vision, graphics, robotics, numerical methods or physical simulation.

Excellent programming skills in C++ or other high-level language are expected and experience in Matlab, Python, OpenGL, or CUDA are beneficial. Fluent communication skills (written and presentation) in English are essential.

Positions are fully funded (via ERC starting grant) and are available to those of any nationality (some knowledge of German is beneficial but not essential). For more details see how to apply.


Latest Projects


Learning Functionally Decomposed Hierarchies for Continuous Control Tasks With Path Planning

AuthorsS. Christen*, L. Jendele*, E. Aksan, O. Hilliges
In IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (Volume: 6, Issue: 2), 2021
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Accepted as Oral Presentation at the Deep RL Workshop at NeurIPS
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Improved Learning of Robot Manipulation Tasks via Tactile Intrinsic Motivation

AuthorsN. Vulin, S. Christen, S. Stevsic, O. Hilliges
In IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (Volume: 6, Issue: 2), April 2021
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Optimization-based User Support for Cinematographic Quadrotor Camera Target Framing

AuthorsC. Gebhardt, O. Hilliges
In SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Yokohama, 2021
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Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning Explains Task Interleaving Behavior

AuthorsC. Gebhardt, A. Oulasvirta, O. Hilliges
In Computational Brain & Behavior, 2020
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CoSE: Compositional Stroke Embeddings

AuthorsE. Aksan, T. Deselaers, A. Tagliasacchi, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsAdvances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2020
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Self-Learning Transformations for Improving Gaze and Head Redirection

AuthorsY. Zheng, S. Park, X. Zhang, S. De Mello, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsNeural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), 2020
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Spatial Attention Improves Iterative 6D Object Pose Estimation

AuthorsS. Stevsic, O. Hilliges
In Proceedings2020 International Conference on 3D Vision (3DV), 2020
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Convolutional Autoencoders for Human Motion Infilling

AuthorsM. Kaufmann, E. Aksan, J. Song, F. Pece, R. Ziegler, O. Hilliges
In Proceedings2020 International Conference on 3D Vision (3DV), 2020
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Omni: Volumetric Sensing and Actuation of Passive Magnetic Tools for Dynamic Haptic Feedback

AuthorsT. Langerak*, J. Zarate*, D. Lindlbauer, C. Holz, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsProceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, Virtual Event, USA, 2020
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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Optimal Control for Electromagnetic Haptic Guidance Systems

AuthorsT. Langerak, J. Zarate, V. Vechev, D. Lindlbauer, D. Panozzo, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsProceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, Virtual Event, USA, 2020
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Capturing Subjective First-Person View Shots with Drones for Automated Cinematography

AuthorsA. Ashtari, S. Stevsic, T. Nägeli, J. Bazin, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH) (Volume: 39, Issue: 5), Aug 2020
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Learning-based Region Selection for End-to-End Gaze Estimation

AuthorsX. Zhang, Y. Sugano, A. Bulling, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsBritish Machine Vision Virtual Conference (BMVC), 2020
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Human Body Model Fitting by Learned Gradient Descent

AuthorsJ. Song*, X. Chen*, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsEuropean Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2020
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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Category Level Object Pose Estimation via Neural Analysis-by-Synthesis

AuthorsX. Chen*, Z. Dong*, J. Song, A. Geiger, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsEuropean Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2020
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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Weakly Supervised 3D Hand Pose Estimation via Biomechanical Constraints

AuthorsA. Spurr, U. Iqbal, P. Molchanov, O. Hilliges, J. Kautz
In ProceedingsEuropean Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), Glasgow, Scotland, 2020

Winner of HANDS2019 challenge: RGB-based 3D Hand Pose Estimation while Interacting with Objects
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ETH-XGaze: A Large Scale Dataset for Gaze Estimation under Extreme Head Pose and Gaze Variation

AuthorsX. Zhang, S. Park, T. Beeler, D. Bradley, S. Tang, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsEuropean Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2020

Accepted as Spotlight Presentation
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Towards End-to-end Video-based Eye-Tracking

AuthorsS. Park, E. Aksan, X. Zhang, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsEuropean Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), 2020
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Contact-free Nonplanar Haptics with a Spherical Electromagnet

AuthorsJ. Zarate*, T. Langerak*, B. Thomaszewski, O. Hilliges
In Proceedings2020 IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2020
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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Detecting Relevance during Decision-Making from Eye Movements for UI Adaptation

AuthorsA. Feit*, L. Vordemann*, S. Park, C. Bérubé, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications (ETRA), 2020
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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Accurate Real-time 3D Gaze Tracking Using a Lightweight Eyeball Calibration

AuthorsQ. Wen, D. Bradley, T. Beeler, S. Park, O. Hilliges, J. Yong, F. Xu
In Computer Graphics Forum (Proceedings of EUROGRAPHICS), 2020
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Learning to Assemble: Estimating 6D Poses for Robotic Object-Object Manipulation

AuthorsS. Stevsic, S. Christen, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsIEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (Volume: 5, Issue: 2), April 2020
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Photo-Realistic Monocular Gaze Redirection Using Generative Adversarial Networks

AuthorsZ. He, A. Spurr, X. Zhang, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsIEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), Seoul, Korea, 2019
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Monocular Neural Image Based Rendering with Continuous View Control

AuthorsX. Chen*, J. Song*, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsInternational Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), Oct 2019
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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End-to-end Learning for Graph Decomposition

AuthorsJ. Song, B. Andres, M. Black, O. Hilliges, S. Tang
In ProceedingsInternational Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), Oct 2019
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Few-Shot Adaptive Gaze Estimation

AuthorsS. Park*, S. De Mello*, P. Molchanov, U. Iqbal, O. Hilliges, J. Kautz
In ProceedingsInternational Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), Seoul, Korea, 2019
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Accepted as Oral Presentation
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Structured Prediction Helps 3D Human Motion Modelling

AuthorsE. Aksan*, M. Kaufmann*, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsThe IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), Oct 2019
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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Content-Consistent Generation of Realistic Eyes with Style

AuthorsM. C. Buehler, S. Park, S. De Mello, X. Zhang, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsInternational Conference on Computer Vision Workshops (ICCVW), Seoul, Korea, 2019

OpenEDS Image Generation Challenge Winner
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Learning Cooperative Personalized Policies from Gaze Data

AuthorsC. Gebhardt, B. Hecox, B. van Opheusden, D. Wigdor, J. Hillis, O. Hilliges, H. Benko
In ProceedingsProceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, New Orleans, LA, USA, 2019
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Context-Aware Online Adaptation of Mixed Reality Interfaces

AuthorsD. Lindlbauer, A. Feit, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsProceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, New Orleans, LA, USA, 2019
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AudioTouch: Minimally Invasive Sensing of Micro-Gestures via Active Bio-Acoustic Sensing

AuthorsY. Kubo, Y. Koguchi, B. Shizuki, S. Takahashi, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsProceedings of the 21th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, 2019
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Interactive Hand Pose Estimation using a Stretch-Sensing Soft Glove

AuthorsO. Glauser, S. Wu, D. Panozzo, O. Hilliges, O. Sorkine-Hornung
In ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH) (Volume: 38, Issue: 4), 2019
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Deformation Capture via Self-Sensing Capacitive Arrays

AuthorsO. Glauser, D. Panozzo, O. Hilliges, O. Sorkine-Hornung
In ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG) (Volume: 38, Issue: 2), 2019
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Unpaired Pose Guided Human Image Generation

AuthorsX. Chen, J. Song, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsThe IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) Workshops, June 2019
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Video-based Prediction of Hand-grasp Preshaping with Application to Prosthesis Control

AuthorsL. Taverne*, M. Cognolato*, T. Bützer, R. Gassert, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsInternational Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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Demonstration-Guided Deep Reinforcement Learning of Control Policies for Dexterous Human-Robot Interaction

AuthorsS. Christen, S. Stevsic, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsInternational Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019
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STCN:Stochastic Temporal Convolutional Networks

AuthorsE. Aksan, O. Hilliges
In ProceedingsInternational Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), 2019
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TacTiles: Dual-mode Low-power Electromagnetic Actuators for Rendering Continuous Contact and Spatial Haptic Patterns in VR

AuthorsV. Vechev*, J. Zarate*, D. Lindlbauer, R. Hinchet, H. Shea, O. Hilliges
In Proceedings2019 IEEE Virtual Reality (VR), Mar 2019
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
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