Thomas Langerak

PhD Student
thomas.langerak@inf.ethz.ch
ETH Zurich, Department of Computer Science, STD, G28
Stampfenbachstrasse 48, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland

About Me

I am a PhD student in the Advanced Interactive Technologies lab at ETH Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Otmar Hilliges. I have double-degree in Human-Computer Interaction and Design from Aalto University, Finland and the University of Twente, the Netherlands. During my master's I did an internship in the User Interfaces group led by Antti Oulasvirta at Aalto University. Before that I completed a B.Sc. in Industrial Design at the University of Technology Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Research Interests

At the moment I an interested in modelling how humans interact with the digital world to optimize interfaces. My current research is at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction, Optimization and Reinforcement Learing (RL). I focus on modelling user interactions with their environment via multi-agent RL. Prior to this I focused on haptic feedback systems. Specifically, I built custom actuators and developed novel control strategies for haptic interactions in Virtual and Augmented Reality.

You can also find me on Linkedin, and Google scholar.

Publications

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MARLUI: Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Point-and-Click UIs
Thomas Langerak, Sammy Christen, Mert Albaba, Christoph Gebhardt, Christian Holz, Otmar Hilliges
Proc. ACM Human-Computer Interaction 8, EICS, 2024
Video Paper
Hedgehog: Handheld Spherical Pin Array based on a CentralElectromagnetic Actuator
Ablerm Aline, Juan Zarate, Thomas Langerak, Velko Vechev, Otmar Hilliges
World Haptics Conference, 2021
Honorable Mention - Best Paper Award
Video Paper
Omni: Volumetric Sensing and Actuation of Passive Magnetic Tools for Dynamic Haptic Feedback
Thomas Langerak*, Juan Zarate*, David Lindlbauer, Christian Holz, Otmar Hilliges * Equal contribution
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 2020
Video Paper
Optimal Control for Electromagnetic Haptic Guidance Systems
Thomas Langerak, Juan Zarate, Velko Vechev, David Lindlbauer, Daniele Panozzo, Otmar Hilliges
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 2020
Video Paper
Contact-free Nonplanar Haptics with a Spherical Electromagnet
Juan Zarate*, Thomas Langerak*, Bernhard Thomaszewski, Otmar Hilliges * Equal contribution
2020 IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2020
Video Paper

Academic Activities

Reviewing

2023
DIS
2022
CHI, UIST, NordCHI, IMWUT
2021
CHI, UIST, IEEE Sensors
2020
CHI, UIST
2020
UIST

Community Service and Organizing Committee

2022
  • Part of the organizing committee of UIST 2022 (Data co-chair)
2021
  • Part of the organizing committee of UIST 2021 (Data co-chair)
2020
  • Part of the organizing committee of UIST 2020 (Virtual Experiences and Operations co-chair)
  • Session Chair for UIST 2021

Thesis Supervision

If you are interested in Semester/Master project in our group, you can check our available projects. If you have your own topic related with my research, you are welcome to contact me.

Teaching