Dr Robin Wolff

PhD, MSc, Dipl.-Ing.(FH)

I am a Senior Software Engineer with a long track record in research & development in the field of Virtual Reality, 3D Interaction and communication in VR. I worked at national and international projects in academia and aerospace in UK, Finland, Germany and China, as well as published more than 40 publications.


  EXPERTISE

Virtual Reality

15 years

Projection-based Displays, Tracking, Real-time Graphics, Interactive Visualisation, 3D-Interaction, Virtual Assembly Simulation, Avatars, Immersive Collaborative Environments

System- u. Application Programming

20 years

Multi-Threading, IPC, Distributed Systems, Network, GUI, Interfaces, Platform-independent

Web Development

5 years

Static and Dynamic Webpages, CMS, Connection to Databases



System Administration

10 years

Linux, Windows, PC-Cluster, Network, Firewall, Backup, SGI Supercomputers

Electronics

5 years

Analogue u. Digital Circuits, Microelectronics, Measurement, Testing

Project Management

10 years

Project Proposals, Planning, Monitoring, SCRUM, Kanban

  SELECTED PROJECTS

  WORK EXPERIENCE

08/2016 – presentBerlin, Germany
VR Developer
Exozet Berlin
  • Development of VR applications, prototypes and R&D.
01/2010 – 01/2016Brunswick, Germany
Senior Researcher
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
  • Development of an immersive VR simulator for virtual assembly of spacecraft and scientific visualisation of planetary data.
  • Development of 3D interaction methods for immersive VR environments with finger tracking.
  • Team Leader (4-6 people), Technical Head of VR-Laboratory.
08/2015 – 09/2015Beijing, China
Senior Researcher
Beihang University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA)
  • Development of an immersive VR simulator for virtual assembly and maintenance analysis at spacecraft.
10/2008– 12/2009Manchester, UK
Senior Researcher
University of Salford
  • Development of an iPhone app to help hearing impaired children learn how to lip read; motion capture of human lip movement; modelling and amination of a cartoon character.
  • Porting of several applications to an 8-channel VR system.
01/2009 – 07/2009Tampere, Finland
Senior Researcher
Tampere University of Technology (TUT)
  • Development of an immersive VR simulator for mobile machines and integration into motion platform.
  • Integration of an optical tracking system into a VR system.
02/2006 – 09/2008Manchester, UK
Technical Director, Senior Researcher
University of Salford
  • Development of a collaborative immersive VR environment.
  • Integration of eye tracking for dynamic avatar eye movement.
  • Responsible for management, software development, training, administration of all VR systems and IT infrastructure.

  EDUCATION

05/2001 – 12/2006
PhD in Immersive Collaborative Virtual Environments
University of Salford, UK

02/2000 – 04/2001
MSc in Parallel and Scientific Computing
University of Reading, UK

10/1996 – 04/2001
Dipl.-Ing.(FH) Computer Engineering
University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Germany

09/1990 – 02/1994
Certified Electrician in Device Electronics
Television Electronics Work Berlin, Germany

  PUBLICATIONS

Journals (10)

Fairchild, A. J., Campion, S., Garcia, A. S., Wolff, R., Fernando, T., Roberts, D. J., „A Mixed Reality Telepresence System for Collaborative Space Operation”, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology (TCSVT), Vol. PP, Issue 99, doi:10.1109/TCSVT.2016.2580425.

Wolff, R., Preusche, C. and Gerndt, A., "A modular architecture for an interactive real-time simulation and training environment for satellite on-orbit servicing", Journal of Simulation, Palgrave Macmillan, ISSN 1747-7778, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 2014, pp. 50-63, doi:10.1057/jos.2013.10)

Murgia, A., Wolff, R., Sharkey, P.M., and Clark, B., "Low-cost optical tracking for collaborative applications in immersive virtual environments". In International Journal on Disability and Human Development (IJDHD), Special Issue on ICDVRAT 2010, De Gruyter, Berlin, ISSN 2191-1231, Vol. 10, Issue 4, 2011.

Murray, N., Roberts, D.J., Steed, A., Sharkey, P.M., Dickerson, P., Rae, J. and Wolff, R., "Eye Gaze in Virtual Environments: Evaluating the need and initial work on implementation". In Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, Wiley Publishers, ISSN 1532-0626, Vol. 21, Issue 11, 2009, pp. 1437-1449.

Wolff, R., Roberts, D. J., Steed, A. & Otto, O., "A Review of Tele-collaboration Technologies with Respect to Closely Coupled Collaboration". In International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology (IJCAT), Special Issue on: "Collaborative Multimedia Applications in Technology", Vol. 29, Issue 1, Inderscience Publishers, ISSN 0952-8091, 2007, pp. 11-26.

Roberts, D. J., Heldal, I., Otto, O. & Wolff, R., "Factors influencing Flow of Object Focussed Collaboration in Collaborative Virtual Environments". In Virtual Reality Journal, Special Issue on Collaborative Virtual Environments for Creative People, Vol. 10, Issue 2, Springer Verlag, London, ISSN 1359-4338, 2006, pp. 116-133.

Sander, I., Roberts, D., Smith, C., Otto, O., & Wolff, R. Impact of method of immersion on the naturalness and impression of balance and reach activities. In International Journal on Disability and Human Development (IJDHD), Vol. 5, Issue 2, April-June, Freud Publishing House, ISSN 1565-012X, 2006, pp. 163-172.

Roberts, D. J., Wolff, R., & Otto, O., "Supporting a Closely Coupled Task between a Distributed Team: Using Immersive Virtual Reality Technology". In Computing and Informatics, Vol. 24, Issue 1, ISSN 1335-9150, 2005, pp. 7-29.

Wolff, R., Roberts, D. J., & Otto, O., "A Study of Event Traffic during the Shared Manipulation of Objects within Collaborative Virtual Environments". In Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, Vol. 13, Issue 3, MIT Press, ISSN 1054-7460, June 2004, pp. 251-262.

Roberts, D. J., Wolff, R., Otto, O., & Steed, A, "Constructing a Gazebo: Supporting Team-work in a Tightly Coupled, Distributed Task in Virtual Reality". In Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, Vol. 12, Issue 6, MIT Press, ISSN 1054-7460, December 2003, pp. 644-668.

close

Books (1)

Wolff, R., "Advanced Immersive Tele-Collaboration: Supporting Closely Coupled Collaboration around Shared Objects in Immersive Virtual Environments", VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, January 9, 2009, ISBN-13: 978-3639113570.

close

Book Chapters (1)

Roberts, D. J., Wolff, R., Otto, O., "The Impact of Display System and Embodiment on Closely Coupled Collaboration between Remote Users". In "Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments", Series: Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Vol. 34, Schroeder, R. & Axelsson, A. (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, ISBN 1-4020-3883-6, 2006, pp. 131-149.

close

Conference Papers (36)

Hummel, J., Dodiya, J., Eckardt, L., Wolff, R., Gerndt, A., & Kuhlen, T., "A Lightweight Electrotactile Feedback Device to Improve Grasping in Immersive Virtual Environments", IEEE Virtual Reality, Greenville, SC, USA, March 19-23, 2016.

Engelke, W., García, A. S., Wolff, R., Bar, C., Fernando, T., Roberts, D. J., & Gerndt, A., „Scientific Visualization for Space Science Data Analysis in Collaborative Virtual Reality Environments“, IEEE Scientific Visualization, Chicago, USA, 25-30 Oct 2015.

Deshmukh, M., Wolff, R., Fischer, P. M., Flatken, M., & Gerndt, A., „Interactive 3D Visualization to Support Concurrent Engineering in the Early Space Mission Design Phase“, 5th Challenges in European Aerospace Conference (CEAS'15), Delft, Netherlands, 7-11 Sept 2015.

Roberts, D.J., Garcia, A. S., Dodiya, J., Wolff, R., Fairchild, A., & Fernando, T., "Collaborative Telepresence Workspaces for Space Operation and Science", IEEE Virtual Reality, Arles, France, March 23-27, 2015, pp. 275-276.

Sagardia, M., Wolff, R., Hertkorn, K., Hulin, T., Hummel, J., Gerndt, A., Dodiya, J., & Schätzle, S., "DLR’s Virtual Reality Simulator for Telerobotic On-Orbit Servicing With Haptic Feedback", IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, USA, 7-14 March 2015.

Garcia, A. S., Roberts, D. J., Fernando, T., Bar, C., Wolff, R., Dodiya, J., Engelke, W., & Gerndt, A., "A Collaborative Workspace Architecture for Strengthening Collaboration among Space Scientists", IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, USA, 7-14 March 2015.

Hummel, J., Dodiya, J., Wolff, R., Gerndt, A., & Kuhlen, T., "Usability evaluation of two simple methods for representing heaviness of virtual objects", Virtuelle und Erweiterte Realität - 10. Workshop der GI-Fachgruppe VR/AR, 19. - 20. September 2013, Würzburg, Deutschland. ISBN 978-3-8440-2211-7. ISSN 0945-0807, pp. 157-168.

Collienne, P., Wolff, R., Gerndt, A., & Kuhlen, T., "Physically Based Rendering of the Martian Atmosphere", Virtuelle und Erweiterte Realität - 10. Workshop der GI-Fachgruppe VR/AR, 19. - 20. September 2013, Würzburg, Deutschland. ISBN 978-3-8440-2211-7. ISSN 0945-0807, pp. 97-108.

Sagardia, M., Hertkorn, K., Hulin, T., Wolff, R., Hummel, J., Dodiya, J., & Gerndt, A., "An interactive Virtual Reality System for On-Orbit Servicing", IEEE Virtual Reality, 18-20 March 2013, Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA, ISSN 1087-8270.

Hummel, J., Dodiya, J., Wolff, R., Gerndt, A., & Kuhlen, T., "An Evaluation of Two Simple Methods for Representing Heaviness in Immersive Virtual Environments", IEEE 8th Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI'13), Orlando, USA, 16-17 March 2013, pp. 87-94, doi: 10.1109/3DUI.2013.6550202

Hummel, J., Wolff, R., Dodiya, J., Gerndt, A., & Kuhlen, T., "Towards Interacting with Force-Sensitive Thin Deformable Virtual Objects", EGVE - EuroVR Joint Virtual Reality Conference of ICAT (JVRC'12), Madrid, Spain, 2012, pp. 17-20, doi: 10.2312/EGVE/JVRC12/017-020

Shaw, D., Patera, M., Paparidou, E., & Wolff, R. "Evaluation of the prototype mobile phone app Pugh: a 3D cartoon character designed to help deaf children to speech read", 9th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality & Associated Technologies (ICDVRAT 2012) Laval, France, 10-12 Sept 2012, pp. 159-166.

Hummel, J., Wolff, R., Stein, T., Gerndt, A.,& Kuhlen, T., "An Evaluation of Open Source Physics Engines for Use in Virtual Reality Assembly Simulations", Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 7432, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012, pp. 346-357, doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-33191-6_34

Hummel, J., Wolff, R., Gerndt, A., & Kuhlen, T., "Comparing three interaction methods for manipulating thin deformable virtual objects", IEEE Virtual Reality, 2012, pp. 139-140, doi: 10.1109/VR.2012.6180920

Fischer, P.M., Wolff, R., & Gerndt, A., "Collaborative satellite configuration supported by interactive visualization", IEEE Aerospace Conference, 3-10 March 2012, pp.1-11, doi: 10.1109/AERO.2012.6187431

Wolff, R., Preusche, C., & Gerndt, A., "A Modular Architecture for an Interactive Real-Time Simulation and Training Environment for Satellite On-Orbit Servicing", In Proceedings of the 15th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT'11), Salford, UK, September, 2011, pp. 72-80, doi: 10.1109/DS-RT.2011.23

Gerndt, A., Hempel, R., & Wolff, R., "Interactive Visualization of Large Simulation Datasets", Presented at Euro-MPI-Conference, 13.-15. Sept. 2010, Stuttgart, Germany.

Roberts, D.J., Duckworth, T., Moore, C., Wolff, R., & O'Hare, J., "Comparing the End to End Latency of an Immersive Collaborative Environment and a Video Conference", In Proceedings of the 13th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT'09), Singapore, October, 2009, pp. 89-94.

Roberts, D.J., Wolff, R., Rae, J., Aspin, R., Steed, A., McIntyre, M., & Steptoe, W., "Communicating Eye-gaze Across a Distance: Comparing an Eye-gaze enabled Immersive Collaborative Virtual Environment, Aligned Video Conferencing, and Being Together", In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality (VR'09), Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, March, 2009, pp. 135-142

Steptoe, W., Oyekoya, O., Murgia, A., Wolff, R., Rae, J., Guimaraes, E., Roberts, D.J. & Steed, A., "Eye Tracking for Avatar Eye Gaze Control during Object-Focused Multiparty Interaction in Immersive Collaborative Virtual Environments", In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality (VR'09), Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, March, 2009, pp. 83-90.

Steptoe, W., Wolff, R., Murgia, A. & Steed, A., "Eye-Tracking for Avatar Eye-Gaze and Interactional Analysis in Immersive Collaborative Virtual Environments". In Proceedings of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW'08), San Diego, USA, November, 2008, pp. 197-200.

Wolff, R., Murgia, A., Roberts, D.J., Murray, N., Rae, J., Steptoe, W., Steed, A. & Sharkey, P., "Communicating Eye Gaze across a Distance without Rooting Participants to the Spot", In Proceedings the 12th IEEE International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT'08), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, October, 2008, pp. 111-118.(2nd Best Paper Award)

Murgia, A., Wolff, R., Steptoe, W., Sharkey, P., Roberts, D.J., Guimaraes, E., Steed, A. & Rae, J., "A Tool for Replay and Analysis of Gaze-Enabled Multiparty Sessions Captured in Immersive Collaborative Environments", In Proceedings the 12th IEEE International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT'08), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, October, 2008, pp. 252-258.

Murgia, A., Wolff, R., Clark, B., & Sharkey, P.M., "Low-cost Optical Tracking for Immersive Collaboration in the CAVE using the Wii Remote". In Proceedings of the International Conference Series On Disability, Virtual Reality And Associated Technologies (ICDVRAT'08), Maia, Portugal, September, 2008, pp. 103-109.

Heldal, I., Roberts, D.J., Bråthe, L., & Wolff, R., "Presence, creativity and collaborative work in virtual environments". In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Interaction Design and Usability (HCI'07), Beijing, China, ISBN 978-3-540-73104-7, July 2007, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, pp. 802-811.

Sander, I., Roberts, D.J., Smith, C., Otto, O., & Wolff, R., "Investigating the impact of method of immersion on the naturalness of balance and reach activities", In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies (ICDVRAT), Reading, 18-20 September, 2006.

Otto, O., Roberts, D.J. & Wolff, R., "A Review on Effective Closely-Coupled Collaboration using Immersive CVE's ". In ACM International Conference on Virtual Reality Continuum and Its Applications (VRCIA'06), CUHK, Hong Kong, ISBN 1-59593-324-7, 14-17 June 2006, pp. 145-154.

Roberts, D. J., Al-Liabi, M., Wolff, R., Otto, O. & Al-Khalifah, A., "Reducing Fragmentation in Telecollaboration by Using IPT Interfaces". In Proceedings of the 9th IPT & 11th EGVE Workshop., Aalborg, Denmark, ISBN 1727-530X, October 2005, pp. 212-216.

Otto, O., Roberts, D.J. & Wolff, R., "A Study of Influential Factors on Effective Closely-Coupled Collaboration based on Single User Perceptions". In Proceedings of the 8th Annual International Workshop on Presence, University College London, UK, ISBN 0-9551232-0-8, September 2005, pp. 181-188.

Otto, O. & Roberts, D.J. & Wolff, R., "Analysing Display Influence on a Close Coupled Task based on a Single User Evaluation", International Telework Academy Conference Preston & Liverpool, 2005.

Al-Khalifah, A. H., Woff, R., Alexandrov, V. N., & Roberts, D.J., "Case Study: Interacting with Volumetric Medical Datasets in Networked CAVE Environments". In Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 5669, Visualization and Data Analysis, ISBN 0-8194-5642-X, San Jose, California, March 2005, pp. 350-359.

Roberts, D. J., Wolff, R., Otto, O., Kranzlmüller, D., Anthes, C., & Steed, A., "Supporting Social Human Communication between Distributed Walk-in Displays". In Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST'04), Hong Kong, November 2004, pp. 81-88.

Roberts, D. J., & Wolff, R., "Controlling Consistency within Collaborative Virtual Environments". In Proceedings of 8th IEEE International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real-Time Applications (DS-RT'04), Budapest, Hungary, October 2004, pp. 46-52.

Wolff, R., Roberts, D. J., & Otto, O., "Collaboration around Shared Objects in Immersive Virtual Environments". In Proceedings of 8th IEEE International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real-Time Applications (DS-RT'04), Budapest, Hungary, October 2004, pp 206-209.

Roberts, D. J., Otto, O., & Wolff, R., "Pushmepullyou: The Reality of Interaction with Shared Objects in Networked Walk-in Displays". In Proceedings of the ISCA 17th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems (PDCS'04), San Francisco, California USA, September 2004, pp. 470- 477.

Seelig, M., Harwin, W., Roberts, D. J., Otto, O., & Wolff, R., "A Haptic Interface for Linked Immersive and Desktop Displays: Maintaining Sufficient Frame Rate for Haptic Rendering." In Proceedings of the ISCA 17th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems (PDCS'04), San Francisco, California USA, September 2004, pp. 478-483.

close

  CONTACT

Berlin, Germany