Hi I'm Jürgen Brandstetter

Currently, I’m a PhD student in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HITLabNZ), which is part of the university of Canterbury. I’m also a full stack developer, android developer, prototyping enthusiast, User Experience Designer, entrepreneur and design thinking tutor. In short, I’m involved in anything that is in hardware or software.

In other words, I do what I love :D

Affiliation(s)

Univeristy of Oxford & Templeton Foundation

I’m part of a research project called “Wordovator”. The research is funded by the John Templeton Foundation and is led by the Univeristy of Oxford. The previour head location was the Northwestern University Press release for the Wordovator project

HITLabNZ & University of Canterbury

I am a PhD student at the HITLab NZ which is part of the University of Canterbury.

Education

University of Canterbury

New Zealand (Now)

Academic Studies in Human Robot Interaction
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Human Interactive Technology

  • Tutor in Design Thinking and UX Design
  • PhD Thesis: Understanding Group Behaviour In The Interaction Between
  • Users and Robots with a Focus on Persuasion and Linguistic Cues

Vienna University of Technology

Austria (2011/09 – 2013/02)

Academic Studies in Media Informatics
Degree: Master of Science in Engineering

  • Human Computer Interaction
  • Software Architecture
  • Master Thesis: Positive Impact Games as a Contribution to Movement Rehabilitation

Copenhagen University

Denmark (2011/01 – 2011/07)

Academic Studies in Computer Science
Degree: Master of Science in Engineering

  • Cluster Algorithms

Vienna University of Technology

Austria (2007 – 2011)

Academic Studies in Media Informatics
Degree: Bachelor of Science in Engineering

  • Software Architecture
  • Bachelor Thesis: Applications for GPS on a Smartphone (BSc)

Secondary College HTBLA of Steyr

Austria (2001 – 2006)

Engineering for Electronic and Computer Science
Degree: University-Entrance Diploma

  • Hardware Design
  • Electronics
  • Computer Science

Work experience

HRI/HCI Research

USA (2014/06 – 2014/10)

Fuse Labs – Microsoft Research

During my time at the FUSE Labs (Microsoft Research) I developed with Kati London and Noah Liebman a two tier tool to persuade co-workers to do more (mico)exercises during work hours. The reason for that was that most societies move to a more and more rigid office type workplace which creates many long term health issues. The two tier were divided into a screen based notification system and a social robot (NAO) based notification system. My main part of the project was to develop the robot side and implement it’s navigation and persuasion algorithms.

Project link(s): Figebot – Workout while working

Technologies Used

  • Python Used as webserver as well as NAO script language
  • NAOqi Is the SDK used to control NAO robots

Android and Web-App Developer

Austria (2012/07 – 2013/02)

OpenResearch

During this time at OpenResearch I worked on a HTML5 e-reader implementation and Android application for Austria’s biggest new paper (HEUTE).

Project link(s): HEUTE Android, HEUTE e-reader
Technologies Used

  • Android
  • Java
  • Ember.js
  • HTML5
  • Javascript

Project Manager, Chief Software Developer

Austria (2010/07 – 2011/10)

TagAPrice

TagAPrice is a consumer-created location-aware price comparison platform. It stated as a bachelor project but formed into a bigger project over time. It was planed to run as a social enterprise. The goal was to make the comsumer-food market more transparent and at the same time help small businesses to survive. My jobs went from analyzing the idea and market. Prototyping and designing the user interface. Developing the front end. Managing the team. Practically product development with a big focus on software development and design.

Project link(s): Tag A Price
Technologies Used

  • GWT (Google Web Toolkit)
  • MongoDB
  • Elastic Search
  • Open Street Map Api

Android Developer

Austria (2010/09 – 2011/02)

OpenResearch

During my time at OpenResearch I was part of the development team creating the Android Application for OEAMTC. Austria’s biggest Automobile club. Parts of that work was to develop cluster algorithms to visualize vast amount of geo-locations in a fast and visually appealing way.

Project link(s): Oeamtc for Android
Technologies Used

  • Android
  • Java

Co-Founder, Project Manager, Chief Developer

Austria (2004/01 – 2010/12)

WERistIN

WERistIN was the name of my company as well as the main product. The goal of WERistIN was to create a localized company and club register. The business module was build on a simple subscription module. We were also cooperating with tourist-terminal makers and city councils(this was before smartphones). After internet technologies started the get mature, we changed from a list base approach (Version 1) to a map based approach (Verstin 2).

My job was to evaluate the market. Work with customers. Work with city councils. Find sponsors and do sponsoring. And create and lead the application development.

Project link(s): WERistin(V1), WERistiN(V2)
Technologies Used

  • GWT (Google Web Toolkit)
  • PHP
  • Javascript
  • MySQL

Project Manager, Chief Developer

Austria (2007/04 – 2007/09)

A-K-D Wohnservice GmbH

A-K-D as a furniture company was changing from a paper based project management solution to a web based solution. My working was to develop an ERP solution in collaboration with all employees. That meant prototyping, interviewing and analyzing the company and it’s information management.

Project link(s): A-K-D ERP
Technologies Used

  • PHP
  • Javascript
  • MySQL

Publications

Can a Robot Bribe a Human? The Measurement of the Negative Side of Reciprocity in Human Robot Interaction.

Reciprocity in Human-Robot Interaction: A Quantitative Approach Through the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the Ultimatum Game

Fidgebot: Working Out while Working

Making HRI Accessible to Everyone Through Online Videos. A proposal for a µMOOC in Human Robot Interaction

  • Year: 2015
  • Conference: HRI 2015

Participants Conform to Humans but Not to Humanoid Robots in an English Past Tense Formation Task

Participants converge to humans but not to humanoid robots in an English past tense formation task

  • Year: 2014
  • Conference: Language and Society 2014

A peer pressure experiment: Recreation of the Asch conformity experiment with robots

Press

Conferences and Barcamps

Since I lived and studied in two of the coolest European cities Vienna and Copenhagen I had the chance to attend many conferences and barcamp. The following is a list of nice events I could attend.

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