Student Theses: From Application to Submission

Find a topic you're interested in from our list of Open Thesis Topics.

Hint: Your best opportunity for securing a thesis topic is to establish a personal connection with us. We strongly encourage you to enroll in our courses and seminars, especially those with smaller numbers of participants. This allows you to demonstrate your passion for robotics, showcase your potential, and allow us to assess your fit for our research projects firsthand.

We typically receive far more project requests than our current supervision capacity allows. To effectively select the best suited candidates, we ask you to write a motivation letter of approximately two pages that addresses the following points:

• The title of the topic you are interested in and the preferred start date.
• Introduce yourself, including your study program, grades, past research experience or achievements. Mention any relevant exams or coursework that have prepared you for this thesis.
• Programming skills: share your favorite programming language and operating system, and assess your level of expertise in it. Give examples that show your experience such as past projects, internships, or links to repositories on github.
• Suitability for the topic: explain why you believe you are a strong candidate for a thesis in robotics and AI. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your potential and passion for the topic in a convincing way. Tell us, for example, what fascinates you about the field, or key takeaways or skills gained from previous coursework or projects (including personal hobbies or side projects), and provide specific evidence that makes your passion for robotics and AI believable and distinct.

Please send this as a PDF via email to the topic's supervisor or person you're interested in (not the professor). The use of chatbots is strongly discouraged. 

We would like to make the results of your thesis public and part or our research. For this, we need your agreement.

• Step 3.1: Download and read the thesis contract and the license agreement. If you are not a German speaker, we recommend using the Deepl translator, so you can understand the document, fill it out and sign it. In case of any questions, ask your Advisor/Main Examiner. If you are enrolled in a German study program and write your thesis in English, download and sign the additional language agreement, saying that you will also submit a German abstract along with your thesis and English abstract.
• Step 3.2: Check your C@mpus account, go to "My Requests", download the registration form and sign it.
• Step 3.3: Send all the files (approved proposal, thesis contract, license agreement, additional language agreement, C@mpus registration form) to the lab secretary.

You have to officially register your thesis at the examination office (Prüfungsamt).

Once you have a copy of the signed version of the registration form, send it via e-mail to the Examination Office. Your registration will also be confirmed via e-mail. After this happens, the clock is ticking and you have six months to work on and submit your thesis. 

You will be given a detailed task description of your thesis project. This description includes an initial set of papers, a suggested plan for structuring your six months as well as the grading criteria. We also have regular meerings with you. Start writing your thesis report from the very beginning. Create a thesis project using the LaTeX template available here.

• Submission of a draft report: One month before your deadline expires, you should submit a draft of your work to your main supervisor.
• Sick note: If you get sick and have a doctor's sick note, the examination committee (EC) must be aware of it. Send them the original sick note via internal mail, along with a copy of it via e-mail (with your supervisor's secretary in cc). The extension of your deadline will be communicated to your examiner(s) and the secretary (+ examination office).
• Final presentation: you can either make a presentation of your thesis before your deadline expires or a few weeks after the submission, which will be part of your final grade. Should you decide for a presentation before the deadline (we don't recommend it), you need to make sure that your final results are already available. In any case, ask your supervisor to schedule a 30-minute timeslot with the professor and other interested lab members. We also ask for an intermediate presentation half way into the thesis with the professor.
• Remember that students enrolled in an English study program only need to provide an English abstract, while students in German study programs must provide both German and English abstracts along with the final thesis.
• If you need an extension inform your advisor as soon as possible. Extensions can be given in case of exceptional events from one to three months before the deadline expires, and they require the signature of the examiner. The form can be downloaded here.

Your thesis report is due within 6 months after registration at the examination office. The faculty website describes the process in detail: Handing of the thesis (Faculty 5). The report must be submitted as a printed version (2x hard copies) and a digital copy (.pdf). The digital version will be published via OPUS if you have agreed to it in the beginning of the thesis registration process.

• Step 6.1 - Submission of the printed version:
  Title page of the Department. The template is here. Deviations, such as additional logos, are not accepted. 
  Signed Declaration: The submitted thesis (.pdf and hard copy) must include a signed declaration that verifies that you wrote the thesis on your own by only using the mentioned resources/literature (personal declaration).
  Additional copies of the title page: Please also hand in two additional copies of your title page separately; they will be stamped and signed. One is for you; one is to prove that you handed in within the deadline.
  The formal requirements of the printed version are:
  • Any kind of adhesive binding is allowed (spiral bounding is not allowed).
  • Please add a transparent sheet on the front and a black sheet on the back of your thesis.
  • Contact of the Kopierlädle.
• Step 6.2 - Submission of the digital version:
  To submit your thesis electronically, attach the PDF of your report to an e-mail to your supervisor with the secretary in cc. The report has to contain title page, English (and German) abstract, sources and signed declaration. Also attach to this e-mail the abstract(s) in .txt-format. The secretary will confirm the digital submission.
  For written code, provide a link to the GitHub repository in your digital submission and share your code with your supervisor.
  If you need a tentative 4,0-confirmation (= you have passed, but the final grade is not done yet), please add this information in the submission email. This will only be done in special cases, e.g., when you need the confirmation for enrollment in a consecutive study programme or a job offer. The 4,0 gets overwritten as soon as the final grade has been determined.
• Step 6.3 - Organize the final presentation:
  If you have opted to hold the final presentation of your thesis after the submission of the digital and printed versions, please ask your supervisor to schedule the final 30-minute presentation. This will be part of your final grade.
• Step 6.4 - OPUS:
  As soon as you have received the final grade, it is time to upload your thesis to the university’s publication server, OPUS. This can only be done if you meet the general requirements and have agreed to the license agreement. If you get stuck with this task, check the FAQ list in the university’s library.