HCI Research Internship Program
This is an internship program for international undergraduate and graduate students of Computer Science and related fields. During their internship, students will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience with HCI research in an internationally leading lab. They will be closely guided by members of the team in working on trending topics in interactive technologies and learn methods that underlie technical HCI research.
The program targets Masterâs students and advanced undergraduate students (starting after the end of year two).
Specifically, we are looking for people with basic skills in at least one of the following points:
Program dates: The 2026 program runs between May 1 to Sept 30, 2026 and will be in-person at Saarland University in SaarbrĂźcken, Germany. The typical duration is 3 to 5 months. Travel (return ticket, economy class) and accommodation for the duration of the internship will be covered by the lab.
Online application: Interested candidates may fill up this form. You will need to upload your transcripts, resume, and a personal statement detailing your motivation for applying, how the program would help your future goals, and explaining your project preferences based on your skills and prior experiences. Further details can be found in the form. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews via e-mail.
Application deadline: Applications must be submitted by 11:59 PM CET on Thursday, January 15, 2026.
List of Research Projects for the Internship
Project 1 – Programmable delay in passive actuations
Field of study: Metamaterials, fabrication, shape change
Description: Passive actuations offer many advantages: they are simple, lightweight, energy-free, and easy to integrate into a wide range of systems. However, one fundamental limitation remains – passive actuators typically respond instantaneously, providing no way to control when the actuation happens. In contrast, motor-driven systems can precisely schedule or modulate actuation timing, enabling richer interaction behaviors. We want to add this missing element in passive actuation systems by exploring how to introduce programmable, controllable time delays. The goal is to preserve the elegance and simplicity of passive mechanisms while adding a new temporal dimension to their behavior.
Nature of student involvement: The student will be actively involved in all parts of the project.
Skills we are interested in (donât need to cover all):
- Prototyping and fabrication experiences (especially 3D printing and working with elastic materials)
- Conducting mechanical tests
- Designing and implementing shape-changing systems
- Modeling (Fusion, Rhino, etc.)
Contact: yjiang@cs.uni-saarland.de
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Project 2 – Augmenting Human Perception Through Proprioceptive Motion Feedback
Field of study: Body actuation, proprioception, haptics, wearable robotics
Description: Systems that actuate the human body, such as exoskeletons or electrical muscle stimulation, are gaining traction in HCI for their potential to enhance physical abilities. For instance, they can assist in physically demanding tasks, support motor learning, or enhance VR experiences. This project seeks to explore innovative ways in which body-actuating systems can augment the userâs perception of their own body and surrounding through proprioceptive motion feedback. The project builds on ExoKit [1], an exoskeleton toolkit, which we will use to deploy and test novel interaction concepts in a physical prototype.
New to proprioceptive feedback? Our recent publication [2] is a good example that showcases the broad potential of proprioceptive motion feedback for altering a userâs body perception.
Nature of student involvement: The involvement is flexible and up to discussion as to which part of the project the student wants to be more involved in. Possible contributions include: Developing novel interaction concepts using ExoKit, advancing ExoKitâs software and hardware components and/or designing and conducting user studies relevant to the project.
Skills we are interested in (donât need to cover all):
- Prototyping experiences with Arduino or other microcontrollers, sensors (e.g. load cells) and actuators (e.g., servo motors); prior experience in 3D modeling and printing is useful but not mandatory
- Solid experience in planning and conducting user studies
- Knowledge of robotics and motion control (bonus: first experiences with exoskeletons)
- Strong interest in learning about proprioceptive feedback and augmented humans
Contact: muehlhaus@cs.uni-saarland.de
[1] âExoKit: A Toolkit for Rapid Prototyping of Interactions for Arm-based Exoskeletonsâ (https://hci.cs.uni-saarland.de/projects/exokit/)
[2] âMove with Style! Enhancing Avatar Embodiment in Virtual Reality through Proprioceptive Motion Feedbackâ (https://hci.cs.uni-saarland.de/projects/movewith-style/)
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Project 3 – In-situ AR guidance for public speaking
Field of study: AR/VR, Multimodal Large Language Models
Description: The advances in multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) allow us to infer different kinds of information about a user and their context. Meanwhile, wearable augmented reality (AR) devices provide a rich, immersive canvas to enhance the userâs experience through situated visual feedback. This project seeks to combine the power of multimodal AI and AR to develop a new class of seamless interactive systems that can provide in-situ just-in-time contextual guidance tailored for public speaking.
Nature of student involvement: Students will work on the development of LLMs and/or develop AR/VR applications on Unity that are relevant to the project.
Skills we are interested in (donât need to cover all):
- Experience with Unity and strong programming skills in C#
- Programming and development skills in Python (frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow)
- Experience with integrating and fine-tuning LLM (or MLLMs) and CV models into interactive systems
Contact: ram@cs.uni-saarland.de
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Project 4 – Investigating Haptic Human-Agent Interaction
Field of study: Human-AI interaction, haptic wearables, VR/AR
Description: Most AI agents are limited to visual or auditory in- and output, such as personal voice assistants or visual avatars. In this project, we want to investigate if adding haptics can enhance the interaction with intelligent virtual agents in different spaces (reality, VR, AR).
Nature of student involvement: The involvement is flexible depending on the student’s focus. Possible key aspects are developing a novel haptic device with 3D printed components, creating a concept and implementing an intelligent virtual agent, and designing and conducting a user study.
Skills we are interested in (donât need to cover all):
- Prototyping experiences with microcontrollers, actuators and 3D printing
- Experience in planning and conducting user studies
- Implementation experience with intelligent virtual agents
- Experience in AR/VR application development
Contact: kulzer@cs.uni-saarland.de
