About
Dr. Ata Otaran is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Human-Computer Interaction Lab within the Department of Computer Science at Saarland University. His work focuses on physical human-machine interaction, particularly leveraging haptics for virtual reality and educational interfaces. Prior to this role, he completed his PhD in the Robotics Group at Queen Mary University of London's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, researching ankle gesture-based locomotion techniques for virtual environments.
He holds an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Mechatronics Engineering from Sabanci University, Istanbul, with a minor in Mathematics. His M.Sc. thesis introduced a novel admittance-type force control device for educational purposes. Notable projects include Foot Pedal Control, Metamaterial research, the 3HANDS Dataset initiative, and the WRLKit computational design framework.
His research interests span wearable robotics, metamaterials for shape-changing interfaces, and educational robotics platforms. He is affiliated with the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at Saarland University, where his work bridges theoretical advancements with practical applications in human augmentation and VR interaction. Contact him via email at otaran@cs.uni-saarland.de or visit his office at E 1.7 Room 2.05.
