Author: News

Emotion, Cognition, and Immersive Technologies: Towards Adaptive Interventions for Mental Wellness

Last week, Rayna Ney from Mobiliar Lab for Analytics at ETH Zurich (ETH Zürich) gave a talk at the Media Informatics Group (LMU). Titled “Emotion, Cognition, and Immersive Technologies: Towards Adaptive Interventions for Mental Wellness,” her talk explored how we can support user mental wellbeing in contexts such as VR and how this can translate…
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Can EMG coupled with a VR experience act as a therapeutic aid to modulate stress?

Our PhD candidate and researcher Melanie Baumgartner joined XR4Rehab alongside Delsys to demo VRxBioRelax —a real-time EMG biofeedback experience that brings embodiment and cognition into sharp focus. By streaming trapezius signals from Delsys Trigno® Avanti sensors into a VR landscape, participants can literally see and steer the interplay of muscle tension and progressive relaxation, stress,…
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Generative AI for Wellness Applications via User Generated Immersive Virtual Environments

How can Generative AI empower users to actively shape immersive environments tailored for personal wellness? We’re excited to announce that Rayna Ney presented her work “Generative AI for Wellness Applications via User Generated Immersive Virtual Environments” at the CHI 2025 workshop on Generative AI and Human-Computer Interaction (GenAICHI 2025). In her paper, Rayna explores how…
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Are Machines Becoming Emotionally Aware? Our Design Explores How Robots Could Adapt to Human States

We were thrilled to present our research, BioSyncHRI, a real-time adaptive system that integrates biosignals like EEG, sEMG, and HRV into VR surgical simulators at at CHI 2025 in Yokohama as part of the Workshop on Envisioning the Future of Interactive Health. In this research, we examine how robots can adjust to the emotional and cognitive states of human operators—improving…
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Adaptive Confidence-Weighted LLM Infusion for Financial Reinforcement Learning

How can we make financial AI models more trustworthy, cautious, and accurate in their market valuations? We’re happy to share that Aydin Javadov, PhD student at Mobiliar Lab for Analytics at ETH Zurich, coauthored a paper presented at the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Data and Security (IDS), in the special track on Financial Reinforcement Learning…
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Bridging the Knowledge Gap: Understanding User Expectations for Trustworthy LLM Standards

How do users define “trustworthy” when it comes to large language models? We’re excited to share that Michaela Benk, newly minted PhD, from Mobiliar Lab for Analytics at ETH Zurich presented our latest research at AAAI 2025! Our study, “Bridging the Knowledge Gap: Understanding User Expectations for Trustworthy LLM Standards”, explores how users interpret and…
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CTRL+ALT+RELAX – New exhibition

In the tension between digital assistance and hustle, the exhibition CTRL+ALT+RELAX invites you to take a breather. The exhibition opening on March 6 is based on the research of the Lab. It explores the opportunities and risks of digital helpers and how to manage work-related stress with and without their support. The exhibition provides answers…
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Dialog with UN Special Rapporteur

UN special Rapporteur Mama Fatima Singhateh and Nouf Al Anezi from the UN Human Rights office visited the ETH AI Center yesterday. During their visit they discussed opportunities and risks of AI for society with Dr. Jennifer Wadsworth, PhD, Prof. Giorgia Ramponi, Prof. Inge K Herrmann, Dr. Rita Sevastjanova, Prof. Peter G. Kirchschläger, Adrian Notz and our Lab director Dr. Erika Meins. 

National and International Media Coverage

The ETH News about our research on stress at the workplace received a large amount of coverage in national and international media this year. The coverage includes interviews and articles in a variety of media outlets including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bayern 2, SWR 2,  ARD (at 1:30 min), ZDF,…
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Publication in BMC Digital Health

Technology can indeed help against stress. In our new study, we show that a virtual reality-supported biofeedback intervention programme can improve indicators of stress and comes with good user experience. Is this the future of stress management? Read the full article here. This research was a collaboration between Jasmine Kerr, Raphael Weibel, Mara Nägelin, Dr. Andrea Ferrario, Prof. Victor Schinazi, Dr. Roberto La…
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