Dr. rer. nat. Simon Völker

Affiliated Researcher

Room 2204
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+49 241 80-21058

I am the head of the Study Center Computer Science at the RWTH Aachen University and affiliated Researcher at Media Computing Group. Until 2020 I was the deputy head (Akademischer Oberrat) of the Media Computing Group. My work and research interests are in a wide range of topics within the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), including but not limited to ubiquitous computing, personal fabrication, touch input, interactive surfaces, and tangible user interfaces.

Before I started as a researcher, I received a Ph.D (2016) and a Diploma (2010) in computer science at RWTH Aachen University. 

For more details, take a look at my personal site: simonvoelker.net
I am also the coordinator of the board of examiners of the computer science department at RWTH Aachen University.
If you have any questions regarding the board of examiners please contact me via the online form of the computer science department.

Research Projects

Teaching

Projects

FAB101 FLApp 3D-Kompetenzzentrum Niederrhein Personal Photonics Tabula Abend der offenen Tür / Open House Night until 2008
MACS: Maritime Control Systems of the Future until 2015

Publications

An arrow marks a major peer-reviewed archival publication.

2023

• Sebastian Hueber, Johannes Wilhelm, René Schäfer, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. User-Aware Rendering: Merging the Strengths of Device- and User-Perspective Rendering in Handheld AR. In Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., pages 18, number MHCI, September 2023.
  
• Anke Brocker and Simon Voelker. Flowboard: Visual Flow-Based Embedded Programming for Young Learners.  In 21. Fachtagung Bildungstechnologien (DELFI), pages 269–270, Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., Bonn, September 2023.
  
• Adrian Wagner, Paul Miles Preuschoff, Philipp Wacker, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. FabricFaces: Combining Textiles and 3D Printing for Maker-Friendly Folding-Based Assembly.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '23, pages 7, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, April 2023.
  
• Anke Brocker, Ekaterina Nedorubkova, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Exploring Shape Designs for Soft Robotics and Users’ Associations with Them.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '23, pages 7, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, April 2023.
  
• Anke Brocker, René Schäfer, Christian Remy, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Flowboard: How Seamless, Live, Flow-Based Programming Impacts Learning to Code for Embedded Electronics. In ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, pages 36, number 1, March 2023.
  

2022

• Anke Brocker, Jakob Strüver, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. SoRoCAD: A Design Tool for the Building Blocks of Pneumatic Soft Robotics.  In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts, CHI EA '22, pages 7, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, April 2022.
  

2020

• Philipp Wacker, Oliver Nowak, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Evaluating Menu Techniques for Handheld AR with a Smartphone & Mid-Air Pen.  In Proceedings of 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, MobileHCI '20, pages 10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, October 2020.
  
• Sebastian Hueber, Christian Cherek, Philipp Wacker, Jan Borchers and Simon Voelker. Headbang: Using Head Gestures to Trigger Discrete Actions on Mobile Devices.  In Proceedings of 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, MobileHCI '20, pages 10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, October 2020.
  
• Simon Voelker, Sebastian Hueber, Christian Holz, Christian Remy and Nicolai Marquardt. GazeConduits: Calibration-Free Cross-Device Collaboration through Gaze and Touch.  In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '20, pages 451:1–451:10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2020.
  
• Simon Voelker, Sebastian Hueber, Christian Corsten and Christian Remy. HeadReach: Using Head Tracking to Increase Reachability on Mobile Touch Devices.  In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '20, pages 739:1–739:12, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2020.
  
• Philipp Wacker, Adrian Wagner, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Heatmaps, Shadows, Bubbles, Rays: Comparing Mid-Air Pen Position Visualizations in Handheld AR.  In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '20, pages 719:1–719:11, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2020.
  

2019

• Nur Al-huda Hamdan, Adrian Wagner, Simon Voelker, Jürgen Steimle and Jan Borchers. Demonstration of Springlets: Expressive, Flexible and Silent On-Skin Tactile Interfaces.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '19, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
  
• Anke Brocker, Simon Voelker, Tony Zelun Zhang, Mathis Müller and Jan Borchers. Flowboard: A Visual Flow-Based Programming Environment for Embedded Coding.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '19, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
  
• Krishna Subramanian, Ilya Zubarev, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Supporting Data Workers to Perform Exploratory Programming.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '19, pages 6, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
  
• Christian Cherek, David Asselborn, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Off-Surface Tangibles: Exploring the Design Space of Midair Tangible Interaction.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '19, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
  
• Christian Corsten, Marcel Lahaye, Jan Borchers and Simon Voelker. ForceRay: Extending Thumb Reach via Force Input Stabilizes Device Grip for Mobile Touch Input.  In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '19, pages 212:1–212:10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
  
• Philipp Wacker, Oliver Nowak, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. ARPen: Mid-Air Object Manipulation Techniques for a Bimanual AR System with Pen & Smartphone.  In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '19, pages 619:1–619:10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
  
• Nur Al-huda Hamdan, Adrian Wagner, Simon Voelker, Jürgen Steimle and Jan Borchers. Springlets: Expressive, Flexible and Silent On-Skin Tactile Interfaces.  In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '19, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
  

2018

• Philipp Wacker, Adrian Wagner, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Physical Guides: An Analysis of 3D Sketching Performance on Physical Objects in Augmented Reality.  In Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on Spatial User Interaction, SUI '18, pages 10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, October 2018.
  
• Krishna Subramanian, Johannes Maas, Michael Ellers, Chat Wacharamanotham, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. StatWire: Visual Flow-based Statistical Programming.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '18, pages LBW104:1–LBW104:6, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2018.
  
• Philipp Wacker, Adrian Wagner, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Physical Guides: An Analysis of 3D Sketching Performance on Physical Objects in Augmented Reality.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '18, pages LBW626:1–LBW626:6, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2018.
  
• Christian Corsten, Simon Voelker, Andreas Link and Jan Borchers. Use the Force Picker, Luke: Space-Efficient Value Input on Force-Sensitive Mobile Touchscreens.  In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '18, pages 661:1–661:12, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2018.
  
• Nur Al-huda Hamdan, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Sketch&Stitch: Interactive Embroidery for E-Textiles.  In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '18, pages 82:1–82:13, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2018.
  
• Florian Heller, Jan Thar, Dennis Lewandowski, Mirko Hartmann, Pierre Schoonbrood, Sophy Stoenner, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. CutCAD - An Open-source Tool to Design 3D Objects in 2D.  In DIS '18: Proceedings of the 2018 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS '18, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2018.
  
• Christian Cherek, Anke Brocker, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Tangible Awareness: How Tangibles on Tabletops Influence Awareness of Each Other’s Actions.  In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '18, pages 298:1–298:7, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2018.
  

2017

• Christian Corsten, Bjoern Daehlmann, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. BackXPress: Using Back-of-Device Finger Pressure to Augment Touchscreen Input on Smartphones.  In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '17, pages 4654–4666, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2017.
  
• Christian Corsten, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Release, Don’t Wait! Reliable Force Input Confirmation with Quick Release.  In Proceedings of the 2017 ISS Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces, ISS '17, pages 246–251, ACM, New York, NY, USA, Oct 2017.
  

2016

• Simon Voelker. Towards Interactive Desk Workspaces. PhD Thesis, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, September 2016.
  

2015

• Simon Voelker, Christian Cherek, Jan Thar, Thorsten Karrer, Christian Thoresen, Kjell Ivar Øvergård and Jan Borchers. PERCs: Persistently Trackable Tangibles on Capacitive Multi-Touch Displays.  In UIST '15: Proceedings of the 28th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, UIST '15, pages 6, ACM, New York, NY, USA, November 2015.
  
• Simon Voelker, Kjell Ivar Øvergård, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. Knobology Revisited: A Comparison of User Performance between Tangible and Virtual Rotary Knobs.  In ITS '15: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 35–38, ACM, New York, NY, USA, November 2015.
  
• Christian Cherek, Simon Voelker, Jan Thar, Rene Linden, Florian Busch and Jan Borchers. PERCs Demo: Persistently Trackable Tangibles on Capacitive Multi-Touch Displays.  In Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 389–392, ACM, New York, NY, USA, November 2015.
  
• Simon Voelker, Andrii Matviienko, Johannes Schöning and Jan Borchers. Combining Direct and Indirect Touch Input for Interactive Desktop Workspaces using Gaze Input.  In Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction, SUI '15, pages 10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, August 2015.
  
• Florian Heller, Simon Voelker, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. Transporters: Vision & Touch Transitive Widgets for Capacitive Screens.  In CHI '15: Extended Abstracts of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 1603–1608,April 2015.
  

2014

• Simon Voelker, Christian Corsten, Nur Al-huda Hamdan, Kjell Ivar Øvergård and Jan Borchers. An Interaction Model for Grasp-Aware Tangibles on Interactive Surfaces.  In ITS '14: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 279–282, ACM, New York, NY, USA, November 2014.
  
• Simon Voelker, Christian Corsten, Nur Al-huda Hamdan, Kjell Ivar Øvergård and Jan Borchers. An Interaction Model for Touch-Aware Tangibles on Interactive Surfaces.  In CHI '14: Extended Abstracts of the 2014 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems,April 2014.
  
• Jan Borchers, Christian Corsten, Max Möllers and Simon Voelker. Von der Fläche zur Kurve: Multi-Touch auf beliebigen Oberflächen und Objekten.  In Multi-Touch: Interaktion durch Berührung, Xpert.press, pages 369–392, Springer Verlag,  Incollection, February 2014.
  
• Kosuke Nakajima, Yuichi Itoh, Simon Voelker, Christian Thoresen, Kjell Ivar Øvergård and Jan Borchers. PUCs: Detecting Transparent, Passive Untouched Capacitive Widgets on Unmodified Multi-touch Displays.  In Proc. IPSJ Interaction '14: Proceedings of the Conference on Information Processing Society of Japan, pages 108–113, Information Processing Society of Japan, 2014.
  

2013

• Fabian Hennecke, Simon Voelker, Maximilian Schenk, Hauke Schaper, Jan Borchers and Andreas Butz. PerspectiveTable: Blending Physical and Virtual Collaborative Workspaces.  In Workshop on Blending Interaction, Workshop Paper, Paris, France, April 2013.
  
• Simon Voelker, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. An Evaluation of State Switching Methods for Indirect Touch Systems.  In CHI '13: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 745–754, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2013.
  
• Nur Al-huda Hamdan, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Conceptual Framework for Surface Manager on Interactive Tabletops.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2013 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '13, pages 1527–1532, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2013.
  
• Fabian Hennecke, Simon Voelker, Maximilian Schenk, Hauke Schaper, Jan Borchers and Andreas Butz. Simplifying Remote Collaboration Through Spatial Mirroring.  In INTERACT '13: Proceedings of the 14th IFIP TC13 Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT '13, pages 624-631, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013.
  
• Simon Voelker, Kosuke Nakajima, Christian Thoresen, Yuichi Itoh, Kjell Ivar Øvergård and Jan Borchers. PUCs: Detecting Transparent, Passive Untouched Capacitive Widgets on Unmodified Multi-touch Displays.  In ITS '13: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 101–104, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2013.
  
• Simon Voelker, Kosuke Nakajima, Christian Thoresen, Yuichi Itoh, Kjell Ivar Øvergård and Jan Borchers. PUCs Demo: Detecting Transparent, Passive Untouched Capacitive Widgets.  In ITS EA '13: Extended Abstracts of the ITS '13: Proceedings of the 2013 ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 325–328, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2013.
  
• Simon Voelker, Kosuke Nakajima, Christian Thoresen, Yuichi Itoh, Kjell Ivar Øvergård and Jan Borchers. PUCs Demo: Detecting Transparent, Passive Untouched Capacitive Widgets on Unmodified Multi-touch Displays.  In UIST EA '13: Extended Abstracts of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, pages 1–2, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2013.
  

2012

• Simon Voelker, Christine Sutter, Lei Wang and Jan Borchers. Understanding Flicking on Curved Surfaces.  In CHI '12: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '12, pages 189–198, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2012.
  

2011

• Malte Weiss, Chat Wacharamanotham, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. FingerFlux: Near-surface Haptic Feedback on Tabletops.  In UIST '11: Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, pages 615–620, ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 2011.
  
• Simon Voelker, Malte Weiss, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. Dynamic Portals: A Lightweight Metaphor for Fast Object Transfer on Interactive Surfaces.  In ITS '11: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 158–161, ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 2011.
  

2010

• Malte Weiss, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. The BendDesk Demo - Multi-touch on a Curved Display.  In ITS '10: Adjunct Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 317, ACM, New York, NY, USA, November 2010.
  
• Malte Weiss, Simon Voelker, Christine Sutter and Jan Borchers. BendDesk: Dragging Across the Curve.  In ITS '10: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 1–10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, November 2010.
  
• Simon Voelker. BendDesk: Seamless Integration of Horizontal and Vertical Multi-Touch Surfaces in Desk Environments. Diplomarbeit, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Jun 2010.
  

2009

• Malte Weiss, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. BendDesk: Seamless Integration of Horizontal and Vertical Multi-Touch Surfaces in Desk Environments.  In Adjunct Proceedings ITS ’09. ACM, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2009.