Start your thesis with missing credits

In the last examination board meeting it was decided that it is possible to start the master thesis even if up to 9 credits are missing. So it is possible to begin the master thesis with 81 Credits.

Also every master student that studies under the new MPO, can take more credits in one module then needed and decide later which courses should count for the final grade. For example after taking the course Sensors, it is possible to take Signal Processing and Computer Vision and chose the best two grades out of three.

For any questions regarding this, please refer directly to Mr. Götze.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Best wishes from your A&R Helpers team. This was a succesful year for us, we found an accomodation for every new student and many seniors moved to better appartments. The goals for the next year, are to decrease your average study time and to take care that as many topics as possible will be offered by the "Technische Universität Dortmund".

Study hard for Computer Systems and read the script of it for several times, before the exam.

2nd Movie Event

The next movie event will start on monday 17.12. at 17.00 at the same room like the 1st movie event. P1 4th floor in the rooms of the "AG Datenverarbeitung", thanks to the whole team, for supporting us at this event.

The movie will be "Das Boot", one of the best German movies ever. Director: Wolfgang Petersen

NRW Ticket

The results for the election of NRW tickets or not are out. 30% of all students voted, which is a very high number compared to other elections.

• 80% voted for the NRW Ticket
• 30% to repeat a boycott of tuition fees

So it looks like the NRW ticket will come next term SS08. Lets all hope the best, it will be a great thing for all of us. We need to pay 30€ more and can then move around in whole area of NRW, which is the biggest state in Germany.

Source: ASTA Dortmund

1st Movie Event

You are welcome to join us at our first movie evening which is
tomorrow ( 22.11.07 ) at seminar room of P1-04 (Physics Building, 4th
Floor) at 18.30.

Our first movie is "The Lives of Others - Das Leben der Anderen".
Last years Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winner movie. Original sound with subtitle.

Below you can see the details about the movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/

Guided city tour

We are planning a guided city tour, where we will visit Reinoldikirche, Florianturm and some other places in the city. The tour will be on 26th of October, Friday, and we will meet at main entrance of Dortmund Hauptbahnhof at 15:00.

We invite the whole Automation and Robotics students and especially the new students. Kindly participate in the event to make it successful. If there will be considerable participation, we are planning to continue these kind of tours to some museums, industry etc. in the future.

Your A&R Orientation Tutors

Oceans Thirteen for free

The UNI Film Club shows today Oceans Thirteen for free. At Emil Figge Str. 50 in room at HS 1. Start is at 20:15. The movie is in German language.

Source

Group Projects WS 2007/2008

The group projects for the Winter semester 07/08 will start with a short presentation on

Friday 19.10. at 11:00 am in room C1-04-105 Chemistry Building

Afterwards you can directly register for one of the following group projects:

1. Supervised Learning of Vision Based Robot Navigation (Dr. Frank Hoffmann, RST)
2. Implementation of navigation software for the mobile robot "Robotino" (Sören Kerner, IRF)
3. Development of the control software for a lab model of a pipeless plant (Tobias Neymann, AST)

For questions about this please approach the people assigned to each project before the 19.10.

Time schedule for Winter Term 2007/2008

The new timetable is online and can be found here (PDF). The lessons starts normally in the week of the 14.10. Despite Fundamentals of Robotics for the new batch. There will be no training before the first lesson. Object Oriented Programming will start at 16.10.!

For the students of the third term, I just can give the hint to visit the web pages of the lessons or professors to get information about starting date. If you know something please send me a mail, I will publish it then.

The timetable may content false information, like in the past. Please refer to Mr Burda for any complaints or questions.

Courses of the first semester for Automation and Robotics

Below is the list of courses of the 1st semester A&R. These description is just a personal meaning, it is not official by the University of Dortmund or any official representative. Please use this only as a hint and try to build your own opinion.

The most important tip for you is to directly repeat content of lecture after it was given. Do not shift it to the next day. No matter how late it is and how tired you are. After you arrived at home repeat the lectures from the day.

Mathematics:

The mathematics lectures were delivered by Mr. Peter Furlan. He really gives you the required basic knowledge of Mathematics. He is used to give assignments in the class, even though it is not mandatory to complete those assignments, they don’t have any weight in final exam, but it will be very helpful for your final preparation if you submit these assignments as he checks those regularly and mark your mistakes. The other cool thing about Mathematics is that you are allowed to take 16 pages A5 size handwritten booklet in the final exam. Start preparing this booklet right from your first lecture, you can start with a rough one and then at the end you can neat that. But be careful, you will have just 120 minutes in the exam so prepare it in a way that it can help you in the exam, for example, if you write too small and everything is mixed up it’s not going to help you.

Computer Systems:

Mr Schwiegelsohn delivered in the WS 06/07 the Computer Systems lectures. No doubt he is among the best professors of the university. He encourages discussions in lectures, try to participate in that, it really will increase your interest in the subject a lot. From last year he had changed the pattern of the exam, before it was open book but now it is closed book exam. So the format of the exam is also a bit different now. Earlier there were more technical questions and very few things which you have to copy paste from the script. But now you really need to memorize the script. Last year exam, which you can find from the web, can give you a nice idea about the exam. In Computer Systems you are allowed to take 1 A4 size paper with you. You may write as small as you wish, print outs are also allowed.

Fundamentals of Robotics:

Mr. Hoffmeier conducted the Fundamentals of Robotics lectures. You have to memorize the whole script in Fundamentals of Robotics, no other tip. If you are good in Denavet Hartenberg conventions, it can help you because you will get a problem from this topic with very high weight, in our time it weighted approximately 25 percent of the whole marks.

Logic Control:

Logic Control is taught by Mr. Sonntag. This is a subject where you can get good marks, and improve your overall grade. Here you should not infer that you will good results even if you don't study, this only means that if you put equal effort in every subject then this could be the subject which gives you higher output. You also have an advantage here that you have to submit a home assignment , which makes 25% of the final marks. The instructions are not to work in groups, otherwise your marks will be divided between you and your partner. They definitely will know if you worked in groups because the questions always have many possible solutions, so the advice is to do as it is said. In tutorials you will be given knowledge of some software’s, sometimes it’s a bit boring, but try to learn those, it will be helpful for the whole subject understanding.

The Welcome Presentation from the Kick-Off Meeting 8. October

Here is the presentation that Kiran held for the Kick-Off Meeting at monday 8.10. It contains a lot useful information for new students of A&R.

View Presentation

Visit Kick-Off 07-08

Dear future and current A&R students,

The new semester Kick-Off of our department will be on Monday, 8^th of October, at 9:30 a.m., at the Campus Nord, Building ET-A, Friedrich-Wöhler-Weg, Seminarraum 3.21.

Please be kind to attend our Orientation Tutorial. Below you can see the tutorial plan:

Bigger Map

Tutorial Plan

• 09:30 Introduction

• 09:45 Presentation of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Götze

• 10:30 Presentation of Automation&Robotics Council

  • Advices and Hints About Life in Germany and University from Senior Students.
    Brief information on

    • Accommodation

    • Lectures

    • German Courses

    • A&R Council

    • Answers to Your Concerns and Questions

• 11:30 Short break -- Meet your colleagues

• 11:45 Campus Tour

Your A&R Orientation Tutors

PC Pools

As you are already aware, almost for all of your lectures, you will need a personal computer. And not only for scientific issues, but also for all of the information about your lectures, communications with your friends and professors will be processed in internet. Whether you have a PC and your own internet connection, Faculty of Elektro- und Informationstechnik(ET/IT) provides you this service by its PC Pools. Faculty server of ET/IT is called RETINA.

In order to use Retina pools, all you have to do is to fill out a registiration form, which will also be provided by us at the day of kick-off, and submit them. In the map below, you can see the oversight wiev of our campus and the locations of Retina pools.

After your registiration, you will be ablo to use scanners and printers in PC Pools. And each semester Retina enables your account to have 50 pages of print-out for free. If you need more than 50 pages, you can buy print-quote from the Student Union of Faculty (Fachschaft Elektrotechnik, FSET).

Our faculty is also a member of the programme "Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance" (MSDNAA). So all the students, including A&R Students, can have many Microsoft softwares for free during their studies.

A brief list of available softwares

• All Desktop Operating Systems

• SQL Server, Exchange Server, ....

• Windows Server

• MSDN Library CDs

• Knowledge Base technical support library

• Visual Studio, inclusive Academic tools

• ...

Both for additional print-quote and MSDNAA opportunities of Retina, you have to visit FSET.

Opening hours:
Tuesday: 14:00-14:30
Thursday: 16:00-17:00

and for more information. (German)

Campus Life

During your studies, your life will not be full of only your classes, there also will be campus life after them. University of Dortmund offers an active campus social life, special events, performances, sports activities, clubs and student organizations. Our campus is equipped with many sport facilities, which are run by AHS (Allgemeiner Hochschulsport der Universität Dortmund).

Whether you're a serious athlete or just trying to stay in shape, want to learn a new sport or practice your skills, AHS has a wide range of Sports program you can enjoy. Sports program provides all students, staff and faculty the opportunity to participate in fun sports and activities. These include a variety of team and individual sports and special events such as basketball, indoor & outdoor soccer, swimming, volleyball, table tennis and dancing. No experience is needed to participate.

For more information:
AHS
Emil-Figge-Str. 50, room 3.442 (Campus Nord)
44221 Dortmund

Opening hours:
During lecture periods
Monday and Thursday: 12 am - 2 pm
Wednesday: 10 am - 3 pm

During vacation periods
Wednesday: 11 am - 3 pm

Telephone: (0231) 755-3796

Mobile Phone (Handy)

There are four GSM companies operating in Germany, which are T-Mobile (D1), Vodafone(D2), O2 and EPLUS. And there are also many other service providers which buy service from these operators and sell them to customers with their own special offers.

You may already have a cell phone with your home country's GSM operator, but because of roaming prices, it will be a expensive choice to use them in Germany. So we assume that, you all want to have a German “handy”.

When you want to buy a service from one of these providers, first thing you have to decide is the type of your contract. You have two possibilities: you may choose to make a contract for two years, which also include cell phone for free or for very cheap prices, or you may have a prepaid contract.

• Mobile Phone with a Contract (Handy mit Vertrag)

These contracts are usually valid for two years. There are lots of opportunities but they are basically formed of starting price (Anschlusspreis), a monthly price (monatlich Preis)which usually includes free minutes, and after spending your free minutes additional minutes are charged depending on your contract tariff.

• Prepaid Contract

As you are probably familiar with the similar services in your own countries. In this type of contracts you pay nothing more than you speak. But there are also many tariff options for prepaid ones too. You can use your own cell phone with a prepaid contract in Germany

All these companies have special tariffs for students, which allow you have free minutes and a cell phone very cheaply. They often make special offers for a limited time. All you have to do is take all these criterias into consideration and decide the most suitable one for your own needs.

Transportation

The tuition fee that you pay in order to enroll at the University in the beginning of each semester, includes a ticket for public transportation in region VRR too (VRR is an abbreviation which stands for Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr). By this student-ID-ticket you are allowed to travel with almost every integrated public transport vehicle in between Rhein and Ruhr rivers, which include Bus, U-Bahn, H-Bahn, S-Bahn, Regional Bahn(RB), Regional Express(RE) transportation lines.

You can also travel to neighbor cities such as Bochum, Essen, Duisburg, Mönchengladbach and Düsseldorf as well as in Dortmund, of course.

There are also many websites in internet which help you to plan your route to your desired destination.

VRR

DB

Websites offer their services in English too. You just need to fill in your origin and destination addresses to corresponding fields. In a few seconds more than one travel options will appear on your screen. You may choose one of them considering travel time and vehicles.

Bank Account

Having a bank account is very practical and necessary in order to arrange your financial incomes and expenditures, and with a cash/ATM card you can withdraw money from cash machines and free yourself from the bank opening hours . If you already have one, which is also available in Germany (e.g. Citibank or Deutsche Bank) then you may keep working with these accounts.

You can pay the rent, health insurance monthly wages and those regular but varying costs, like the telephone bill by direct debit or a standing order debit. They can be taken care of with a direct debit instruction.

Two German banks (Sparkasse Dortmund and Dortmunder Volksbank) run their offices at the campus; however before you open a checking account, you should compare the fees charged by various institutions run out of the campus.

Health Insurance

Students in Germany, no matter where they're from, are all insured with public health insurance companies. First find out whether your insurance at home will also cover doctor's and hospital fees during your stay in Germany. If not, or if insurance coverage is not sufficient, you will have to take out an additional insurance.

If you’re privately insured, you cover your medical expenses yourself. Then your insurance company will reimburse you. But the hospitals aren’t cheap. Under German law, there is an additional charge, aside from treatment, of € 10 per day for In-patients. However, this is limited to 28 days a year. If the decision is up to you whether or not to go into the hospital, you should first talk with your insurance company. Due to the expense and other formalities, it might be easier to visit a hospital in your home country.

In case of emergencies, dialing 110 or 112 on your phone will put you in touch with an emergency physician. You can dial these numbers free of charge from any telephone booth.

You need a health insurance to enrol at the University. You'll find the following offices located directly at the campus, however there are also several more available in the web and throughout Germany.

Techniker Krankenkasse

The TK bureau at the campus agreed to offer a special service especially for Automation and Robotics. The local office will provide special consultations and brochures in English.

TK Dortmund-Campus

Vogelpothsweg 85

44227 Dortmund

For more information, feel free to contact

AOK

The local bureau of AOK at the campus:

AOK Studenten-Service Dortmund
Vogelpothsweg 78 44227 Dortmund
(Very close to the University Train Station)

They also have a webportal especially for students in this area of the Germany, where you can find information about their services in English and in seven other languages.

Authorities/Registiration

After finding yourself a residence, your first stop should be the Resident Registration Bureau, which is a local authority for the registration of residents in a municipal district. This is where all people have to register (Anmeldung) within one week of moving into a new apartment or home in Germany and remove their registration (Abmeldung) before living the district.

You'll need a copy of the rental agreement or other documented proof of where you're living.

Your next stop The Foreigners' Affairs Office (Ausländerbehörde), which is a govermental authority responsible for issuing residence permits. Students form non-EU countries must apply for a residence permit before the visa (usually granted for three months) expires.

Following documents are needed for Approval:

- Valid visa (for non-EU students)
- Completed application form (available at the univisersity's Office for International Affairs)
- Valid passport
- Proof of health insurance
- Copy of rental agreement
- Three (3) passport-size photos

Accommodation

In order to register yourself to authorities like Resident Registeration Bureau and Office for foreigners' Affairs, you need an official address of correspondence. So first and also one of the most important thing you have to do is to find yourself a residence.

Depending on your personal precedences, demands and needs. There are lots of different opportunities for accommodation. But taking costs and comfort into consideration, dormitories of the University look like the best choice. Although you have to register for that and wait in a queue because of the admission procedure.

University residences are administrated by Studentenwerk Dortmund.

For finding your own place to stay, there are also many other private dormitories, residences, communities and companies.

• Private Dormitories in Dortmund

  Student Dormitory Roncalli-Haus
  Von-der-Recke-Str. 40 44137 Dortmund
  Tel: 0231 / 128013

Student Dormitory Poppelsdorfer Straße 162
Poppelsdorferstr. 162 44137 Dortmund
0231 / 12 60 24 0231 / 18 48 288

Thomas-Morus-Kolleg
Amalienstraße 21a 44137 Dortmund
0231 / 16 06 11

Private Student Dormitory Barop
Herr Schlitze
0231 / 71 98 86

Private Student Dormitory Eichlinghofen
Herr Bucks
0172 / 29 138 58
info@bucks-immobilien.de

• Residences run by Religious Institutions

  ESG http://www.esg-dortmund.de/

  KHG http://www.khg.uni-dortmund.de/

• Flats run by Companies

  Dogewo http://www.dogewo.de/

• Communities (WGs)

  For those who arrive in Germany alone, flat sharing in so-called “Wohngemeinschaften”, is a good way to get to meet people.

  Some links for these communities:

  • http://www.studenten-wg.de/

  • http://www.wg-welt.de/

  • http://www.wg-gesucht.de/

Offers of accommodation are available also on notice boards at the University and in local newspapers.

AStA of University Dortmund offers help for Apartment searching too.

Tuesdays: 16:00 - 18.00 p.m.
Asta, Emil-Figge-Straße 50 (ground floor)

Anne-Christin Lutter
Telefon: 0231 / 755 - 6247
wohnraumvermittlung@gmx.de

And of course feel free to contact to us and your other seniors at the department.