Research Statement

Humans, Robots & A.I.

Our goal as researchers is to advance the scientific and technological foundations for creating intelligent machines capable of autonomous interaction and learning in the world of their human creators. We believe this can only be achieved by the co-design of embodiment and intelligence, jointly forming the driving force of advancement. For this, new systems, sensors and materials need to be combined with the vast possibilities of control and machine learning algorithms, ever-increasing computing power, and high-speed network communication. The coming generations of machines will substantially increase our quality of life and work, collectively augment the human scientific intellect and experimentation bandwidth to exponentially accelerate knowledge discovery processes, and enable the cooperative exploration of unknown terrestrial and extraterrestrial worlds. Overall, such systems will form in diverse forms and functions the technological backbone in the globally and ubiquitously hyper-connected cyber-societies of the 21st century.

In our group, we bridge the disciplines of control, robotics, collective machine learning, and human motor intelligence. Our exploratory urge at the frontiers of the known pushes the envelope in these disciplines and allows us to design the fundamental principles for engineering artificial intelligence and intelligent robots. Our robot assistants support the elderly in times of demographic change or human workers in the coming human-centered industrial revolution. We develop brain controlled symbiotic prostheses and exoskeletons that allow disabled people to compensate for lost motor functionalities. The cooperative, networked laboratory helpers provide arbitrarily scalable experimentation to human scientists, allowing for unprecedented knowledge discovery accelerations in molecule synthesis, drug synthesis or cell analysis. The environmental intelligence formed with heterogeneous robot teams enable autonomous habitat exploration, monitoring and intervention on land, water and air. In this detailed Research Statement, we describe our science agenda and contributions across seven distinct research fields that operationalize above vision.

Research Fields

The Robot

The Human

The Discovery

Running Projects (Selected)

euROBIN will create a sustainable network of excellence to foster exchange and inclusion. Software, data and knowledge will be exchanged over the EuroCore repository, designed to become a central platform for robotics in Europe.

→ Funded by: Horizon Europe Framework Programme

Researching on various aspects of Tactile internet with Human-in-the-Loop.

→ Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Dynamic Agile Production Robots That Learn and Optimise Knowledge and Operations.
→ Förderung: EU, 2020

Service Humanoide Garmi for a self-determined life in old age
→ Funded by: stmwi, Longleif

Development of an adaptive and interactive training device to strengthen the back muscles and coordination skills through the innovative construction of a gyroscope-like platform.

→ Funded by: Program for Innovation, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy

Impact Aware Manipulation by Dexterous Robot Control and Learning in Dynamic Semi-Structured Logistic Environments
→ Förderung: EU, H2020

Intelligent interaction control for intuitive human-robot-interaction
→ Funded by: BMBF

Self-reconfiguration of a robotic workcell for the recycling of electronic waste
→ Funded by: EU, H2020

Joint project to develop standards, policy recommendations and tools for the responsible use of AI in biomedicine.

→ Funded by: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Bayerisches Forschungsinstitut für digitale Transformation (bidt)

Mobile robotics hub to protect and monitor our environment.
→ Funded by: Dobeneck Technologie Stiftung

Emergent control of smart machines using dstributed agile collaborative systems.

→ Funded by: BMBF

Completed Projects (Selected)

Automation of intralogistic services
→ Förderung: EU, H2020

Robot supported gait therapy and rehabilitation
→ Funded by: BMBF

Development of a novel mobile robot assistant designed as an effordles usable extensible multifunction platform for a wide range of transport and service tasks on uneven surfaces an in dynamic environements.

→ Funded by: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Landesentwicklung und Energie

Synergy-based robotics technologies for new prostheses, exoskeletons, and assistive devices for upper limb rehabilitation
→ Förderung: EU, H2020