Miniaturized robots can be propelled through biological fluids by an enzymatic reaction or ultrasound
Nanorobots and other mini-vehicles might be able to perform important services in medicine one day – for example, by conducting remotely-controlled operations or transporting pharmaceutical agents to a desired location in the body. However, to date it has been hard to steer such micro- and nanoswimmers accurately through biological fluids such as blood, synovial fluid or the inside of the eyeball. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart are now presenting two new approaches for constructing propulsion systems for tiny floating bodies. In the case of one motor, the propulsion is generated by bubbles which are caused to oscillate by ultrasound. With the other, a current caused by the product of an enzymatic reaction propels a nanoswimmer.
Bernhard Schölkopf joined the initiative "Latest Thinking"
Exoplanets are planets beyond our own solar system. Since they do not emit much light and moreover are very close to their parent stars they are difficult to detect directly. When searching for exoplanets, astronomers use telescopes to monitor the brightness of the parent star under investigation: Changes in brightness can point to a passing planet that obstructs part of the star’s surface. The recorded signal, however, contains not only the physical signal of the star but also systematic errors caused by the instrument. As Bernhard Schölkopf explains in this video, this noise can be removed by comparing the signal of the star of interest to those of a large number of other stars. Commonalities in their signals might be due to confounding effects of the instrument. Using machine learning, these observations can be used to train a system to predict the errors and correct the light curves.
Our nanorobots are the topic of a special report on robots in the newspaper Die Zeit and Der Spiegel has previously covered our research, also highlights our work in its 2017 March 11 issue.
Guest edited by Jeannette Bohg, Matei Ciocarlie, Javier Civera, Lydia E. Kavraki.
... new big data methods have the potential to allow robots to understand and operate in significantly more complex environments than was possible even in the recent past. This should lead to a qualitative leap in the performance and deployability of robotics in a wide array of practical applications and real settings.
Dr. Peer Fischer, head of the Micro- Nano- and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, has received the World Technology Award 2016. Professor Fischer was selected among 32 nominees and then among six finalists in the category “Information Technology – Hardware” that recognizes achievements in the field of IT hardware, including such significant subcategories as manufacturing and robotics.
On December 8, The Association of Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin granted the Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize for an outstanding PhD thesis in the research area of synchrotron radiation as well as the innovation prize “Synchrotron Radiation”. The award ceremony took place at the 8th BER II and BESSY II Users’ Meeting.
Science and industry form one of Europe's largest research partnerships in artificial intelligence
Intelligent systems will shape our future: they could drive us as autonomous cars, help us out in the home on a daily basis or perform medical services as tiny robots. An initiative by the Max Planck Society and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in the Stuttgart-Tübingen area is bringing together partners from science and industry to establish Cyber Valley where systems can be developed that will be capable of performing such feats. Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Theresia Bauer, Minister of Science in Baden-Württemberg and Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society, together with the other project participants, have launched the initiative on Thursday, 15 December 2016 in Stuttgart's Neues Schloss.
An upcoming workshop in June 2017 will explore applications of probabilistic numerics.
Max Planck Director awarded with most prestigious german funding prize
Awards ceremony on 15 March 2017 in Berlin
A recent meeting at the Leibniz Centre for Computer Science highlights the ongoing significance of analytic nonparametric models for machine learning.
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