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Former MPI-IS doctoral researcher Dr. Rachael Bevill Burns has been selected to lead a Max Planck Partner Group, strengthening the ties and fostering collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart, Germany and the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) in the USA.
Burns was enrolled in the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS), one of the largest doctoral programs of the Max Planck Society. It is a joint program of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the University of Stuttgart, and the University of Tübingen, where Burns earned her doctoral degree in Computer Science. During her doctoral studies, Burns was a member of the Haptic Intelligence Department at MPI-IS before relocating back to her home country, the USA, at the end of 2024. In early 2025, she became an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UTK, where she founded the Social Tactile & Assistive Robotics and Intelligence (STARI) Lab. Becoming a Max Planck Partner Group Leader recognizes both the outstanding interdisciplinary research Burns pursued in her IMPRS-IS doctoral thesis titled “Creating a Haptic Empathetic Robot Animal That Feels Touch and Emotion” and the future research she plans to conduct in the coming years.
“The main goal of my group is to create dynamic, expressive robots for clinical care. I’m excited to utilize the knowledge and experience I gained by working in the Haptic Intelligence Department as I start my own research focus with the STARI lab. It’s an incredible honor to be selected as a Partner Group Leader, and I’m thrilled to continue collaborating with and contributing to the MPI-IS scientific community,” says Burns.
During her time in Germany, she and MPI-IS Director Dr. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker, who heads the Haptic Intelligence Department, have collaborated on several projects, including HERA, which stands for “Haptic Empathetic Robot Animal”. HERA is intended to demonstrate new technical capabilities that therapists could use to teach children with autism about safe and appropriate touch.
“There are two thrusts to the work we are planning”, explains Kuchenbecker. “First, we will advance efforts to create low-cost and accessible hardware and software for high-performance soft tactile sensors that can be attached to existing robots with rigid links. Second, we have just started a new project named KOALA, which is a collaboration with researchers at the University of Tübingen; here, Rachael will work with me and three other members of our institute to help design a koala robot to support therapy for children with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This large project funded by the BMBF was somewhat inspired by the touch-interactive koala robot HERA that Rachael created as a doctoral researcher, so it is wonderful that she can be involved to keep developing this idea and tailor it to an important local clinical need.”
“We will use features such as tactile perception and emotional expressiveness to create robots that are engaging and easy to understand,” says Burns. “As well as clinical settings, I’m also planning to extend our work to human-AI teaming situations, such as construction and warehouse settings. I suspect that giving robots the ability to perceive and engage in non-verbal communication may be useful in these contexts as well.”
Since 1999, the Max Planck Society has been supporting outstanding young foreign scientists who wish to return to their home countries after a research stay of at least six to twelve months at a Max Planck Institute. Max Planck Partner Groups are set up for a maximum of five years and receive funding of up to €20,000 per year. The groups, whose selection is overseen by international experts, strengthen the collaboration between an MPI and excellent young scientists from abroad. For Burns, the funding will facilitate her continued involvement in the research projects she initiated as a doctoral student in Stuttgart. In addition, her partner group will serve as an ideal point of contact for qualified US-based scientists who wish to conduct research in Germany.
Since the program’s inception in 1999, a total of 269 partner groups have been established, of which 105 were active worldwide in 2024. The Partner Group program was originally set up exclusively for cooperation with China, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the partner. In 2004, the program was opened to groups in India and later worldwide. The first US Partner Group was established in 2023. There are currently three Partner Groups active in the USA, and three more will be established this year – including Burns’ group.
“I am delighted that Rachael has been selected as a new Max Planck Partner Group Leader so that we can continue working together to give social robots a sense of touch,” says Kuchenbecker.
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