News & Awards

Dynamic Locomotion News 13-09-2019 Humanoids 2019: Trunk Pitch Oscillations in Humanoids Humanoids 2019: Trunk Pitch Oscillations in Humanoids Trunk Pitch Oscillations in Humanoids: Oezge Drama will present her work at Humanoids 2019, in Toronto, Canada. Oezge Drama Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Dynamic Locomotion News 12-09-2019 CoRL2019: A Learnable Safety Measure CoRL2019: A Learnable Safety Measure Steve Heim and Alexander von Rohr will present 'A Learnable Safety Measure' at CoRL end of November 2019. Steve Heim Alexander von Rohr Sebastian Trimpe Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Dynamic Locomotion News 13-08-2019 Frontiers in Neurorobotics: Series Elastic Behavior of Biarticular Muscle-Tendon Structure in a Robotic Leg Frontiers in Neurorobotics: Series Elastic Behavior of Biarticular Muscle-Tendon ... Felix Ruppert Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Dynamic Locomotion News 05-08-2019 TR-O: Beyond Basins of Attraction: Quantifying Robustness of Natural Dynamics TR-O: Beyond Basins of Attraction: Quantifying Robustness of Natural Dynamics Steve Heim Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Physical Intelligence News 22-07-2019 Jiachen Zhang receives Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship The scientist working in the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart will be supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for two years to continue his soft robotic research in Germany. Jiachen Zhang

Physical Intelligence News 02-07-2019 Jellyfish-inspired robot wins Best Paper Award in prestigious Robotics Science & Systems Conference The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart who invented Jellyfishbot win the Best Paper Award at a prestigious robotics conference and have their work published in Nature Communications. Their research holds great potential when investigating the impact of environmental changes in the ocean’s ecosystem. Another aim is for Jellyfishbot to be applied in the treatment of cancer. Metin Sitti Xiaoguang Dong Wenqi Hu Ziyu Ren Tianlu Wang Valerie Callaghan

Physical Intelligence News 25-06-2019 Novel approach to self-assembling mobile micromachines How the components come together depends on their design and shape and the resulting dielectrophoretic forces when exposed to an electric field. Metin Sitti Yunus Alapan Mehmet Berk Yigit

Physical Intelligence News 28-03-2019 Leading researcher in small-scale robotics receives ERC Advanced Grant One of the world's most prestigious research funding programs supports Intelligent Systems research in Stuttgart The European Research Council is awarding a 2.5 million Euros research grant to Dr. Metin Sitti, who is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. Sitti is the head of the Physical Intelligence Department and one of the world's leading researchers in the field of small-scale and soft robotics and its use in medical applications. The funding will go toward ground-breaking basic research in soft-bodied miniature mobile robots. These tiny machines could one day have a radical impact on non-invasive medical interventions and diagnostics. Metin Sitti Richard Segar

Physical Intelligence News 22-03-2019 Metin Sitti publishes a News & Views article in Nature Robotic collectives inspired by biological cells A robotic system has been demonstrated in which the random motion of individual components leads to deterministic behaviour, much as occurs in living systems. Environmental and medical applications could follow. Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Guillermo Amador joined Wageningen University as an assistant professor in Netherlands.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Hakan Ceylan and Metin Sitti's medical microrobotics research was featured as among “5 amazing projects that will change the future of healthcare” by the PC Magazine.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Matthew Woodward joined Tufts University as an assistant professor in USA.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Metin Sitti received the ERC Advanced Grant for the project titled, "SoMMoR: Soft-bodied Miniature Mobile Robots".

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Morteza Amjadi joined Heriot-Watt University as an assistant professor in UK.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Musab Cagri Ugurlu received the Ministry of Education PhD fellowship from Turkey.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Xinjian Fan and Mingtong Li received the CSC PhD fellowship.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Jiachen Zhang and Yichao Tang received the Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2019 Ziyu Ren, Tianlu Wang, Wenqi Hu, and Metin Sitti received the Best Paper Award in the Robotics Science and Systems Conference for the research paper entitled, "A Magnetically Actuated Untethered Jellyfish-Inspired Soft Milliswimmer".

Physical Intelligence Award 19-12-2018 Hamed Shahsavan received the Canadian NSERC postdoctoral fellowship.

Physical Intelligence Award 06-12-2018 Wenqi Hu, Guo Zhan Lum, and Metin Sitti received the Innovator of the Year Award in medical devices topic by the Design & Elektronik Magazine in Germany due to the invention of soft medical robots.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-12-2018 Ahmet F. Tabak and Metin Sitti were the Best Medical Robotics Award Finalist in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Conference for the research paper entitled, “Mechanical Rubbing of Blood Clots Using Helical Robots Under Ultrasound Guidance”.

Physical Intelligence News 22-11-2018 Metin Sitti receives Rahmi Koç Medal of Science Award recognizes most promising researchers of Turkish origin Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence Award 21-11-2018 Metin Sitti received the Rahmi Koç Medal of Science, in Turkey, which is given to one world-wide pioneering Turkish-origin scientist each year.

Dynamic Locomotion Award 01-10-2018 Charlotte le Mouel receives a DAAD postdoctoral fellowship, and joins the Dynamic Locomotion Group. Congratulations, and welcome!

Physical Intelligence News 27-08-2018 A slippery world in bio-inspired robotics A roboticist at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems studies the multifunctional feet of the desert locust and its jumping behavior on different surfaces to extract the traits which contribute to enhancing surface friction and stop slips. The scientist then built a robot inspired by the locust. His findings about the morphological intelligence of the insect contribute to solving the complex locomotion problems seen in even the most advanced robots. This new field of research is increasingly gaining attention within the scientific community, so much so that renowned science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the researcher´s findings in its latest edition. Matthew Woodward Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence Award 13-07-2018 Wenqi Hu received the Günter Petzow Prize.

Physical Intelligence News 28-06-2018 A multifunctional, multiscale, reconfigurable surface Composite surface has features that can move microparticles, mix droplets, repel biofilms and more. Wendong Wang

Physical Intelligence News 22-06-2018 Smart Materials Engineer choses MPI-IS for his NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship Dr. Hamed Shahsavan receives a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the country´s federal funding agency for university-based research and student training in natural sciences and engineering. The smart materials engineer choses the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems for his research stay because of the state-of-the-art facilities provided there. Hamed Shahsavan Metin Sitti

Dynamic Locomotion News 19-06-2018 Cooperation work on Oncilla Open-Source Quadruped Robot Open-Source Quadruped Robot Our publication behind the open-source Oncilla quadruped robot project, developed at the Biorobotics Laboratory at EPFL, Lausanne Switzerland and several other universities in Europe, just has been published. Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Dynamic Locomotion News 21-05-2018 ICRA2018: Shaping in Practice: Training Wheels to Learn Fast Hopping Directly in Hardware Our paper 'Shaping in Practice: Training Wheels to Learn Fast Hopping Directly in Hardware' was accepted for ICRA2018. It will be presented in May 2018 in Brisbane. See you there! Steve Heim Felix Ruppert Alborz Aghamaleki Sarvestani Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Physical Intelligence News 17-05-2018 Research prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for Prof. Dr. David H. Gracias Sabbatical of the recipient will take place in the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart.

Dynamic Locomotion News 14-05-2018 SIMPAR2018: Learning from Outside the Viability Kernel Our paper 'Learning from Outside the Viability Kernel: Why we Should Build Robots that can Fail with Grace ' was accepted for SIMPAR2018. Steve Heim will present his work in May 2018 in Brisbane (SIMPAR: Brisbane, Australia, 16-19 May 2018). Steve Heim Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Dynamic Locomotion News 27-04-2018 Alexander Spröwitz presents research at final meeting of DFG project 'Das verdatete Tier' Alexander Spröwitz gives an invited talk at the final DFG project meeting 'Das verdatete Tier' at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. This DFG project final meeting is organized by Prof. Dr. Stefan Rieger and Ina Bolinski, M.A. . Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Physical Intelligence News 26-04-2018 Multifunctional bacterial microswimmer able to deliver cargo and destroy itself The untethered biohybrid microswimmer is able to transport and deliver cargo encapsulated into a guidable red blood cell, while an attached bacterium, one of the most efficient swimmers in nature, acts as a propeller to move it forward. Once it has reached its destination and delivered its cargo, the scientists can destroy the microswimmer using infrared light. Yunus Alapan Oncay Yasa Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence News 12-03-2018 Yunus Alapan to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings The postdoctoral researcher from the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart is one of the 600 young scientists who is given the opportunity for a week of scientific exchange with the greatest minds in medical research. Yunus Alapan Metin Sitti

Dynamic Locomotion Award 09-03-2018 Steve Heim receives an ICRA 2018 RAS Travel Grant. Congratulations.

Dynamic Locomotion News 26-02-2018 Viktoriia Kamska joins DLG Viktoriia Kamska is joining DLG as a phd candidate researcher. Welcome! Viktoriia Kamska

Physical Intelligence News 22-02-2018 Four Postdoc researchers join the Physical Intelligence Department thanks to a Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Each year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation grants approximately 500 fellowships to Postdoctoral Researchers of all nationalities and disciplines from abroad to continue their research in Germany. Four AvH fellows join the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart. Zoey Davidson Ville Liimatainen Utku Culha Metin Sitti Abdon Pena-Francesch

Physical Intelligence Award 01-02-2018 Abdon Pena-Francesch, Zoey Davidson, Ville Liimatainen, Xinghao Hu, Yubing Guo, and Utku Culha received the Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship.

Physical Intelligence News 25-01-2018 Millirobot with a talent for versatility of movement A magnetic drive allows a tiny untethered vehicle to walk, crawl, jump and swim through a complex environment Tiny robots need not fear obstacle courses in the future: Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have developed a minuscule, flexible robot that can master a variety of forms of movement. Its magnetic drive allows it to walk, crawl and roll through difficult terrain. Moreover, it can transport small loads and swim on and in liquids. In future, tiny robots moving in this way could transport medication specifically to where it is needed. Wenqi Hu Guo Zhan Lum Massimo Mastrangeli Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence News 24-01-2018 Nature-inspired soft millirobot makes its way through enclosed spaces Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems invented a magnetically controlled soft robot only four millimeters in size, that can walk, crawl or roll through uneven terrain, carry cargo, climb onto the water surface, and even swim in it. The inspiration comes from soft-bodied beetle larvae and caterpillars, and even jellyfishes posed as biological models. One day, this small-scale robot may enable targeted drug delivery or minimally invasive surgery, the researchers hope. Its multiple locomotion capability in complex environments is so unique that science journal Nature will publish the researchers´ findings in its February edition. Metin Sitti Guo Zhan Lum Massimo Mastrangeli

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2018 Chang-Kyu Yoon joined Ewha Womans University as an assistant professor in S. Korea.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2018 David Gracias received the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel award from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2018 Guo Zhan Lum joined Nanyang Technological University as an assistant professor in Singapore.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2018 Hakan Ceylan, Immihan Ceren Yasa and Metin Sitti received the Science as Art Award of the Materials Research Society (MRS) in the Fall Meeting, Boston, USA.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2018 Pelin Erkoç joined Bahcesehir University as an assistant professor in Turkey.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2018 Sinan Özgün Demir received the Ministry of Education PhD fellowship from Turkey.

Dynamic Locomotion News 30-10-2017 Open PhD research position [This position is now closed] Open PhD research position in mechatronic design of legged robots for locomotion research. Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Dynamic Locomotion News 29-10-2017 Talk at SWARM 2017 workshop Talk at SWARM 2017 Alexander Badri-Spröwitz

Dynamic Locomotion News 19-07-2017 Benedikt Gyoerfi presents Master thesis Benedikt Gyoerfi presents his Master thesis Benedikt Gyoerfi

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