News & Awards

Rationality Enhancement News 02-10-2020 Gabriela Iwama is back Gabriela supported the Rationality Enhancement Group before and we are happy to welcome her back! Gabriela Iwama

Empirical Inference Award 01-10-2020 Bernhard Schölkopf awarded with "Deutscher KI-Innovationspreis" on October 1, 2020.

Embodied Vision Award 01-10-2020 Rama Kandukuri, Jan Achterhold, and Jörg Stückler receive an Honorable Mention at GCPR 2020 for their paper "Learning to Identify Physical Parameters from Video Using Differentiable Physics". Rama Kandukuri Jan Achterhold Jörg Stückler

Rationality Enhancement News 01-10-2020 Amazing! Both tools won Micro Grants from ClearerThinking.org! Congratulations to each team on making it to the final round of ClearerThinking's Micro-Grant competition! Falk Lieder Gabriela Iwama Hernán González Ella Eisemann Victoria Amo

Haptic Intelligence Appointment 01-10-2020 Hasti Seifi becomes Assistant Professor at University of Copenhagen

Embodied Vision News 01-10-2020 Honorable Mention at GCPR 2020 for our paper Learning to Identify Physical Parameters from Video Using Differentiable Physics We received a honorable mention at this year's DAGM GCPR 2020 for our paper Learning to Identify Physical Parameters from Video Using Differentiable Physics by R. Kandukuri, J. Achterhold, M. Moeller and J. Stueckler Rama Kandukuri Jan Achterhold Jörg Stückler

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-10-2020 Wendong Wang becomes Assistant Professor at UM-SJTU Joint Institute

News 29-09-2020 The Max Planck-ETH PhD program: Call for Applications The Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems is offering funded PhD positions for 2021. The deadline for applications is November 2, 2020. Sarah Danes

Embodied Vision News 25-09-2020 Code Release: "Planning from Images with Deep Latent Gaussian Process Dynamics" We released the source code for our paper "Planning from Images with Deep Latent Gaussian Process Dynamics" by Nathanael Bosch, Jan Achterhold, Laura Leal-Taixé, and Joerg Stueckler Nathanael Bosch Jan Achterhold Jörg Stückler

Physical Intelligence News 24-09-2020 Solar-battery effect enables a new light-driven organic microswimmer to operate in the dark An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Max Planck Institutes for Intelligent Systems and Solid State Research has developed a biocompatible microswimmer made of carbon nitride, which they can propel forward through light. The particle can also store solar energy similar to miniature solar cells equipped with batteries, and can thus also swim in the dark using the stored energy. Even if the illumination is turned off, it can move forward for about half an hour with just 30 seconds of prior illumination. The photo-charging ability of this newly developed microswimmer opens up many opportunities for targeted drug delivery, environmental remediation, and other potential applications for such photo-chargeable micro- and nanomachines. Varun Sridhar Metin Sitti Filip Podjaski Bettina Lotsch

News 22-09-2020 New AI in medicine initiative launched “Offers the opportunity to pool the region’s many strengths and give Baden-Württemberg global visibility in the field” The University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institutes for Biological Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems have launched a new initiative for the use of artificial intelligence in medicine and the life sciences. “The current pandemic shows that we need to become faster and more efficient in fighting global health threats. In the future, we must thus make much greater use of the potential of AI. The new initiative offers the opportunity to combine all our strengths and give Baden-Württemberg global visibility when it comes to AI applications in medicine,” said Science Minister Theresia Bauer, who welcomed the initiative for closer cooperation in the field of AI and medicine, on Tuesday. Michael Black Valerie Callaghan

Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 15-09-2020 CMOS chip projects ultrasound movies Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Stuttgart and IMS CHIPS develope ultrasound projector on base of a CMOS chip Scientists of the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart have developed a digital chip that can be used to project movies with ultrasound. The researchers report on this in an article in the magazine "Nature Communications". The ultrasound projector is based on a special microchip that was developed and manufactured at the Institut für Mikroelektronik Stuttgart (IMS CHIPS). The chip generates targeted micro bubbles that can be switched on and off digitally (via the chip) in rapid succession. This makes it possible for the first time to protect high-resolution holographic images that change over time. Peer Fischer Tian Qiu Kai Melde Athanasios Athanassiadis Zhichao Ma Claudia Daefler

News 15-09-2020 ELLIS inaugurates 30 research units at leading institutions across Europe At a virtual event on Tuesday, the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems presented the broad scope of research its units will cover in the field of modern AI. Bernhard Schölkopf

Perceiving Systems Autonomous Vision Empirical Inference Probabilistic Numerics Probabilistic Learning Group News 10-09-2020 ELLIS PhD Program: Call for Applications The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems offers an interdisciplinary PhD program. The ELLIS PhD program is a key element of the ELLIS initiative and its goal is to foster and educate the best talent in machine learning related research areas by pairing outstanding students with leading academic and industrial researchers in Europe. The program supports excellent PhDs across Europe by giving them access to leading research through boot camps, summer schools and workshops of the ELLIS programs. Every PhD student is supervised by one ELLIS fellow/scholar and one ELLIS member from a different country and conducts a 1 year exchange at the other location.

News 09-09-2020 Chancellor Angela Merkel and Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann visit Cyber Valley In several virtual tours, they gained insights into the latest research on artificial intelligence “Cyber Valley is a prime example of Germany’s attractiveness of Germany as a location for AI. Science and business are working hand in hand and showing how excellent research can be successfully transferred into innovative applications and business models,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, following a virtual tour of Cyber Valley facilities with Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg. “The Federal Government will continue to support AI research and technology transfer. With the ‘Future Package’, we are providing an additional two billion euros for AI ecosystems of international appeal, attractive conditions for talent, and state-of-the-art computing infrastructures.” Bernhard Schölkopf Michael Black

Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 09-09-2020 Detecting the handedness of a single nanoparticle Nature Communications Stuttgart, 9. September 2020: Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a new spectroscopic-microscope, which can be used to observe a single nanoparticle in real time. This enabled the first detection of a nanoparticle’s handedness while it is freely moving in solution. The results of their research paves the way for optical measurements with high detection sensitivities down to single molecules and in samples of ultra-low volumes. Peer Fischer Jan-Philipp Günther Johannes Sachs Andrew Mark Claudia Daefler

Haptic Intelligence Award 09-09-2020 Ph.D. student Saekwang Nam and Katherine J. Kuchenbecker jointly win the EuroHaptics 2020 Award for Best Poster Saekwang Nam Katherine J. Kuchenbecker

News 01-09-2020 Aamir Ahmad appointed Tenure-Track Professor at the University of Stuttgart The leader of the Perceiving Systems Department’s Robot Perception Group is joining the university’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy effective September 1, 2020. Ahmad will be adding robotics and AI to the aerospace faculty's fields of research. Aamir Ahmad Michael Black Valerie Callaghan

Haptic Intelligence Appointment 01-09-2020 Ad Spiers becomes Lecturer at Imperial College London

Rationality Enhancement News 01-09-2020 Lovis Heindrich joined our lab! Welcome, Lovis! Reinforcement learning, machine learning, and using AI to make a positive impact! Lovis Heindrich

Intelligent Control Systems Appointment 01-09-2020 Sebastian Trimpe becomes Full Professor at RWTH Aachen

Haptic Intelligence Appointment 01-09-2020 Yasemin Vardar wird Assistenzprofessorin an der TU Delft

Physical Intelligence Award 01-09-2020 Meng Li, Sungwoo Chun and Shuaizhong Zhang received the Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.

Modern Magnetic Systems News 27-08-2020 Demonstration of k-vector selective microscopy for nanoscale mapping of higher order spin wave modes Nanoscale Backcover Higher order spin wave modes are deconvoluted by their k-vector and directly imaged with X-ray microscopy, achieving <20 nm spatial and <40 ps temporal resolution. These real space measurements allow a direct insight into the inner workings of complex spin wave systems and reveal their fine structure and localization profi le. While confirming analytical theory on the nanoscale, design paths towards multimode signal transmission in magnonic waveguides are shown. Joachim Gräfe Nick-André Träger

Haptic Intelligence News 27-08-2020 Three scientists from MPI-IS Stuttgart accept appointments at top universities across Europe The researchers from Katherine Kuchenbecker's Haptic Intelligence Department see their time at the MPI-IS as a valuable springboard for the next step in their academic careers. Hasti Seifi, Ad Spiers, and Yasemin Vardar are set to take up their new positions in the coming month. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Hasti Seifi Adam Spiers Yasemin Vardar Valerie Callaghan

Robotic Materials News 25-08-2020 Christoph Keplinger joins MPI-IS as new Director With the appointment of the 36-year old Austrian, the Max Planck Society has attracted a world-renowned scientist whose background and expertise perfectly complement and extend the research at MPI-IS and within the Cyber Valley ecosystem Dr. Keplinger’s research focuses on fundamentally challenging current limitations of materials and components used to build robots. He is regarded as a pioneer in the field of bio-inspired soft robotics and a rising star in the international robotics and materials science communities. As an MPI-IS director, he has founded the new “Robotic Materials” department. Dr. Keplinger will have a decisive influence on the future development of the institute as well as on the excellence of Cyber Valley, Europe’s largest research consortium in the field of AI. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Metin Sitti Christoph Keplinger

News 25-08-2020 Ksenia Keplinger appointed Group Leader of the new independent Organizational Leadership & Diversity group The group will investigate research questions at the intersection of technology and organizational leadership and contribute to more diversity and inclusion, particularly around women in the workplace, at MPI-IS and beyond. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker

Empirical Inference News 13-08-2020 Stefan Bauer elected CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar The research group leader at the MPI-IS is one of thirteen early-career researchers that have been elected. He will join the “Learning in Machines & Brains“ CIFAR research program. Stefan Bauer

Empirical Inference Award 13-08-2020 Stefan Bauer elected CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. The research group leader at MPI-IS is one of thirteen early-career researchers that have been elected. He will join the "Learning in Machines & Brains" CIFAR research program.

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-08-2020 Hamed Shahsavan becomes Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo

Empirical Inference News 28-07-2020 From picking up a cube to writing with a pen – learning dexterous manipulation skills on real-world robotic systems MPI-IS in Tübingen is hosting a challenge that aims to advance the state of the art in robotic manipulation and make the field more accessible to a greater number of researchers From August 3, researchers around the world are invited to take part in a challenge where each team can run its algorithm on standardized robotic platforms. The tasks range from manipulating a cube to writing with a pen. Participants can advance research, demonstrate that their algorithm works best not only in simulation but also on a real-world task, and win prizes. Stefan Bauer Manuel Wüthrich Bernhard Schölkopf Felix Widmaier / Kloss Vaibhav Agrawal Ossama Ahmed Ann-Sophie Bähr Annika Buchholz Lieya Duong Jonathan Fiene Walter Gasparetto Anirudh Goyal Felix Grimminger Felix Grüninger Bilal Hammoud Shruti Joshi Georg Martius Heiko Ott Ludovic Righetti Sebastian Stark Naomi Tashiro Frederik Träuble Ruben Werbke Jonathan Williams

Physical Intelligence News 27-07-2020 Self-healing soft material outsmarts nature A soft material that heals itself instantaneously is now reality. A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and at Pennsylvania State University tune the nanostructure of a new stretchable material in such a way that it now entirely recovers its structure and properties at the blink of an eye after being cut or poked. The squid-inspired material could revolutionize the research field of soft robotics. Since it can reverse any undergone damage, it makes many real-world applications possible in which robots have to deal with dynamic and unpredictable environments. Abdon Pena-Francesch Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence News 24-07-2020 Hakan Ceylan wins the 2020 Günter Petzow Prize The senior research scientist in the Physical Intelligence Department received the award during the virtual 2020 Intelligent Systems Summer Colloquium Hakan Ceylan Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Metin Sitti

Rationality Enhancement News 19-07-2020 Mike Prentice joined our lab! Welcome to the Rationality Enhancement Group! Despite all the Covid-19 obstacles, Mike is finally officially joining the RE group! Mike Prentice

Empirical Inference Award 16-07-2020 Bernhard Schölkopf receives Marsilius Medal and holds Marsilius Lecture "Symbolische, Statistische und Kausale Intelligenz" at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Intelligent Control Systems News 10-07-2020 Sebastian Trimpe appointed full professor at RWTH Aachen University The Cyber Valley research group leader has taken on the “Data Science in Mechanical Engineering” chair Sebastian Trimpe

Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 09-07-2020 MaxPlanckForschung reports on our work and the acoustic hologram Winzige Teilchen mithilfe von Ultraschall zu manipulieren oder gar zu beliebigen Mustern zu arrangieren, das gelingt mit der Methode der akustischen Holografie. Forscher um Peer Fischer vom Stuttgarter Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme haben diese Technik erfunden. Nun arbeiten die Physiker schon an deren Anwendung in der Medizin. Kai Melde Zhichao Ma Peer Fischer

News 06-07-2020 MLSS 2020 Tübingen: the first-ever virtual event starts with a bang Participants from 39 countries on five continents are attending the online event. With lectures, round table discussions, and social events, several of the world's top machine learning scientists are interacting with promising young researchers at the Machine Learning Summer School Bernhard Schölkopf Mijung Park Georgios Arvanitidis Wittawat Jitkrittum Valerie Callaghan

Physical Intelligence News 02-07-2020 Video: Microrobots roll against blood flow to deliver drugs With the help of magnetic fields, the bots might one day navigate the circulatory system to target tumors Drug-carrying microrobots offer a way to deliver treatments straight to where they are needed, such as tumors deep within the body. But most bots designed in labs have so far been limited to easy-to-reach targets such as the gut. Now, researchers have developed drug-delivering “microrollers” that can move against blood flow (Sci. Robot. 2020, DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aba5726). With the help of a magnetic field, these two-faced particles might one day navigate our circulatory system to deliver treatments to tumors. The microrollers are coated on one side with magnetic materials and on the other with antibodies specific to cancer cells. These antibodies would help the particles selectively bind to tumors in the body, where they could release their payload. This targeted approach could minimize exposure of healthy cells to cancer drugs, reducing side effects. Metin Sitti Yunus Alapan Ugur Bozuyuk

Statistical Learning Theory Award 01-07-2020 Ulrike von Luxburg got appointed as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina.

Smart Nanoplasmonics Appointment 01-07-2020 Laura Na Liu heads Physics Institute at the University of Stuttgart

Rationality Enhancement News 01-07-2020 Maryam Elenguebawy joined our lab! Welcome, Maryam! Originally from Egypt, Maryam studies Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrueck. She joined the Rationality Enhancement Group on July 1 as a student assistant. She is interested in Neuroscience and Human-Computer Interaction (usability experience). Maryam Elenguebawy

Empirical Inference Award 26-06-2020 Alex Hawkins-Hooker, Mateo Rojas-Carulla, Bernhard Schölkopf and Gabriele Schweikert are one of the winning teams of the Encode Imputation Challenge.

News 23-06-2020 The Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems: The greatest success would be... ...if the centre were to be absorbed into something bigger, says ETH Professor Thomas Hofmann. The Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems (CLS) is the first joint research centre between ETH Zurich and the German Max Planck Society (MPG). In May 2020, it celebrated its fifth anniversary and was extended for another five years. In this interview, the centre’s co-director Hofmann takes stock, looks to the future and explains why the topic of artificial intelligence requires thinking beyond national borders.

News 19-06-2020 Yoshua Bengio will hold the Max Planck Lecture 2020 This year's lecture is being held online on June 23 The world-leading scientist in the field of deep learning will discuss how machine learning could be used in combination with contact tracing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 Valerie Callaghan

Perceiving Systems News 17-06-2020 New video-based approach to 3D motion capture makes virtual avatars more realistic than ever With Video Inference for Body Pose and Shape Estimation (VIBE), scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a neural network that makes video-based 3D motion capture more accurate, faster, and less expensive. Michael Black Nikos Athanasiou Muhammed Kocabas Valerie Callaghan

Perceiving Systems Award 16-06-2020 Nikos Kolotouros and Dimitrios Tzionas are recognized as CVPR 2020 Outstanding Reviewers.

Movement Generation and Control Dynamic Locomotion Robotics News 16-06-2020 Four-legged robot makes research comparable worldwide Solo 8 is a new research robot, developed as an open-source project in the German cities of Tübingen and Stuttgart. The dog-resembling, torque-controlled quadruped is capable of very dynamic movements. It is made entirely of 3D printed parts and off-the-shelf components, which makes it an easy to replicate platform ideal for fundamental research in legged locomotion and robotic education. The project aims to provide robotic research labs around the world with an easy-to-assemble legged robot kit that doesn’t break the bank. Additionally, software on Solo 8 is constantly improved and publicly available on GitHub. In return, the scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems hope to exchange insights with other teams. Running experiments on the same platform creates comparative data – an ideal foundation for rapid progress in the research field of robotics. Felix Grimminger Avadesh Meduri Majid Khadiv Julian Viereck Manuel Wüthrich Maximilien Naveau Vincent Berenz Steve Heim Felix Widmaier / Kloss Jonathan Fiene Alexander Badri-Spröwitz Ludovic Righetti

Perceiving Systems News 16-06-2020 Michael J. Black awarded “test of time” prize at the 2020 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) Black, a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), has been awarded the Longuet-Higgins Prize. The award honors research that has made a significant impact in the research field of computer vision. Michael Black Valerie Callaghan

Perceiving Systems Award 16-06-2020 Michael J. Black: receives 2020 Longuet-Higgins Prize at the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). The prize is given annually for "Contributions in Computer Vision that Have Withstood the Test of Time." Given for the paper: Sun, D., Roth, S., Black, M. J., "Secrets of optical flow estimation and their principles," In IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), pages: 2432–2439, IEEE, June 2010

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