News & Awards

Perceiving Systems Autonomous Vision News 25-10-2019 Color patch could throw self-driving vehicles off track Researchers send wake-up call to the car industry A team of researchers in Tübingen show that optical flow systems based on deep neural networks – a likely component of future autonomous cars – are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. The computer vision experts are shaking up the automotive industry by warning car manufacturers around the globe that it could take a simple color pattern to put the brakes on computer vision systems in autonomous cars. Michael Black Andreas Geiger Anurag Ranjan Joel Janai
Locomotion in Biorobotic and Somatic Systems News 23-10-2019 Robert Siddall receives Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship The roboticist from the Cyber Valley research group “Locomotion in Biorobotic and Somatic Systems” at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart will now be supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to continue his research in Germany. Ardian Jusufi
Rationality Enhancement News 22-10-2019 Article about To-Do List Gamification Project in Scientific American Great news! Scientific American published an article about our to-do list gamification project. Falk Lieder
Rationality Enhancement News 15-10-2019 Jugoslav Stojcheski joined our lab Welcome, Jugoslav! Jugoslav is a master's degree student in machine learning at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and a student assistant in the Rationality Enhancement Group. He is interested in artificial intelligence and curious about human behavior, neuroscience and psychology. He joined us from Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Jugoslav Stojcheski
Autonomous Vision News 23-09-2019 Andreas Geiger receives a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC) The funding will be used to advance the field of autonomous vision The MPI-IS group leader and professor at the University of Tübingen will receive a grant of some 1.47 million euros for his "LEGO 3D" project. Andreas Geiger Valerie Callaghan
Rationality Enhancement News 23-09-2019 Julian Skirzynski joined our lab Welcome, Julian! Julian is a researcher at Rationality Enhancement group. He is interested in scientific interests include modeling higher level cognitive processes, synergies between cognitive science and machine learning, explainable AI, and improving cognitive skills. Julian Skirzynski
Embodied Vision News 13-09-2019 Cathrin Elich receives DAGM Best Master Thesis Award Cathrin Elich received this year's DAGM Best Master thesis award at the GCPR 2019 conference for her thesis "3D Birds-Eye-View Instance Segmentation" which she wrote at RWTH Aachen University. Cathrin Elich
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
Rationality Enhancement News 09-09-2019 Yash Raj Jain returned to our lab! Welcome back, Yash! Yash Raj Jain first joined our lab for an internship on measuring and reverse-engineering metacognitive learning in 2018 and has since returned to us to continue his work as a researcher. Thanks, Yash! Yash is pursuing a dual major in Computer Science and Economics at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, India. Yash Raj Jain
Empirical Inference News 04-09-2019 Verleihung des Körber-Preises 2019 Bernhard Schölkopf erhält am 13. September den Körber-Preis im Hamburger Rathaus - im Gespräch mit Ranga Yogeshwar Hamburg, 2. September 2019. Den mit 1.000.000 Euro dotierten Körber-Preis für die Europäische Wissenschaft 2019 erhält der deutsche Physiker, Mathematiker und Informatiker Bernhard Schölkopf. Der Forscher am Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme in Tübingen hat mathematische Verfahren entwickelt, die maßgeblich dazu beitrugen, der Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) zu ihren jüngsten Höhenflügen zu verhelfen. Weltweites Renommee erlangte Schölkopf mit sogenannten Support-Vektor-Maschinen. Bernhard Schölkopf Valerie Callaghan
Rationality Enhancement News 01-09-2019 Valkyrie Felso joined our lab Welcome, Val! Valkyrie Felso has joined our lab as a Ph.D. student working on techniques from reinforcement learning such as inverse reinforcement learning and shaping in order to help people improve their decisions. Welcome Valkyrie! Valkyrie Felso
News 16-08-2019 Isabel Valera appointed Group Leader of the new independent Probabilistic Learning Group The award-winning scientist specializes in research aiming to make machine learning methods more flexible, robust, and fair Isabel Valera Valerie Callaghan
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
Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 02-08-2019 Peer Fischer delivers Nianqiang Lecture at Xiamen University Prof. Fischer delivered the Nianqiang Lecture at the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, and the Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, P.R. China.
Rationality Enhancement News 27-07-2019 Decision advisor put to test In one of our JDM absracts we evaluated a decision advisor by ClearerThinking.org. We found out that it was successful at helping people avoid typical mistakes in making decisions. Gabriela Iwama Falk Lieder
Perceiving Systems News 26-07-2019 Siyu Tang appointed Tenure-track Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich The research group leader in the Perceiving Systems Department specializes in the development of computer-aided processes for the perception and digitisation of people and their activities in crowded scenes Siyu Tang
Perceiving Systems Embodied Vision News 26-07-2019 Ten papers accepted at ICCV 2019 The Perceiving Systems Department, the Embodied Vision Group and the Autonomous Vision Group at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems are well represented at one of the world’s leading computer vision conferences taking place in Seoul in October. Michael Black Andreas Geiger Jörg Stückler
News 23-07-2019 Multifunctional and Biodegradable Self-Propelled Protein Motors A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart developed new self-propelled motors from biologically derived materials. Due to the nanostructure of the protein materials and the physical and chemical properties of the fuel, their protein-based motors have a higher performance output, efficiency, and mobility lifetime than previously reported Marangoni motors. Abdon Pena-Francesch Joshua Giltinan Metin Sitti
Embodied Vision News 23-07-2019 New papers accepted at ICCV and GCPR 2019 We have 1 paper accepted at the International Conference for Computer Vision (ICCV'19) and 2 papers accepted for the German Conference on Pattern Recognition (GCPR'19). Deyao Zhu Cathrin Elich Michael Strecke Jörg Stückler
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
Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 20-07-2019 Congratulations: Dr. Tian Qiu becomes Cyber Valley Research group leader Tian Qiu has been appointed Cyber Valley Research Group Leader. He will lead the "Biomedical Microsystems" group at the University of Stuttgart. We wish him all the best! Tian Qiu
Haptic Intelligence News 12-07-2019 Yasemin Vardar wins the 2018 EuroHaptics Society Best Ph.D. Thesis Award She received the prize at the IEEE World Haptics Conference in Tokyo, Japan, on July 12, 2019 Yasemin Vardar Katherine J. Kuchenbecker
Autonomous Learning News 10-07-2019 Article published in Frontiers in Neurorobotics Huanbo's paper 'Machine Learning for Haptics: Inferring Multi-Contact Stimulation From Sparse Sensor Configuration' was successfully published! Huanbo Sun Georg Martius
News 08-07-2019 Professor Ayusman Sen receives Humboldt Research Award During his stay in Germany, the Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Pennsylvania State University intends to continue his research on emergent phenomena, collective effects, and enzymatically-powered chemical motors. Siegfried Dietrich
Rationality Enhancement News 08-07-2019 REG visits Montréal This summer Montréal will be the stage for three important conferences concerning research in the fields of psychology, cognitive science, machine learning, cognitive modelling and decision making: the 4th Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making (RLDM), the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Sociey for Mathematical Psychology and the 17th Annual Meeting of the International Conference on Cognitive Modelling (MathPsych/ICCM), and the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci). As a matter of course, the Rationality Enhancement Group will be represented there as well. Maria Wirzberger Falk Lieder Yash Raj Jain Lin Xu Florian Mohnert Gabriela Iwama
Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 05-07-2019 Kai Melde wins the 2019 Günter Petzow Prize The doctoral student in the Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems Group received this prize during the 2019 Intelligent Systems Summer Colloquium Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Kai Melde Peer Fischer
News 03-07-2019 Katherine J. Kuchenbecker appointed Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems The Director of the Haptic Intelligence Department is the first female Managing Director in the institute’s history. Dr. Kuchenbecker's term is set to last 18 months, effective July 1, 2019. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Bernhard Schölkopf Valerie Callaghan
Empirical Inference News 03-07-2019 NeurIPS2019 Disentanglement Challenge kicks off - Bringing Disentanglement to the Real World Registration opened on June 28 and the Challenge runs until September 24. The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, GoogleAI, and MILA Montreal have launched the Disentanglement Challenge. Registration is now open: sign up now and bring disentangled representations to the REAL world - with 20,000 euros in prize money and best paper awards! Joel Bessekon Akpo Stefan Bauer Karin Bierig Muhammad Waleed Gondal Arash Mehrjou Bernhard Schölkopf Valentin Volchkov Francesco Locatello Manuel Wüthrich Djordje Miladinovic
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
Rationality Enhancement News 01-07-2019 Bastian Nowozimski joined our lab Welcome, Bastian! After getting his Bachelor's degree in Cognitive Science at the University of Tübingen, he is now proceeding to get his Master's degree. As a student assistant, he is supporting the Rationality Enhancement Group through his role as Lab and Study Coordinator. Bastian Nowozimski
Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 01-07-2019 Jan-Philipp Günther receives travel grant from Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Jan will visit Columbia University (Hess lab) in the US for four months as part of his PhD project on enzyme powered nano systems. Jan-Philipp Günther
News 01-07-2019 Scope of Cyber Valley research expanded to include intelligent biomedical microsystems The University of Stuttgart appoints Dr. Tian Qiu, a leading scientist in the field of minimally invasive biomedical microsystems, as Cyber Valley Research Group Leader Tian Qiu Valerie Callaghan
Empirical Inference News 26-06-2019 Körber Prize 2019 goes to Bernhard Schölkopf The Körber Foundation honors the MPI-IS Director and Cyber Valley Scientist for his ground-breaking research in mathematical methods that have made a significant contribution to helping artificial intelligence reach its most recent heights. Bernhard Schölkopf 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
Rationality Enhancement News 20-06-2019 Lab's first JDM submissions The Society of Judgement and Decision Making proudly hosts an Annual Meeting as interdisciplinary forum for decision analysts and researchers from various fields such as psychology, economics, or organizational studies. This year, it will take place in Montréal and we are very excited about our submitted abstracts on the Goal Characteristics (GC) questionnaire and the Decision Advisor. Both turned out really well! Gabriela Iwama Maria Wirzberger Falk Lieder
News 18-06-2019 Canada comes to Cyber Valley Canadian AI experts gain insights into Europe’s biggest research cooperation in the field of AI As part of the German Federal Foreign Office's Visitors' program, a group of Canadian AI experts visited the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems on Monday in Tübingen. Matthias Tröndle Valerie Callaghan