MPI-IS joins forces to create the Robotics Institute Germany

Stuttgart – The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) is one of sixteen main research institutions joining forces to create the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG). The consortium is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and brings together all the top locations for modern robotics research in Germany to create a visible network of excellence. The news was announced on June 18 by the consortium leader, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Alongside the two, eight other universities from all over Germany are involved: the University of Bonn, the Technical University of Berlin, the Technical University of Darmstadt, the University of Bremen, the University of Stuttgart, RWTH Aachen University, the Technical University of Dresden and the Technical University of Nuremberg. Also participating alongside MPI-IS are the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), three Fraunhofer Institutes (IPA, IOSB and IML) and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) as well as 19 associated partners, including the University of Tübingen. Collaboration is planned with other German and international partners, for example from industry.

Katherine J. Kuchenbecker is the spokesperson for MPI-IS within RIG. She is the Director of the Haptic Intelligence Department, Honorary Professor at the University of Stuttgart and the spokesperson for the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS). The other PIs are Christoph Keplinger, Director of the Robotic Materials Department at MPI-IS, as well as research group leaders Florian Hartmann, Wieland Brendel, Michael Mühlebach, and Dieter Büchler.

The activities within the Robotics Institute Germany will further strengthen Cyber Valley, the local ecosystem facilitating smooth collaboration and rapid knowledge exchange between science, business, and society in the Stuttgart-Tübingen region. MPI-IS, both the Universities of Tübingen and Stuttgart, and Fraunhofer IPA are all partners within Cyber Valley.

MPI-IS has three main roles in RIG. First, the PIs will contribute to cutting-edge research in soft and biomimetic robotics as well as human-robot interaction and learning for robotics. “We anticipate working collaboratively among the MPI-IS Principal Investigators involved in RIG to pursue challenging interdisciplinary research that each PI would not tackle on their own,” says Katherine J. Kuchenbecker. “One particular research direction we are interested in exploring is real-time control of HASEL-based soft robotic systems with a high number of degrees of freedom. These artificial muscles were invented by Christoph Keplinger and his team and can rival natural muscle in performance, but they are much more challenging to control than the traditional electromagnetic motors used in rigid robots. Here, we plan to use both real experiments and physical simulations to collect data that will enable us to model how a soft robot composed of many HASEL actuators will deform over time. We then plan to adapt ongoing research from my department that uses human motion capture and optimization to gives an operator intuitive control over the whole-arm movement of a robot. So far, we have applied our approach only to traditional robots with rigid links, but we think it will also provide a powerful tool for controlling soft robotic manipulators.”

The second domain where MPI-IS will contribute is in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Kuchenbecker explains: “In the same way that I led the creation of a gold-rated Gender Equality Plan (GEP) for our institute, we will work with other leading robotics researchers to formulate solid plans for understanding and improving DEI in the robotics research community across Germany. A key component of this plan will be to establish a new internship program, tentatively called Robotics Internships for Global Students (RIGS) modeled somewhat on our local CaCTüS internship program. It will enable us to recruit diverse and talented bachelor's and master's students from around the world to come to Germany to contribute to robotics research. We are launching a pilot version of this internship program this summer here in Stuttgart, including our existing interns, and it's already off to a great start.”

Third, MPI-IS will be in charge of organizing and awarding annual prizes for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertations and Outstanding Master's Theses. “This effort will help raise the quality and visibility of doctoral research in Germany, highlighting and rewarding our top Ph.D. students”, says Kuchenbecker. “I am proud that the RIG consortium is trusting MPI-IS with this important task, as the Max Planck name stands for excellent research both within and outside Germany.”