Welcome to H²T

KIT / H2T

The humanoid robot ARMAR-III, developed at H2T, is part of the exhibition “200 Years of KIT | 100 Objects. Parts of a Whole“, which opens today at the ZKM. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of KIT as the technical university in Karlsruhe, it showcases objects that represent the history of this scientific institution. ARMAR-III represents the active and long-standing humanoid robotics research at KIT. Irrespective of already being 19 years old, the robot is still functional and represents the whole family of ARMAR robots, that has been developed at H2T since 2000. Its newest member is ARMAR-7, which is regularly seen in action at the InformatiKOM. The exhibition at the ZKM can be visited until October 19, 2025 free of charge.

For this year's  Girls' Day, H²T, in collaboration with the team Modeling and Analysis in Mobility Software Engineering (MASE), Professor Dr. Maike Schwammberger and the team Socially Assistive Robotics with Artificial Intelligence (SARAI), Professor Barbara Bruno, offered a workshop on "Experiencing Robots and Artificial Intelligence”. The Girls gained insights into the application of artificial intelligence in autonomous driving, the use of robots in social interactions, as well as the world of humanoid and wearable robots that assist people in everyday life.

Integrating humanoid robots into everyday life is rapidly evolving, driven by advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics. However, to be accepted, humanoids must keep up with human capabilities. Considering the overwhelming complexity of human ability in performing motions, social interactions, learning, and cognitive decision-making processes, the challenge of designing such sophisticated (social) entities is evident.

These critical topics were the focus of our workshop “Designing Humanoids: How much should we learn from humans?” at the Humanoids 2024 conference. The event featured a series of engaging talks and exciting panel discussions. It was organized in collaboration with researchers from the Technical University of Munich and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

What is real-world laboratory research, how can it change city life and how can you get involved?

We explored these questions at the Real:lab Festival from 2 to 6 July 2024.

The Real:lab Festival brought together numerous contributions from real-world lab researchers at KIT. KIT real-world laboratories with different focal points offered the opportunity to get to know each other and exchange ideas with other researchers and practitioners.

InformatiKOM 1 opened its doors on Saturday, 6 July 2024. From 14:00 - 18:00, visitors were able to experience research on robotic artificial intelligence up close.

Amadeus Bramsiepe, KIT

KIT has joined the Cyber Valley Innovation Campus, Europe's largest and leading center for artificial intelligence (AI) and modern robotics.

This was announced on June 21, 2024 at the opening of the ELLIS Institute in Tübingen, a Cyber Valley flagship project to strengthen the network between top AI researchers from all over Europe.

BMBF/Hans-Joachim Rickel

The Robotics Institute Germany (RIG), jointly established by Germany’s leading robotics centers, is to become the central contact point for robotics in Germany. The goal of RIG is  to strengthen Germany's global competitiveness and technological sovereignty in AI-based robotics. The initial conditions are favorable: Germany’s roboticists are among the global leaders in AI-based robotics and have made significant contributions to the international robotics landscape. "However, Germany has so far lacked a strategic approach that bundles the existing potential and utilizes synergies to secure Germany's long-term competitiveness and promote excellence and economic growth. We will establish the RIG as a nationally recognized and internationally unique institute that shapes cutting-edge research, education and innovation in AI-based robotics and aligns it with Germany's needs," explains RIG spokesperson Prof. Tamim Asfour from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Carl Zeiss AG

Our work on AI-based assistive robot technologies within the JuBot project, funded by the Carl Zeiss Stiftung has been shown as part of the ZEISS image film. The video shows the new generation of our humanoid robots, ARMAR-7, which has been developed to provide support to elderly in everyday activities and contribute to a longer self-determined life in old age.

As part of the Campusday at KIT on June 8, 2024 H²T again offered from 10:00 - 15:00 at the InformatiKOM 1 Building 50.19 insight into its High Performance Humanoid Technologies research and teaching at the Institute of Anthropomatics and Robotics. Visitors can experience how ARMAR-6 performs maintenance tasks with a technician, how ARMAR-7 helps with daily tasks in the kitchen, or admire exoskeletons and hand prostheses that actively support the wearer in moving, grasping, and lifting through machine learning and highly sophisticated sensors.

H²T opened its doors on June 7, 2024 from 16:00 - 21:00 and offered an insight into its current research.
Visitors were able to get an idea of the research on artificial intelligence and robotics. They got to know humanoid robots of the ARMAR family, prostheses and exoskeletons that support people in everyday life and at work.

Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften,

This prize, sponsored by the Hector Foundation, recognizes outstanding scientific achievements by young researchers in the field of computer science.

Noémie's research focuses on developing robots with human-like learning, adaptation, and movement capabilities. Her research not only highlights the advantages of geometric methods in robotics but also opens a wide range of novel research direction by doing so. This paves the way for a new generation of intelligent robots.

We are incredibly proud of Noémie's achievement and excited to see the future impact of her work!

Am Girls' Day am 25. April 2024 konnten wir wieder rund 30 Schülerinnen ab der 5. Klasse am H²T begrüßen. Der bundesweite „Mädchen-Zukunftstag" bietet den Teilnehmerinnen im Rahmen verschiedener Vorträge und Workshops Einblick in die Arbeitsfelder und Aufgaben in MINT-Fächern am KIT. Bei einer Vorstellung unserer Forschung und anschließenden Laborführung zeigten die Schülerinnen großes Interesse und Begeisterung für die Robotik.

Marc Toussaint, Professor for Intelligent Systems at TU Berlin, gave a talk on "Planning in the Age of Learning -- for Robotic Task and Motion Planning" on Thursday, April 04, 2024 at 14:00 in the Atrium of Building 50.19. His research combines Planning, Optimization, Inference, and Machine Learning (ML) to tackle fundamental problems in Robotics and Physical Reasoning. As board member of CoRL and R:SS he is actively supporting the international community in the intersection of Robotics, AI and ML.

Once again there will be BOGY internships at H²T this year, for which we are excited to announce the date:
From April 22 - 26, 2024 the research group of Professor Asfour will offer internships (German: Berufs- und Studienorientierung an Gymnasien) for groups of school students in the field of robotics.

A cooperation between the H²T and the KIT Center Information · Systems · Technologies (KCIST) and part of the real-world lab "Robotic Artificial Intelligence".

The final race was the highlight of our current practical course at H²T, where participants demonstrated their skills and creativity in robot programming and construction. This event in the foyer of InformatiKOM 1 was also the first teaching course in the new building. The race ended with an award ceremony for the fastest three teams - congratulations to the winners!

How do we want to "live together" with robots?
Can robots help us in caring for people?
What kind of robots do we want?
These questions were the focus of a theme week for citizens, organized by ITAS (Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis) from November 21 to 25, 2023.

A summary of the workshop results as well as a presentation of the interactive exhibition can be found on the website under the following link.

As part of the European Robotics Week 2023, H²T will open its doors to visitors on Friday, November 17, 2023, from 13:00 to 17:00. Our open house will allow visitors to experience first hand the research of robotic AI through demonstrations of the humanoid ARMAR robots.

With the help of artificial intelligence, the robots of the ARMAR family are able to learn from humans and interact with people in natural language. The lab tour provides an insight into how robots will be able to support us in the future in our everyday lives. You will also have the opportunity to interact with one of the humanoid ARMAR robots yourself.

H2T

We have organized the workshop „Assistive Robotics for Citizens“ on the IROS 2023 in Detroit, USA together with researchers from Japan, Australia and France. The workshop discussed the development of assistive robots for all areas of social life, as for example caregiving, household chores and the support and augmentation of humans in work, sports and leisure. Further information on the workshop and the keynote and spotlight talks can be found on the workshop website.

Uli Regenscheit Fotografie

We are proud to announce, that our dear colleague, Honorary Professor Dr. med. Dr. h.c.  Uwe Spetzger has been awarded with the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg by Minister President Winfried Kretschmann for his efforts during the COVID pandemic. On this occasion Minister Kretschmann pointed out, that the core of Professor Spetzger’s tireless commitment in research and in everyday clinical practice is the humanitarian obligation of a medical doctor to place his life in the service of humanity.

We congratulate Professor Spetzger for this great honor.

On the KIT Campus Day on May 13, 2023, H²T opened the doors of the lab to welcome many guests, in particular those interested in studying at KIT. More than 150 people visited the lab to learn about our research on assistive and collaborative humanoid robots, exoskeletons and prostheses. Visitors had the opportunity to watch live robot demos and discuss topics like research on robotics AI as well as study opportunities at KIT with our staff.   

On Girls'Day 2023, about 30 schoolgirls from grades 5 and higher visited H²T. The nationwide "Girls' Future Day" took place in person for the first time since 2019. During the presentation of our research and subsequent lab tour, the schoolgirls showed great interest and enthusiasm for robotics.

BMBF / Christina Czybik.

Noémie’s research brings a novel perspective to robot learning, optimization, and control. She was granted this year’s award as part of the KI-Camp supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Informatics Society. Noémie's innovative ideas and research contributions on geometric methods for robot learning have been invaluable to our team and we are proud to have her as a member of our research group.

The recordings are available at:
https://tube.switch.ch/channels/2NUIDL9R9f

The Conference Proceedings are available at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-25555-7

Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst BW

The MWK (Ministry of Science, Research and Art) has published a video clip which showcases AI research in Baden-Württemberg. H²T is represented within the video with its research on humanoid robotics and robotics AI.

Humanoid robotics, artificial intelligence or learning from humans: Petra Olschowski, Minister of Science, Research, and the Arts Baden-Württemberg, visited the H²T laboratories on February 20, 2023, to learn more about these and many other research topics. After an introduction by KIT President Professor Holger Hanselka, Professor Tamim Asfour and his team gave a vivid and practice-oriented demonstration of the potential of humanoid robotics for humans as well as society in general.

The workshop is publicly available on Youtube.

Roman Maidl (KIT)

On December 6, 2022, Dr. Jens Brandenburg (Member of the Bundestag and Parliamentary State Secretary at the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)) and the Landtagsabgeordneten Dr. Christian Jung and Alena Trauschel were guests at H²T. They were accompanied by KIT President Professor Holger Hanselka and Vice Presidents Professor Oliver Kraft and Professor Alexander Wanner. During the lab tour, the guests were able to learn first-hand from Professor Tamim Asfour and the H²T team about the progress being made in research in the field of humanoid robotics and robotic artificial intelligence.

You can find further news about our institute in our archive.