Welcome to H²T

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.

Professor Otmar Wiestler, President of the Hermann von Helmholtz Association, visited KIT on November 24, 2022. One of the stops during the visit was the Institute of Anthropomatics and Robotics where he could get an insight to the latest developments in humanoid robotics and robotic artificial intelligence. Professor Asfour and his team demonstrated to him how valuable learning from humans is for robots as well as the enormous contribution humanoid assistance robots and collaborative robots, exoskeletons as well as hand prostheses can make for humans and society.

On November 23, 2022, Professor Dr. rer. pol. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Robert Bosch GmbH, visited the H²T together with his colleagues. The visitors were accompanied by Professor Michael Kaschke, Chairman of the KIT Supervisory Board, and KIT President Professor Holger Hanselka. Professor Asfour and his team demonstrated to the guests the current research topics at the H²T using the example of humanoid assistant robots and collaborative robots, exoskeletons, and intelligent prosthetic hand.

Yukie Nagai, Project Professor at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence of the University of Tokyo gave a talk on "How to Build Developing Minds" on Friday, December 09, 2022 at 11:00 in bldg. 50.20 room 148.

Together with her group she has been investigating human minds by a computational approach. Her talk shows how artificial neural networks based on predictive coding enables robots to acquire various cognitive functions and will discuss potentials and new challenges in building developing minds in robots.

In 2023 there will be BOGY internships at H²T once more, for which we are excited to announce the date:
From April 17 - 21, 2023 the chair of Professor Asfour will offer internships (German: Berufs- und Studienorientierung an Gymnasien) for groups of school students in the field of robotics.
It is a cooperation between the H²T and the KIT Center Information · Systems · Technologies (KCIST).

As part of the European Robotics Week 2022, the Chair of High-Performance Humanoid Technologies (KIT, Adenauerring 2, Bldg. 50.20, ground floor) opened its doors on November 25, 2022 from 13:00 - 17:00.

Interested citizens were able to get an insight into the current research on intelligent, humanoid robots to support humans in everyday life and work.

In addition to the laboratory tour, the guests had the opportunity to get hands-on and interact with various humanoid robots.

Flyer for download (German only)

In the Science Camp Robotics a group of school students learned some basic, fundamental concepts of robotics and computer science and put them in practice, by programming the NAO humanoid robot. The camp is a cooperation between H²T, the KIT Center Information ˑ Systems ˑ Technologies (KCIST), the ZML and the Schülerakademie Karlsruhe.

In the summer of 2022, the advisory council "Innovation and Digitization" of the CDU parliamentary group started an "innovation tour" to Karlsruhe, which led it to the KIT, among other places, on August 19, 2022, and in turn to the chair of Professor Asfour on one of its stops. Here, the CDU members were to gain insight into research on robotic artificial intelligence using the example of humanoid robots.

Professor Thomas Hirth, Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs, accompanied the visitors.

Amadeus Bramsiepe, KIT

Mario Brandenburg, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research (BMBF), visited the KIT on July 22, 2022, and among others also the H²T, where he was able to see demonstrations on current research topics in humanoid assistive robotics, collaborative robotics, prostheses and exoskeletons, as well as learning from humans.
The visit was accompanied by President Professor Holger Hanselka and Professor Thomas Hirth, Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs.

On July 18, 2022, the KIT Center Humans and Technology presented its research at Karlsruhe City Hall. Under the title "Wandel gestalten", scientists presented current projects in science slams. In parallel, the MobiLab opened its doors in front of Karlsruhe City Hall on that day. Prof. Asfour and Prof. Hillerbrand were available to answer the questions of citizens at the MobiLab Science Bench on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics from 16:00 - 18:00.

AImino

Making AI systems more robust and secure with the help of artificial data - this is what the start-up Aimino Tech GmbH, founded in March 2021, is working on. Until now, a lack of data has limited system performance in many AI projects. As a result, they block the use of AI solutions in industry. Aimino's solution closes this data gap by producing synthetic, i.e. artificially generated, data that maximizes system performance. The goal is to increase the technical and economic added value of AI applications based on high data quality and quantity.

DLR

To conclude the Helmholtz Future Project "ARCHES", the demo mission "Space" was conducted on the Sicilian volcano Etna from June 28, 2022 to July 1, 2022. The goal of the mission is to coordinate specialized robotic teams to explore inaccessible environments, such as other planets. In one part of the mission, an exploration of the moon was simulated, where, among other things, rock samples were successfully collected autonomously with the help of a humanoid hand developed by H²T.

The Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics will open its doors on July 1 2022 from 3 - 9 p.m. and will give an insight into its current research.
Get an idea of the research on artificial intelligence and robotics. Get to know humanoid robots of the ARMAR family, prostheses and exoskeletons that support people in everyday life and at work. Try out the Lecture Translator and have your spoken words translated in real time. Learn more about Artificial Intelligence for robotics and speech technologies.

As part of the Campusday at KIT on May 14, 2022, H²T will again provide 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-III 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.

Demonstrations at H²T (Building 50.20) will take place from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and are free of charge and without registration.

On Saturday, December 18, 2021, the exhibition "BioMedia - The Age of Media with Life-like Behavior" opened at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM). Among the exhibition objects is also the robot "Pepper", which was programmed by scientists in the context of the project RealWorldLab "Robotics AI" at H²T for his appearance.

Pepper is not only a digital entertainment device, but should be perceived in the wholeness of its system. This creates the opportunity to identify with the robot as a digital being and to experience the limitations and possibilities of robotics and artificial intelligence.

In 2022, after the break due to corona , we will finally have BOGY internships at H²T again, for which we are very excited to announce the date:
From April 25 - 29, 2022 we offer internships (German: Berufs- und Studienorientierung an Gymnasien) for groups of school students in the field of robotics. It is a cooperation between the H²T and the KIT Center Information · Systems · Technologies (KCIST).

In the Science Camp Robotics a group of school students learned some basic, fundamental concepts of robotics and computer science and put them in practice, by programming the NAO humanoid robot. The camp is a cooperation between H²T, the KIT Center Information ˑ Systems ˑ Technologies (KCIST), the ZML and the Schülerakademie Karlsruhe.

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