News & Awards

Physical Intelligence News 13-04-2025 Ren Hao Soon named 2025 Schmidt Science Fellow Pioneering researcher in magnetic millirobotics to pivot into biomedical sciences with prestigious fellowship

Empirical Inference Award 11-04-2025 Zhijing Jin: selected Young Researcher to attend the Heidelberg Laureate Forum 2025. Zhijing Jin

Physical Intelligence News 17-03-2025 Magnetic microalgae on a mission to become robots Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems developed a single-cell green microalgae coated with magnetic material. This miniature robot was put to the test: would the microalgae with its magnetic coating be able to swim through narrow spaces and, additionally, in a viscous fluid that mimics those found in the human body? Would the tiny robot be able to fight its way through these difficult conditions? The team's research has now been published in the journal Matter. Metin Sitti Birgül Akolpoglu Saadet Baltaci

Empirical Inference News 06-03-2025 Neural network deciphers gravitational waves from merging neutron stars in a second Machine learning method could revolutionize multi-messenger astronomy Binary neutron star mergers emit gravitational waves followed by light. To fully exploit these observations and avoid missing key signals, speed is crucial. In a study to be published in Nature on March 5, 2025, an interdisciplinary team of researchers presents a novel machine learning method that can analyze gravitational waves emitted by neutron star collisions almost instantaneously – even before the merger is fully observed. A neural network processes the data and enables a fast search for visible light and other electromagnetic signals emitted during the collisions. This new method could be instrumental in preparing the field for the next generation of observatories. Maximilian Dax Bernhard Schölkopf Jakob Macke

Empirical Inference Award 14-12-2024 Zhijing Jin receives two Best Paper Awards at workshops at NeurIPS 2024: Pluralistic Alignment Workshop and Workshop on Causality and Large Models. Zhijing Jin

Empirical Inference Award 12-12-2024 Luigi Gresele won the ELLIS PhD Award 2024, for his thesis on identifiability in representation learning and causal inference. Luigi Gresele

Physical Intelligence News 07-11-2024 3D robot navigation could enable multi-site medical procedures Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, developed a novel method for deploying several magnetic miniature robots which can easily navigate through a 3D matrix resembling a network of blood vessels. This new method could one day enable the simultaneous treatment of multiple locations in hard-to-reach areas of the human body, which is currently unattainable with conventional tools. This innovative approach could significantly reduce procedure time and increase the effectiveness of minimally invasive therapies. Chunxiang Wang Tianlu Wang Li Mingtong Rongjing Zhang Metin Sitti

Empirical Inference Award 22-10-2024 Annalena Kofler receives Best Poster Award at the 2nd Tübingen Women in Machine Learning workshop.

Empirical Inference Appointment 01-10-2024 Dieter Büchler is now Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. Furthermore he was nominated for the CIFAR AI chair and part of Amii. Dieter Büchler

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-10-2024 Mengmeng Sun became Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore, Singapore. Mengmeng Sun

Empirical Inference Appointment 01-10-2024 Michel Besserve is now Professor for Artificial Intelligence at the TU Braunschweig, Germany. Michel Besserve

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-10-2024 Mingchao Zhang became the Presidential Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore. Mingchao Zhang

Physical Intelligence Appointment 15-07-2024 Rongjing Zhang becomes Associate Professor at the Beihang University, China Rongjing Zhang

Empirical Inference News 15-07-2024 Siyuan Guo wins 2024 MPI-IS Outstanding Female Doctoral Student Prize Rachael Bevill Burns, Marilyn Keller and Cansu Sancaktar receive honorable mentions Siyuan Guo Marilyn Keller Rachael Burns Cansu Sancaktar Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Bernhard Schölkopf Leila Masri Florian Hartmann Alona Shagan

Empirical Inference Appointment 15-07-2024 Zhijing Jin will become Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto

Empirical Inference Award 05-07-2024 Siyuan Guo: 2024 MPI-IS Outstanding Female Doctoral Student Prize

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-07-2024 Aarushi Bhargava becomes Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA Aarushi Bhargava

Empirical Inference Award 16-05-2024 Julius von Kügelgen won the Cambridge PhD Prize in Quantitative Research (administered by G-Research) Julius von Kügelgen

Physical Intelligence Award 01-05-2024 Ali Amini Harandi received the NSREC postdoctoral fellowship from Canada. Ali Amini Harandi

Empirical Inference Award 24-04-2024 Niki Kilbertus receives Leopoldina Prize for Young Scientists Niki Kilbertus

Physical Intelligence News 11-04-2024 Cyber Valley grants 500K to CELL’n’ROLL via 2023 Innovation Fellowship Program Cyber Valley Community is advancing diagnostics for the future CELL’n’ROLL aims to develop next-generation diagnostic solutions for detecting complex diseases such as cancer. Alp Can Karacakol Erdost Yildiz Ugur Bozuyuk

Physical Intelligence Award 01-04-2024 CELLnROLL team has been awarded the CyberValley Innovation Fellowship. Erdost Yildiz Alp Can Karacakol Ugur Bozuyuk

Physical Intelligence Award 01-04-2024 Chong Hong, Yingdan Wu and Metin Sitti received the Best Workshop Poster Award in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Conference Chong Hong Yingdan Wu Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence Award 01-04-2024 Xianqiang Bao and Metin Sitti received the Best Paper Award in Automation in the IEEE Int. Conference on Mechatronics and Automation Xianqiang Bao Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence Award 06-02-2024 Metin Sitti is elected as a member of National Academy of Engineering Metin Sitti

Empirical Inference Award 05-02-2024 Vincent Stimper receives G-Research PhD Prize.

Empirical Inference Award 16-01-2024 Zhijing Jin receives 3 Rising Star awards: EECS Rising Star, Rising Star in Data Science, and Rising Star in Machine Learning and invited to the 73. Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

Physical Intelligence Award 01-01-2024 Metin Sitti was elected as the Highly Cited Researcher and received the Material Science Leader Award by Clarivate. Metin Sitti

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-01-2024 Tianlu Wang becomes Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii Tianlu Wang

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-01-2024 Yingdan Wu became Assistant Professor at Harbin Institute of Technology in China. Yingdan Wu

Empirical Inference News 01-01-2024 Zhijing Jin receives three Rising Star Awards Ph.D. student Zhijing Jin receives the EECS Rising Star, Rising Star in Data Science, and Rising Star in Machine Learning award. Her research focuses on socially responsible NLP by causal inference. Zhijing Jin Bernhard Schölkopf

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-01-2024 Ziyu Ren became Associate Professor at Beihang University, China Ziyu Ren

Physical Intelligence Award 01-12-2023 Ugur Bozüyük receives the ETH Silver Medal for his outstanding doctoral thesis "Magnetic Surface Microrollers for Endovascular Navigation". Ugur Bozuyuk

Empirical Inference Award 16-11-2023 Amir-Hossein Karimi receives the ETH Silver Medal for his outstanding doctoral thesis "Advances in Algorithmic Recourse: Ensuring Causal Consistency, Fairness, & Robustness".

Robotic Materials Physical Intelligence News 06-10-2023 Eine Qualle steht Modell Test Sie gelten nicht als Sympathieträger der Meere, doch in puncto Unter- wasserantrieb setzen sie Maßstäbe: Nicht zuletzt weil Quallen besonders effizient schwimmen, hat ein Team des Max-Planck-Instituts für Intelligente Systeme in Stuttgart einen Roboter nach dem Vorbild der Nesseltiere konstruiert. Jellyfish-Bots könnten in Zukunft helfen, besonders empfind- liche Ökosysteme wie Korallenriffe von Plastikmüll zu befreien. Tianlu Wang Hyeong-Joon Joo

Learning and Dynamical Systems Embodied Vision Empirical Inference News 06-10-2023 Roboter entdecken die Welt Forschende vermitteln Robotern eine Art Körpergefühl Roboter können den Menschen heute bereits bei manchen alltäglichen Aufgaben unterstützen. Doch unbekannte Umgebungen oder auch kleine Abweichungen in den Aufgaben, auf die sie trainiert sind, überfordern sie. Damit sie rascher lernen, sich auf Neues einzustellen, entwickeln die Forschungsgruppen von Michael Mühlebach und Jörg Stückler am Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme in Tübingen neue Trainingsmethoden für die Maschinen. Ihre Roboter müssen sich dabei auch im Pingpong oder Bodyflying bewähren. Michael Muehlebach Jörg Stückler Dieter Büchler Hao Ma

Physical Intelligence Appointment 03-10-2023 Yunus Alapan has been appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Yunus Alapan

Empirical Inference Appointment 01-09-2023 Amir-Hossein Karimi becomes Assistant Professor at University of Waterloo, Canada

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-09-2023 Aniket Pal becomes an Assistant Professor at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Aniket Pal

Empirical Inference Appointment 01-09-2023 Majid Khadiv becomes Assistant Professor at TUM Munich

Physical Intelligence Appointment 31-08-2023 Wenqi Hu became Assistant Professor at HKUST in Hong Kong, China. Wenqi Hu

Physical Intelligence Blog Post 22-08-2023 Blog: Shaping the future: Hydrogel muscles empowering advanced information encryption Recent research led by Professor Metin Sitti at the Physical Intelligence Department of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems has introduced an innovative strategy for achieving precise transformations of microscale metastructures actuated by hydrogel artificial muscles. Mingchao Zhang Metin Sitti Aniket Pal Zhiqiang Zheng Gaurav Gardi Erdost Yildiz

Physical Intelligence News 18-08-2023 Soft Robotic Tool provides new 'eyes' in endovascular surgery The magnetic device can help visualise and navigate complex and narrow spaces Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have developed a soft robotic tool that promises to one day transform minimally invasive endovascular surgery. The two-part magnetic tool can help to visualise in real time the fine morphological details of partial vascular blockages such as stenoses, even in the narrowest and most curved vessels. It can also find its way through severe blockages such as chronic total occlusions. This tool could one day take the perception of endovascular medical devices a step further. Metin Sitti Tianlu Wang Yingbo Yan Rongjing Zhang Wenqi Hu

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-08-2023 Junghwan Byun became Senior Researcher at KIST in S. Korea. Junghwan Byun

Physical Intelligence Appointment 01-08-2023 Metin Sitti has been appointed as the President of the Koc University Metin Sitti

Empirical Inference Award 14-07-2023 Zhijing Jin receives Honorable Mention for the MPI-IS 2023 Outstanding Female Doctoral Student Prize.

Physical Intelligence Award 14-07-2023 Birgül Akolpoglu wins the 2023 MPI-IS Outstanding Female Doctoral Student Prize. Nihal Olcay Dogan receives an Honorable Mention for this prize. Birgül Akolpoglu Nihal Olcay Dogan

Physical Intelligence Award 06-07-2023 MAXMINDS project has been awarded the MPG Diversity Excellence Fund Erdost Yildiz

Empirical Inference News 05-07-2023 Computer scientist Zeynep Akata Schulz receives the €1 million Alfried Krupp Prize 2023 The 37-year-old researcher specializes in machine learning at the University of Tübingen Zeynep Akata

Empirical Inference Award 03-07-2023 Zeynep Akata-Schulz received the prestigious Alfried Krupp Prize 2023

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