News & Awards

News 15-11-2018 Marc Toussaint becomes a Max Planck Fellow Robotics Professor from the University of Stuttgart ties a stronger knot with the MPI for Intelligent Systems Katherine J. Kuchenbecker

Smart Nanoplasmonics Award 13-11-2018 Laura Na Liu receives the 2018 Kavli Foundation Early Career Award, which recognizes significant novel contributions to materials science by a young researcher.

Empirical Inference News 09-11-2018 Bernhard Schölkopf at the Falling Walls Conference in Berlin The International Conference on Future - Breakthroughs in Science and Society Prof. Bernhard Schölkopf, Director of the department "Empirical Inference", is talking about Artificial Intelligence. Friday, November 9, 4:45 p.m, Berlin, Radialsystem V, Holzmarktstraße 33. Bernhard Schölkopf

Smart Nanoplasmonics News 09-11-2018 Laura Na Liu receives 2018 Kavli Foundation Early Career Award The award recognizes significant novel contributions to materials science by a young researcher Laura Na Liu

Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 02-11-2018 Nanorobots propel through the eye Scientists developed specially coated nanometer-sized vehicles that can be actively moved through dense tissue like the vitreous of the eye. So far, the transport of nano-vehicles has only been demonstrated in model systems or biological fluids, but not in real tissue. The work was published in the journal Science Advances and constitutes one step further towards nanorobots becoming minimally-invasive tools for precisely delivering medicine to where it is needed. Zhiguang Wu Tian Qiu Peer Fischer

News 26-10-2018 Visit by Science Minister Theresia Bauer Tübingen - On Thursday 26th October, Baden-Württemberg's Science Minister Theresia Bauer visited us at the Institute. Media representatives from the region were also invited. The reason for the event was to present the Cyber Valley Initiative - one of the largest research cooperations in Europe in the field of artificial intelligence - to the press.

News 25-10-2018 Funded Ph.D. positions available at IMPRS-IS Want to contribute to world-leading research in areas such as machine learning, computer vision, robot dynamics and control, micro- and nano-robotics, or haptics? Then sign up for the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems or IMPRS-IS now! Leila Masri

Haptic Intelligence Award 23-10-2018 Postdoc Yasemin Vardar is selected to participate in the MPG's Sign up! career-building program Yasemin Vardar

Rationality Enhancement News 15-10-2018 Lin Xu joined our lab Lin Xu has joined our lab for an internship on incentivizing self-directed learning with optimal brain points. She studied human-computer-interaction at the University of Munich and received her master’s degree in 2018. Welcome Lin! Lin Xu

News 15-10-2018 Lin Xu joined our lab Lin Xu has joined our lab for an internship on incentivizing self-directed learning with optimal brain points. She studied human-computer-interaction at the University of Munich and received her master’s degree in 2018. Welcome Lin!

Embodied Vision News 12-10-2018 Michael Strecke receives DAGM Best Master’s Thesis Award Michael Strecke received the DAGM Best Master's Thesis Award at this year's GCPR conference for his thesis "Sublabel-accurate Convex Relaxation with Total Generalized Variation Regularization" which he wrote at Universität Konstanz. Michael Strecke

Perceiving Systems News 11-10-2018 Siyu Tang receives DAGM MVTec 2018 Dissertation Award The German Association for Pattern Recognition praises her work to be “outstanding” Tübingen – Dr. Siyu Tang received the DAGM MVTec 2018 Dissertation Award at the German Conference on Pattern Recognition (GCPR) conference in Stuttgart today. Her thesis with the title “People Detection and Tracking in Crowded Scenes” was praised by the board and the technical committee of the DAGM (Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Mustererkennung) to be outstanding. “There was quite some competition this year”, said Reinhard Koch, the President of DAGM, which can be translated as German Association for Pattern Recognition. “This year we even decided to double the award money and grant two first places. Mrs. Tang will receive one of both. Congratulations for this achievement!” The award comes with a price money of 2.500 Euro and was given during the DAGM Award ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. Siyu Tang

Perceiving Systems Award 10-10-2018 Siyu Tang receives the DAGM MVTec 2018 Dissertation Award at the German Conference on Pattern Recognition (GCPR) for her thesis “People Detection and Tracking in Crowded Scenes”.

Perceiving Systems News 10-10-2018 Body perception research using virtual reality – is this avatar really me? How do we perceive our own body weight? Which body weight do we find attractive? An interdisciplinary team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems place test persons in front of their virtual selves and examine their self-perception. The aim of the studies is to investigate how accurately healthy women and men, incl. patients with anorexia nervosa, perceive their own body weight. The findings provide insights for new therapy approaches for people with eating disorders. Michael Black Anne Thaler Simone Behrens

News 10-10-2018 Tübingen to host one of four new Competence Centers for Machine Learning in Germany University of Tübingen and Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Tübingen research robust learning algorithms Tübingen is to receive a competence center for artificial intelligence and machine learning. This will make it one of four locations at which Germany’s Ministry of Education and Research plans to pool scientific projects in artificial intelligence. The Tübingen AI Center will provide research groups at the University and at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems with a place to develop learning systems. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research will sponsor the center with some 6.6 million euros for an initial four years, starting 1 October. Three other AI centers are to be set up in Berlin, Dortmund and Munich. The centers are to play a key role in the German government’s artificial intelligence development strategy. Michael Black Matthias Tröndle

News 09-10-2018 Cyber Valley goes new.New Das Festival bringt Unternehmer, Forscher und Start-ups zusammen. Da darf das Team rund um Cyber Valley nicht fehlen. Tamara Almeyda Anna Benzin

News 08-10-2018 Quadruple Excellence Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems involved in four newly funded Clusters of Excellence in Stuttgart and Tübingen The German national Excellence Strategy has decided which new Clusters of Excellence will be funded from 2019 onwards. On September 27, 2018, the panel of experts and the Science Ministers of the Federal Government and the States announced the selection of 57 research alliances as Clusters of Excellence. These winners were chosen from 88 full proposals and 195 original applications. The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) was involved in four applications, all of which were selected for funding as Clusters of Excellence. In Stuttgart, MPI-IS scientists were directly involved in both of the successful proposals at the University of Stuttgart. In Tübingen, MPI-IS is involved in two of the University of Tübingen's three approved clusters. Michael Black Bernhard Schölkopf Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Metin Sitti

Empirical Inference Award 01-10-2018 Dominik Janzing, Jonas Peters, Bernhard Schölkopf: Causality in Statistics Education Award (American Statistical Association).

Movement Generation and Control Award 01-10-2018 Ludovic Righetti was designated by New York University Provost’s Office, together with the Tandon School of Engineering as the Vivian G. Prins Global Scholar at New York University for 2018-2019.

Dynamic Locomotion Award 01-10-2018 Charlotte le Mouel receives a DAAD postdoctoral fellowship, and joins the Dynamic Locomotion Group. Congratulations, and welcome!

Autonomous Motion News 28-09-2018 Finalist Amazon Robotics Best Paper Awards AMD is one of three finalists for the Best Systems Paper Our paper on “Real-time Perception meets Reactive Motion Generation” was considered for the 2018 Amazon Robotics Best Paper Awards in Manipulation. Amazon Robotics selected our paper as one of three Finalists for Best Systems Paper. They received so many high quality submissions and wanted to acknowledge your paper as one of the best. Daniel Kappler Franzi Meier Jan Issac Jim Mainprice Cristina Garcia Cifuentes Manuel Wüthrich Vincent Berenz Stefan Schaal Nathan Ratliff Jeannette Bohg

Autonomous Vision News 25-09-2018 PhD Position: Learning Interpretable Representations We are looking for a PhD student working on interpretable representations. Andreas Geiger

Perceiving Systems Award 12-09-2018 The paper "Neural Body Fitting: Unifying Deep Learning and Model-Based Human Pose and Shape Estimation" wins Best Student Paper Award at 3DV 2018.

Modern Magnetic Systems News 07-09-2018 Novel polymer lenses for X-ray microscopes: highly efficient and low cost Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart invented a new and cost-effective method for making X-ray lenses with nanometer-sized features and excellent focusing capabilities. By using an advanced 3D printing technique, a single lens can be manufactured under a minute from polymeric materials with extremely favorable X-ray optical properties, hence the costs of prototyping and manufacturing are strongly reduced. High-throughput and high-yield manufacturing processes of such lenses are sought after world-wide, which is why the scientists have filed a patent for their invention. Umut Sanli Kahraman Keskinbora Hakan Ceylan Gisela Schütz Metin Sitti

Rationality Enhancement Award 04-09-2018 Best Poster Award Falk Lieder

Rationality Enhancement News 04-09-2018 Best poster award at KogWis 2018 From September 3-6, 2018 the 14th biannual conference of the German Society for Cognitive Science (GK) was held at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. Contributing to the main topic of the conference "Computational Approaches to Cognitive Science", we presented our work on cognitive tutors, which won the best poster award! Falk Lieder

News 04-09-2018 Best poster award at KogWis 2018 From September 3-6, 2018 the 14th biannual conference of the German Society for Cognitive Science (GK) was held at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. Contributing to the main topic of the conference "Computational Approaches to Cognitive Science", we presented our work on cognitive tutors, which won the best poster award!

Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 30-08-2018 A boost for biofuel cells In chemistry, a reaction is spontaneous when it does not need the addition of an external energy input. How much energy is released in a reaction is dictated by the laws of thermodynamics. In the case of the spontaneous reactions that occur in the human body this is often not enough to power medical implants. Now, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, together with an international team of researchers, found a way to boost the energy output by storing and bundling the energy of many spontaneous enzyme reactions. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications and shows how abundant, simple enzyme reactions can be used to power energy-hungry reactions and electronic devices. Peer Fischer

Physical Intelligence News 27-08-2018 A slippery world in bio-inspired robotics A roboticist at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems studies the multifunctional feet of the desert locust and its jumping behavior on different surfaces to extract the traits which contribute to enhancing surface friction and stop slips. The scientist then built a robot inspired by the locust. His findings about the morphological intelligence of the insect contribute to solving the complex locomotion problems seen in even the most advanced robots. This new field of research is increasingly gaining attention within the scientific community, so much so that renowned science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the researcher´s findings in its latest edition. Matthew Woodward Metin Sitti

News 03-08-2018 PhD Fellowships at the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems The joint academic program between the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems (CLS) has opened the call for excellent doctoral fellows as of August 3rd, 2018. Barbara Kreilkamp

Rationality Enhancement News 01-08-2018 Yash Raj Jain joined our lab Yash Raj Jain has joined our lab for an internship on measuring and reverse-engineering metacognitive learning. He is a final year undergraduate pursuing a dual major in Computer Science and Economics at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, India. Welcome Yash! Yash Raj Jain

News 25-07-2018 Blind Justice Researchers take new approach to machine learning fairness by applying privacy methods Can justice be blind when it comes to machine learning? Researchers from The Alan Turing Institute, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and Software Systems, the University of Cambridge and Warwick as well as from the University College London present findings at ICML 2018.

News 20-07-2018 3D Nanofabrication of high-resolution X-ray focusing lenses Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems developed advanced lenses for X-Ray microscopes to be able to see inside of materials in high resolution of only a few nanometers in size. Their unique layer-by-layer 3D fabrication method allows them to build extremely precise multilayered diffractive lenses with virtually unlimited aspect ratios. Gisela Schütz Umut Sanli Kahraman Keskinbora

News 15-07-2018 Summer Colloquium 2018 Great talks - an 80th birthday - the Günter Petzow Prize ceremony - fantastic atmosphere - a sunny evening BBQ Robots as household helpers, learning robots, mini robots for medical research, and big data: this year's summer colloquium focused on current topics in artificial intelligence. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Ildikó Papp-Wiedmann Matthias Tröndle Claudia Daefler

Physical Intelligence Award 13-07-2018 Wenqi Hu received the Günter Petzow Prize.

Autonomous Learning News 13-07-2018 First machine learning method capable of accurate extrapolation Scientists develop new machine learning method that can make robots safer - New method provides simpler and more intuitive models of physical situations Understanding how a robot will react under different conditions is essential to guaranteeing its safe operation. But how do you know what will break a robot without actually damaging it? A new method developed by scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems is the first machine learning method that can use observations made under safe conditions to make accurate predictions for all possible conditions governed by the same physical dynamics. Especially designed for real-life situations, their method provides simple, interpretable descriptions of the underlying physics. The researchers will present their findings tomorrow at this year’s prestigious International Conference for Machine Learning (ICML). Georg Martius

Micro, Nano, and Molecular Systems News 03-07-2018 Vector Foundation 2018 MINT-Innovation Grant Congratulations to Mariana Alarcón-Correa and Vincent M. Kadiri Mariana Alarcon-Correa Vincent Mauricio Kadiri

Rationality Enhancement News 01-07-2018 Florian Mohnert joined our lab Florian Mohnert has joined our lab for an internship on optimal goal setting. He is a Master’s student in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Amsterdam. Welcome Florian! Florian Mohnert

Rationality Enhancement News 01-07-2018 Our lab started As part of the Cyber Valley initiative, the Max Planck Research Group for Rationality Enhancement headed by Dr. Falk Lieder started today. The scientific mission of the group is to lay the cognitive and technological foundations for helping people become more effective. Our approach combines building and testing computational models of human learning and decision-making with developing intelligent systems for enhancing human rationality and evaluating them in field experiments. We are looking forward to five productive and successful years! Falk Lieder

Modern Magnetic Systems News 29-06-2018 DynaMAX Projekt erhält großzügige Mittel vom BMBF Das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung unterstützt Projekt des Max-Planck-Instituts für Intelligente Systeme innerhalb des Deutsch-Schwedischen Großforschungsprojekts Röntgen-Ångström-Cluster mit 1,2 Millionen Euro. Ein Drittel davon gehen für das Teil-Projekt DynaMAX nach Stuttgart. Joachim Gräfe Gisela Schütz

Physical Intelligence News 28-06-2018 A multifunctional, multiscale, reconfigurable surface Composite surface has features that can move microparticles, mix droplets, repel biofilms and more. Wendong Wang

Autonomous Learning News 27-06-2018 Jia-Jie Zhu receives the Marie Curie Individual Fellowship A prestigious junior scientist fellowship is awarded to the MPI-IS researcher Jia-Jie Zhu Georg Martius

News 27-06-2018 MPI-IS Researchers high in demand to give keynote speeches Several scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have recently given keynote speeches at some of the most important conferences in their fields. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Metin Sitti Peer Fischer Sebastian Trimpe

Autonomous Learning Award 25-06-2018 coming

Modern Magnetic Systems News 22-06-2018 Neue Phänomene im magnetischen Nanokosmos Beobachtung magnetischer Tröpfchen große Bedeutung für die magnetische Datenprozessierung Forscher am Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme in Stuttgart konnten mit Hilfe eines Röntgenmikroskops bei der Bildung von magnetische Tröpfchen ein völlig unerwartetes Verhalten beobachten. Wenn der Strom über einen Nanokontakts durch die magnetische Schicht fließt, breitet er sich wesentlich weiter aus, als die Ausdehnung des Nanokontakt es zulassen sollte. Bisher waren Forscher davon ausgegangen, dass nur die Fläche unterhalb des Nanokontakts reagiert. Doch Experimente haben die Wissenschaftler eines Besseren belehrt. Ein spannendes Phänomen in der Grundlagenforschung und von großer Bedeutung für die magnetische Datenprozessierung. Joachim Gräfe Gisela Schütz

Physical Intelligence News 22-06-2018 Smart Materials Engineer choses MPI-IS for his NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship Dr. Hamed Shahsavan receives a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the country´s federal funding agency for university-based research and student training in natural sciences and engineering. The smart materials engineer choses the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems for his research stay because of the state-of-the-art facilities provided there. Hamed Shahsavan Metin Sitti

Autonomous Learning News 21-06-2018 ICML 2018 paper accepted Our Paper "Learning Equations for Extrapolation and Control" got excepted at ICML 2018! We are looking forward to present and discuss in Stockholm in July 10-15, 2018. Georg Martius

Autonomous Vision News 20-06-2018 Award for Tübinger Computer Vision Scientist stands tribute to Cyber Valley being at the forefront of AI research For the first time, the prestigious IEEE PAMI Young Researcher Award goes to a German researcher. Andreas Geiger Michael Black

Perceiving Systems News 20-06-2018 Realistic Avatars for the Virtual Zoo On the basis of a few photos alone, a new technique creates realistic avatars of animals that look and move like real animals Filmmakers and developers of computer games will have a new way of animating animals in the future. A team led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen, Germany, has developed a technique that uses photographs alone to create lifelike 3D models of almost all quadrupeds. These avatars can be animated to realistically imitate the movements of animals. But the simple method of bringing animals to life on the computer is not only interesting for the entertainment industry. Many people have lost a beloved family pet. Now this technology can bring them back to “life” as a virtual 3D avatar. It could also benefit biologists in species protection and help to make children in particular aware of the importance of biodiversity. Michael Black Silvia Zuffi Angjoo Kanazawa

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