News & Awards

Robotic Materials News 06-03-2025 Artificial Muscles for Tremor Suppression Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the University of Tübingen and the University of Stuttgart under the Bionic Intelligence Tübingen Stuttgart (BITS) collaboration developed a biorobotic arm that can mirror human tremors, such as those experienced by individuals that live with Parkinson's disease. Artificial muscles on either side of the forearm contract and relax to suppress the involuntary shaking of the wrist and hand. The researchers see their biorobotic arm not only as a platform for other scientists in the field to test new ideas in exoskeleton technology. The arm also serves as a test bed to see how well artificial muscles known as HASELs can one day become the building blocks of wearable devices. The vision is to one day develop a sleeve that tremor patients can comfortably wear to be able to better cope with everyday tasks such as holding a cup. Alona Shagan Christoph Keplinger

Haptic Intelligence Robotic Materials Press Release 07-01-2025 Electrohydraulic Wearable Devices Create Unprecedented Haptic Sensations Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems invented compact wearable devices that deliver rich, expressive, and pleasant tactile sensations that go far beyond the buzzing vibrations of today’s consumer devices. The team just published their findings in Advanced Science. Natalia Sanchez-Tamayo Zachary Yoder Philipp Rothemund Giulia Ballardini Christoph Keplinger Katherine J. Kuchenbecker

Robotic Materials Organizational Leadership and Diversity News 12-12-2024 Diversity and inclusion accelerate the pace of innovation in robotics Diverse and inclusive teams are not merely a moral imperative but also a catalyst for scientific excellence in robotics, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems point out in a study. The team now published an article in which they outline how a scientific community can benefit if its leadership fosters an environment of diversity and inclusion, and propose a leadership guide for roboticists to help reap these benefits. Daniela Macari Ksenia Keplinger Christoph Keplinger

Robotic Materials Award 06-12-2024 Daniela Macari wins the 2024 Gender Equality Award of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. Daniela Macari

Robotic Materials Appointment 19-09-2024 Christoph Keplinger joins the Editorial Advisory Board of Advanced Robotics Research Christoph Keplinger

Robotic Materials News 18-09-2024 Hexagonal electrohydraulic modules shape-shift into versatile robots Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart combined soft artificial muscles with a rigid, magnetic exoskeleton to create building blocks for fast-moving reconfigurable robots. Ellen Rumley Zachary Yoder Ingemar Schmidt Philipp Rothemund Christoph Keplinger

Robotic Materials Appointment 21-08-2024 Adrian Koh is appointed Associated Editor for RoboSoft 2025 Adrian Koh

Robotic Materials Appointment 13-06-2024 Daniela Macari was elected president of the EuroEAP Society's Outreach and Dissemination Committee Daniela Macari

Robotic Materials Award 13-06-2024 Ellen Rumley and Zachary Yoder win 1st place of the 2024 EuroEAP Society Challenge. Ellen Rumley Zachary Yoder Johannes Walter Alona Shagan

Robotic Materials News 04-06-2024 EuroEAP 2024 comes to Stuttgart! Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems hosts international conference The International Conference on Soft Transducers and Electromechanically Active Polymers, EuroEAP 2024, organized by the EuroEAP Society, will take place at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart from June 11 to 13, 2024, and will be accompanied by a EuroEAP Society Challenge. Philipp Rothemund Christoph Keplinger

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

Robotic Materials News 31-07-2023 3D display could soon bring touch to the digital world A new, shape-shifting display can sense and respond to human touch. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a soft shape display, a robot that can rapidly and precisely change its surface geometry to interact with objects and liquids, react to human touch, and display letters and numbers - all at the same time. The display demonstrates high performance applications and could appear in the future on the factory floor, in medical laboratories, or in your own home. Brian Johnson Christoph Keplinger

Robotic Materials News 05-07-2023 Fun scientific activity for children The kids learnt about static electricity and the power of electrostatics Christoph Keplinger Alona Shagan Toshihiko Fukushima

Robotic Materials News 29-06-2023 Philipp Rothemund joins Die Junge Akademie The academy gives young researchers the opportunity to shape the dialogue at the intersection of science, art and society. Philipp Rothemund

Robotic Materials Award 24-06-2023 Philipp Rothemund was elected into Die Junge Akademie at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Robotic Materials Appointment 15-06-2023 Philipp Rothemund is appointed as a tenure track professor at the University of Stuttgart. Philipp Rothemund

Robotic Materials Award 08-06-2023 Hyeong-Joon Joo wins 2nd prize at the EuroEAP Society Challenge 2023 (presented at EuroEAP 2023) for his research on versatile jellyfish-like robots powered by electrohydraulic actuators

Robotic Materials Physical Intelligence News 25-04-2023 Jellyfish-like robots could one day clean up the world’s oceans Roboticists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have developed a jellyfish-inspired underwater robot with which they hope one day to collect waste from the bottom of the ocean. The almost noise-free prototype can trap objects underneath its body without physical contact, thereby enabling safe interactions in delicate environments such as coral reefs. Jellyfish-Bot could become an important tool for environmental remediation. Tianlu Wang Hyeong-Joon Joo Shanyuan Song Wenqi Hu Christoph Keplinger Metin Sitti

Robotic Materials Award 03-04-2023 Daniela Macari awarded 2nd place of the best poster award in RoboSoft 2023 Daniela Macari

Robotic Materials News 22-03-2023 Biodegradable artificial muscles: going green in the field of soft robotics Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, and at University of Colorado Boulder in the US developed fully biodegradable, high-performance artificial muscles. Their research project marks another step towards green technology becoming a lasting trend in the field of soft robotics. Ellen Rumley Philipp Rothemund Zachary Yoder Benjamin Karrer Christoph Keplinger Alona Shagan

Robotic Materials Award 15-12-2022 Christoph Keplinger is awarded a research grant, funded by the FHG-MPG Cooperation Program, for €2M, over 4 years, to develop wearable assistive exosuits for lower limb and human trunk (MaxwellSuits). Christoph M. Keplinger Adrian Koh

Robotic Materials Award 09-09-2022 Sophie Kirkman is awarded best lightning talk at the IMPRS bootcamp. Sophie Kirkman

Robotic Materials Appointment 07-09-2022 Christoph Keplinger is appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Stuttgart. Christoph Keplinger

Robotic Materials News 06-12-2021 Soft Functional Materials for the Next Generation of Robots In a Comment for Nature Materials entitled “Shaping the future of robotics through materials innovation” Philipp Rothemund, Postdoc in the Robotic Materials Department, and Christoph Keplinger, Director of the Robotic Materials Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, discuss together with collaborators from Cornell University and MIT issues that currently stand in the way of a wide-spread use of functional soft materials in real-world robotic systems. Christoph Keplinger Philipp Rothemund Linda Behringer

Robotic Materials News 16-06-2021 Electrohydraulic arachno-bot a fascinating lightweight Fast and efficient nature-inspired joints power robotic systems Goodbye, bulky components and connectors: A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany and at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US has now found a new way to exploit the principles of spiders’ joints to create lightweight robots. Christoph Keplinger Philipp Rothemund

Robotic Materials News 25-08-2020 Christoph Keplinger joins MPI-IS as new Director With the appointment of the 36-year old Austrian, the Max Planck Society has attracted a world-renowned scientist whose background and expertise perfectly complement and extend the research at MPI-IS and within the Cyber Valley ecosystem Dr. Keplinger’s research focuses on fundamentally challenging current limitations of materials and components used to build robots. He is regarded as a pioneer in the field of bio-inspired soft robotics and a rising star in the international robotics and materials science communities. As an MPI-IS director, he has founded the new “Robotic Materials” department. Dr. Keplinger will have a decisive influence on the future development of the institute as well as on the excellence of Cyber Valley, Europe’s largest research consortium in the field of AI. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker Metin Sitti Christoph Keplinger