New professor of mobile robotics

What inspired you to go into engineering and later specialize in mobile robotics, particularly flying robots?
Ever since I was a little child, I have been interested in creating things. I also wanted to become a pilot. I obtained my gliding pilot license when I was 16 – and started studying mechanical engineering a few years later. Researching aerial robotics offered a chance to combine these two interests – and opened up a whole new world waiting to be discovered. What is intelligence? How can we integrate both fundamental and more advanced human skills into machines? How do we build these machines? How do we design them to benefit society?

Can you explain the key challenges of your research?
Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), especially generative AI, have made huge strides in recent years. Thanks to tools such as ChatGPT, these technologies are now at everyone’s fingertips. However, integrating such technologies into mobile robots that can perform useful tasks remains a major challenge – a challenge we want to tackle.

We rely on approaches from perception, such as computer vision and machine learning, to help robots perceive their surroundings in 3D – which in turn serves as a basis for their decision-making. Furthermore, robots are physical systems that need to be carefully engineered to operate safely and in a manner that is useful to us.

What are some practical applications of your research? How do you see the field evolving in the next decade?
I strongly believe that mobile robots should support us in life. For example, drones can inspect and monitor hazardous or remote sites, and ground-based mobile robots can perform repetitive, strenuous, or dangerous tasks on construction sites or at home.

Before the applications can develop into market-ready products, considerable research is still needed to make robots more reliable and safer in their interactions with people, as well as more intelligent and user-friendly. Over the next decade, mobile robots will likely be deployed on a larger scale in scenarios where they can be to some extent separated from the general public, such as construction sites, in mines, or flying over remote areas.

How important is interdisciplinary collaboration in your field of research?
Mobile robotics is inherently interdisciplinary. To develop mobile robots and drones, my research group must cover expertise from areas such as perception, including computer vision, machine learning and AI, control, system engineering, mechanical and electronic design, coding, and more. Additionally, we collaborate with experts in these fields to further enhance our research and involve application domain experts when developing projects for example in environmental monitoring, aerospace, construction, industrial inspection, and disaster response.

What advice would you give students and young scientists interested in pursuing a career in robotics?
First, I would congratulate them for choosing a field with a promising future. At the same time, I would advise them to find their passion within this vast field by asking themselves what robots they want to see in their future lives and then identify the challenges that need to be solved. I would also encourage them to work as a team: great things are only achieved as the result of team efforts.

As a final question, would you tell us one thing about yourself that we cannot learn from your CV?
I am still quite active as a glider pilot. My favorite thing to do is cross-country flights over hundreds of kilometers relying only on nature’s energy.