Research Overview

Physical Intelligence Department started its research activities in fall 2014 at the Stuttgart site of our institute. Our department aims to understand the principles of design, fabrication, control, and learning of single and large numbers of small scale-mobile robots made of smart and soft materials as our physical intelligence platforms. The intelligence of such robots would dominantly come from their physical design, materials, interactions, and control more than, or in addition to, their computational perception, learning, and control. Such physical intelligence methods are indispensable at the small scale, especially since small-scale mobile robots are inherently limited in onboard computation, actuation, powering, perception, and control capabilities. Our department has three main research thrust fields to realize new physical intelligence platforms to understand them in detail: Advanced materials, mobile millirobots, and mobile microrobots.