News

03/28/2025

FZI at European Robotics Forum 2025

FZI presents itself with a booth and more at the most important European robotics and AI event

Research Focus: Applied Artificial Intelligence

Over 1,500 participants from European research, industry, and politics, more than 75 sponsors, and an extensive program on robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI): From March 25 to 27, 2025, the European Robotics Forum (ERF) of euRobotics, the European Robotics Association, took place at the venue Stuttgart Liederhalle. As a sponsor of the event, the FZI Research Center for Information Technology was present with a stand and a workshop at the first German version of the forum.

The ERF came to Germany for the first time in the forum’s 15-year history. It enabled the European robotics community to come together for the network meeting of robotics research at Liederhalle Stuttgart.

The forum’s motto was “Boosting the Synergies between Robotics and AI for a Stronger Europe.” The event aimed to bring European research and industry together, present the current state of robotics and AI on a large stage, and promote future technological developments.

The FZI Research Center for Information Technology decisively shaped the event at various levels.

FZI stand at the ERF fair

At the stand, the following topics were presented to the visitors:

Mobile robotics
Our researchers showed how mobile robots can be used for autonomous inspection.
Resilient production using no-code programming
Using the flexible disassembly of old electrical appliances, our FZI researchers demonstrated how large language models can be used for no-code programming. In an interactive demonstration, visitors could intuitively program the robot arm.
The stand also provided a point of contact for support in research and development in service and assistant robotics.

The FZI team, consisting of Georg Heppner, Tristan Schnell, Martina Overbeck, David Oberacker, Elias Hofele, and Vincenzo Di Pentima, was pleased about the lively and productive exchange with interested parties from many fields at the stand.

Workshop "(Sustainable) Robots in Public Environments: Advancements and Challenges"

Service robots in public spaces: This was the workshop topic opening the second day of the European Robotics Forum, co-organized by the FZI.

Alessandra Sciutti started with a talk about her work on cognitive robots at the Instituto Italiano de Technologia, Genoa. Francesco Ferro provided valuable insights into his company, PAL Robotics. Professor Sven Behnke explained how robots are used in practice in the RoboCup Home Challenges, in which the University of Bonn is involved.

The subsequent discussion with the audience mainly revolved around humanoid versus non-humanoid robots, walking robots versus wheeled robots, and the general question of what impact the current hype will have on the successful development of robots for domestic environments.

The workshop was a success thanks to the cooperation between Paul Schweidler (HFC Human-Factors-Consult GmbH), Laura Fiorini and Prof. Filippo Cavallo (University of Florence), and FZI Department Managers Tristan Schnell and Martina Overbeck. The expertise from the three research projects, rokit, RimA, and Fit4Med Rob, was combined to discuss the state of the art and the need for research and science communication.

Position paper “Intelligente Robotik der Zukunft” presented at European Robotics Forum

At the European Robotics Forum 2025, Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut presented the position paper “Intelligente Robotik der Zukunft” (Intelligent Robotics of the Future) of the innovation ecosystem for AI-based robotics in Baden-Württemberg on March 27. The paper results from the exchange between two Baden-Württemberg ministries – the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism and the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts – and the stakeholders in AI-based robotics in Baden-Württemberg. The FZI and 28 other stakeholders believe that Baden-Württemberg should become the leading innovation region for intelligent human-robotics systems by 2035.

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