FZI Robots Build Moon Village at Stallwächterparty in Berlin
FZI presents the benefits of robot autonomy at the summer party of the State Representation of Baden-Württemberg
Every year, the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg invites high-ranking personalities to the traditional Stallwächterparty at the State Representation in Berlin on the Thursday of the last week of the Bundestag session. Once again this year, the FZI was on site at the 59th festival under the motto “Baden-Württemberg – THE aerospace LÄND” with the “FZI Robot Moon Village”.
The motto was an excellent head start for the FZI team with its extensive experience and international success in developing autonomous robots for aerospace applications. To make these achievements tangible, the walking robot Spot was used to demonstrate remote control from a fictitious ground station. Top politicians used the mobile four-legged robot to transport construction modules to a new settlement being built on the moon and witnessed the effects of the robot’s different control options. The demonstration also pointed out the advantages of autonomous space applications compared to teleoperation from Earth.
Familiar territory: autonomous robots for aerospace applications
Over the past years, the FZI team has built up extensive expertise in developing autonomous robots for aerospace applications. Last year’s victory in the ESA-ESRIC Space Resources Challenge was one particular success. The team convinced the jury with its approach to resource search on foreign planets, and it particularly stood out with the demonstrated autonomy.
These and other highlights were possible thanks to funding from the European Space Agency and federal and state ministries, enabling our excellent team to tackle questions on the use of robotics in aerospace for years. This has included hardware and software developments which are reflected in various projects.
Hardware and software for space and time
For the vision of modular satellite configuration, FZI scientists developed unique interfaces and concepts for modular satellites in the iBoss 1-3 project. These were further investigated in the current ReCoBot 1-2 project, in which a flexible robotic arm was developed for the in-orbit reconfiguration of satellites.
As part of the RackKI project, FZI scientists have also developed an automated, AI-supported solution so that a lightweight robot can take over the mechanical assembly for future on-board computer system architectures in flight systems.
In the intelliRISK 1-2 project, FZI scientists developed a system that enables robots to continuously learn through active learning strategies and retrospectives on completed actions to have them evaluate risks that occur during space missions and thus create comprehensive self- and environmental awareness.
About Stallwächterparty
Since 1964, the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg at the Federal Government has held its traditional summer party, the Stallwächterparty. The event showcases the innovative diversity of the federal state and is also considered one of the most essential communication platforms of the political summer.
About the FZI
The FZI Research Center for Information Technology, with headquarters in Karlsruhe and a branch office in Berlin, is a non-profit institution for information technology application research and technology transfer. It delivers the latest scientific findings in information technology to companies and public institutions and qualifies individuals for academic and business careers or the leap into self-employment. Supervised by professors from various faculties, the research groups at the FZI develop interdisciplinary concepts, software, hardware and system solutions for their clients and implement the solutions found as prototypes. The FZI House of Living Labs provides a unique research environment for application research. The FZI is an innovation partner of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and strategic partner of the German Informatics Society (GI).