TUM
The Technical University of Munich is a prime educational and research institute in the state of Bavaria, with locations in and around Munich, Germany. It is consistently ranked among the best universities in the world (46th, 47th and 60th according to the World University Ranking, Academic Ranking of World Universities and QS World University Ranking, respectively). The Computer Science Department of the TUM is one of the best in Germany with its extensive collaborations with research institutes and industries alike and it is in the 9th position in the world in computer science (World University Ranking). Moreover, TUM is one of the five German universities that were awarded the “Universities of Excellence” status by the German National Science Foundation (Future Concepts 2006/2007 and 2012). Over 285M€ of external funding makes it one of the most successful universities in Germany in terms of third-party funding.
TUM as an “Entrepreneurial University” actively supports knowledge transfer – with over 300 start-ups created over the last years, numerous partnerships with industry (e.g. Audi, BMW, Siemens) and comprehensive set of services aimed at successful commercialization of research. Chair of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Real-Time Systems at the TUM, led by Prof. Alois Knoll, is a center of excellence in robotics, with a successful track record in robotics research projects. The research focus of the department is on human-robot interaction and service robotics, medical robotics, cognitive robotics, cyber-physical and embedded systems. The group is involved in many international research projects (e.g. the Neurorobotics subproject of the EU Flagship Human Brain Project – 80M€; TACMAN 2.4M€, 4 partners; UnCoVerCPS – 5M€, 10 partners; RobMoSys – 8M€, 9 partners), as well as in several projects aimed at driving adoption of state-of-the-art robotic systems by SMEs (e.g. ECHORD++ – 25M€, approx. 100 partners; HORSE – 8.9M€, 15 partners, ESMERA – 8 M€, 7 partners), which clearly demonstrates strong ties to the industry.
The Chair runs a Robotics Center of Competence established within the HORSE project. The main goals of the Center are to provide expertise, support, and infrastructure to SMEs, to facilitate research-based innovation (especially in cooperative robotics and manufacturing) and knowledge transfer to the SMEs ecosystem.