Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart site

The year 2024 saw Max Planck scientists publishing exceptional research across disciplines. We have selected twelve highlights to share

Hexagonal electro-hydraulic modules act like artificial muscles that can be used to configure robots with various functions

The newly developed robotic leg is inspired by living creatures and jumps over different terrains much more manoeuvrable and energy-efficiently than previous robots

MAXminds Mentorship initiative to aid affected university students in their careers

In order to support people in therapy or in everyday life in the future, machines will have to be capable of feeling and gently touching their human counterparts. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker and her team at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart are currently developing the technology required for this objective and are already testing sensitive robots for initial applications.

They’re not the most popular of sea creatures, but they set standards in terms of underwater propulsion. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart has designed a robot based on the cnidarians, not least because jellyfish swim very efficiently. In the future, jellyfish-bots could help to remove plastic waste from particularly sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs.

Walking and running without stumbling is still a challenge for two-legged robots, especially on uneven terrain. It could be easier for them in the future, however. A team led by Alexander Badri-Spröwitz, Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, has designed a walking robot inspired by running birds. In the future, such machines could be used on construction sites, in agriculture, or even in space missions.

In order to support people in therapy or in everyday life in the future, machines will have to be capable of feeling and gently touching their human counterparts. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker and her team at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart are currently developing the technology required for this objective and are already testing sensitive robots for initial applications.

Ultrasound can be used manipulate tiny particles and even to arrange them in any desired patterns by using acoustic holography. This method has been developed by Peer Fischer’s team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart. The physicists are already working on medical applications.

Some medical treatments would be more efficient if medication could be transported via a tiny robot directly to the diseased area. Peer Fischer and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart are developing microswimmers and nanoswimmers that are expected to one day make this possible.

People with anorexia live in constant fear of gaining weight. They often do everything in their power to avoid putting on weight, even if they are already suffering from the health consequences or are restricted in their daily lives. Computer Vision researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the University Hospital Tübingen have developed a virtual reality tool that can be used to simulate weight gain. The research suggests that repeated exposure to a healthy bodyweight in virtual reality helps people with anorexia nervosa reduce their fear of gaining weight.

Striving to improve touch sensing in robotics, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems developed a thumb-shaped sensor with a camera hidden inside and trained a deep neural network to infer its haptic contact information. The system constantly constructs a force map – where and how things are touching the flexible outer shell of the sensor – and in this way “sees” the contact deformations. This research invention significantly improves a robot finger’s haptic perception, coming ever closer to the sense of touch of human skin, though it works in a completely different way.

The impressive locomotion and manipulation capabilities of spiders have inspired many a roboticist to build machines mimicking these fascinating animals. A team of scientists at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart and the University of Colorado Boulder has developed highly advanced joints inspired by spiders' legs and used them to build lightweight and delicate robots that raise the bar in the field of bioinspired robotics. 

At the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart we develop a robot that looks and moves like a jellyfish, one of the world’s most common marine animals: the “jellyfishbot”. The untethered robot features an umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles just like its natural model. The research holds great potential when investigating the impact of environmental changes on the oceans’ ecosystems. Another vision for the jellyfishbot is to revolutionize the treatment of cancer.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart developed specially coated nanometer-sized robots that could be moved actively through dense tissue like the vitreous of the eye. So far, the transport of such nano-vehicles has only been demonstrated in model systems or biological fluids, but not in real tissue. Our work constitutes one step further towards nanorobots becoming minimally-invasive tools for precisely delivering medicine to where it is needed.