Welcome to the Institute for Artificial Intelligence!

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IAI) directed by Prof. Michael Beetz is part of the Faculty of Computer Science and member of the Center for Computing and Communication Technologies (TZI) at the University of Bremen.

AI-Based Robotics in the Cloud with the Virtual Research Building - Hands-on Workshop at GRC 2026

We will be present at the German Robotics Conference (GRC) 2026 in Cologne with a hands-on workshop titled “AI-Based Robotics in the Cloud with the Virtual Research Building.”

In this tutorial, we introduce the Virtual Research Building (VRB) as a cloud-based platform for AI-driven robotics research and experimentation.

The workshop is explicitly hands-on: attendees are invited to bring their own laptops and actively try out the demonstrated concepts. We will cover:

The core concepts behind the Virtual Research Building
What virtual labs are and how they can be used to model, run, and analyze robotic experiments
How to use and interact with existing virtual labs remotely
How to edit existing labs or create new ones
How to integrate your own lab setups and robot models into the lab

The goal is to give participants a concrete, practical understanding of how cloud-based robotics experimentation can be set up, customized, and extended.

In addition to the hands-on tutorial, the session will include two invited talks:

Prof. Michael Beetz (Uni Bremen):
- Cloud-based digital twins for AI-driven robotics: Key advantages and potential applications

Prof. Uwe Aßmann (TU Dresden):
- The Test Infrastructure of the Smart Mobility Lab of TU Dresden as Part of the RIG Virtual Research Building

These talks provide context and concrete examples of how cloud-based digital twins and large-scale test infrastructures are integrated into the VRB ecosystem.

Technical requirements: All interaction with the VRB takes place directly in the browser, so no special software installation is required. To obtain and manage the provided example material, having git installed is recommended. For more convenient local development, building, and testing of labs, docker and docker compose may additionally be useful.

Important: Participation in the workshop (WS6) requires separate registration and is not included in the regular GRC conference ticket. Registration details can be found here (reduced student fee available): https://robotics-institute-germany.de/grc-registration/

Limited spots available. Early registration is recommended!

Workshop organizers: Dr. Mareike Picklum, Malte Huerkamp, Luca Krohm, Dr. Benjamin Alt, Andre Meixner, Dr. Jonas Kiemel, Prof. Dr. Alexander König

TwinSpace project starting in January 2026

Beginning in January 2026, we will be partners in the TwinSpace project, coordinated by Prof. Michael Beetz in collaboration with Prof. David May from the Faserinstitut Bremen (FIBRE). It is funded by the MATENA innovate! Center and the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes.

TwinSpace will develop an intelligent robotic system for manufacturing lightweight aerospace components using Automated Fiber Placement (AFP). This will reduce production costs and increase energy efficiency. The key innovation from our institute: semantic digital twins that merge physics-based simulations with AI. They enable real-time process simulations, cutting costly trial runs and making production faster, more robust, and more sustainable.

Our contribution to this year's Informatica Feminale

Women face unique challenges in computer science, a field that has been designed for men for too long, and where women are still underrepresented. Although information technology has been with us for a long time and artificial intelligence is now rapidly finding its way into more and more areas of life, there seem to be few efforts at a professional level to integrate the diverse interests of women into computer science.

Instead, computer science as a discipline still tends to be oriented towards the traditionally male-dominated worlds of experience in everyday life and work, resulting in products and applications geared predominantly towards men. As a result, computer science threatens to remain an unattractive area for women, where they do not see themselves represented.

What can be done to change this?

To address and counteract these challenges, opportunities for cross-institutional exchange and mutual support have become an invaluable resource for women in computing.

The Informatica Feminale

The University of Bremen’s Informatica Feminale aims at providing such an opportunity: to support and connect female computer science students and professionals in order to promote equal opportunities for women in the field.

About the Informatica Feminale

From August 14 to 29, 2024, the 27th Informatica Feminale - Summer University for Women in Computer Science will take place at the University of Bremen. Over 60 courses will be offered on current specialist topics as well as interdisciplinary topics. As part of the Informatica Feminale, Michaela Kümpel, postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at our institute, is giving the course Creating Actionable Knowledge Graphs for Agent Applications.

About the course

This course focuses on the use of knowledge in applications to support users in their daily lives. It covers topics such as how to represent knowledge in a way that it can be understood by machines, how to acquire knowledge from different sources (including web scraping), and how to link such different pieces of knowledge. It will also discuss how agents can reason about this knowledge and how different agents such as websites, AR applications, or robots can use knowledge to assist users in their daily lives. The course will provide tutorials, and participants will be asked to choose a topic of their own interest (such as recommending a diet, filtering recipes based on preferences, or providing basic health support) for which they will create an actionable knowledge graph to be used for user support on a website. All necessary steps are covered in the course and tutorial.

Target group

The course is aimed at advanced female students and practitioners from engineering, computing and related fields.

Requirements

Activities before class time: mandatory email exchange with lecturers. Installation of Jupyter, Python, Pip (with support), exchange about course idea: 3 hours.

Credit for participation

Participants can receive one Credit Point (ECTS) for taking part in the course. Further credit points can be earned by submitting course work/ additional work.

Curious to learn more?

Extensive background information, the full course program and registration can be found here: https://www.informatica-feminale.de/

Webinar on "The innovative Virtual Research Building (VRB) for AI-powered and cognition-enabled robotics"

𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲! We are taking part in AI Month mAI by Rise of AI (ki-deutschland.de) and cordially invite you to the upcoming event. One month. One mission. Make AI accessible.

Details

𝗢𝗻 𝟮𝟮.𝟬𝟱.𝟮𝟰 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟮:𝟬𝟬-𝟭𝟰:𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗺, the Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IAI) at the University of Bremen will host a 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗩𝗥𝗕) 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀” led by Prof. Dr. h.c. Michael Beetz, PhD. Co-speakers: Dr. Michaela Kümpel, Vanessa Hassouna, Sascha Jongebloed, Arthur Niedzwiecki

Participation fee: free of charge

Webinar language: German

Requirement: high level of motivation

https://ki-deutschland.de/event/vorstellung-des-innovativen-virtual-research-building-vrb-fuer-ai-powered-und-kognitionsgestuetzte-robotik/

Via Zoom Link: https://uni-bremen.zoom-x.de/j/64073931541?pwd=VkMyQkpEOW1kdmhpb0NRNkcyNWFTZz09

Have you ever thought about experiencing cutting-edge scientific research live and even trying it out for yourself? With our VRB webinar we offer you this opportunity! Experience what it's like to work in innovative virtual research laboratories and gain basic knowledge in leading research fields.

The Virtual Research Building (VRB) is an integrated ecosystem designed to promote the development of AI-powered and cognition-enabled robotics. It supports the entire research and innovation pipeline from talent acquisition and training to collaboration in cutting-edge research and knowledge transfer for economic and societal benefit.

With the VRB, we offer convenient, open access to our research infrastructure for cooperative and cognition-based robotics and AI. In our webinar, you will gain insights into how you can benefit from this revolutionary platform equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories. Don't miss this opportunity and discover the potential of our VRB.

Join us and shape the future with us!

A recap of the AI Innovation Made in Bremen event

On April 9th, we had the opportunity to host the “TZI Roadshow: KI Innovation made in Bremen” event in our facilities. The event kicked off with inspiring welcome speeches from the University of Bremen’s Chancellor, Frauke Meyer, and Bremen’s Senator for Environment, Climate, and Science, Kathrin Moosdorf. Both highlighted the transformative impact of AI, especially its potential to revolutionize the Bremen region.

In the keynote speech by Prof. Beetz from our institute, he envisioned Bremen as a future global hub for AI-based robotics research. This bold idea resonated throughout the following panel discussion, where experts like Georg Bartels (Co-Founder & CEO at UBICA Robotics GmbH), Prof. Rainer Malaka (Managing Director of TZI Center for Computing Technologies), Dr. Nina Wenig (Founder of IDA GmbH), and Andreas Wulfes (CEO at Neusta Data Intelligence GmbH) explored AI’s expansive possibilities for regional business development in northwest Germany.

Afterwards, the more than 220 attendees engaged with groundbreaking research projects of the TZI and explored the innovative start-up exhibits. The atmosphere of the evening buzzed with a vibrant exchange of ideas among all participants.

We thank all guests and participants for their positive feedback on the evening and extend our thanks to our partners and colleagues at the TZI Center for Computing Technologies and idea2business (i2b) for the excellent teamwork in organizing this successful event.

Also visit the Digital Media Lab: Digital Media Lab - Universität Bremen