Position
In May 2023 Kai Arras started as the Cyber Valley Endowed Chair for Autonomous Systems in the newly founded Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI). At the same time, he is heading the "Socially Intelligent Robotics Lab".
Research Interests
Prof. Arras's research interests are in the field of intelligent robots at the intersection with machine learning, computer vision, and human-robot interaction. He is particularly interested in developing highly context-aware robots for human environments and new ways for data-driven interaction design for socially intelligent machines that trade off short-term excitement with sustainability and trust. His research has applications in areas ranging from domestic robots, industrial production assistants, mobile service robots to self-driving cars.
He says, “I am particularly excited to join the University of Stuttgart and the Cyber Valley faculty for their strategic focus on intelligent systems and international excellence in AI and related fields. The new institute will be a unique opportunity to collaborate with highly motivated young colleagues and leaders in AI to push the field of breathtakingly intelligent robots.”
Career
Kai Arras received his PhD in robotics from EPFL and was postdoc at the Center for Autonomous Systems at KTH Stockholm and the Autonomous Intelligent Systems Group, University of Freiburg. He was awarded a DFG Junior Research Group Leader grant and became Junior Professor at the University of Freiburg in 2007. His industrial career started off with his own robotics Zurich-based company in industrial navigation systems in 2003 and a Senior Research Scientist position with Evolution Robotics, Pasadena, USA in 2008 (now iRobot). From 2015 to 2023 he was leading robotics research at Bosch in Renningen, Germany, where his research enabled business units to transfer, develop and industrialize several new robotics products in the Bosch Group.
He is also a Faculty Member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Intelligent Systems (IS).