The mission of the Cyber Valley Innovation Campus is to bring together leading experts from academia, industry, and society to advance cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and translate it into real-world applications. Ten years after its founding, the ecosystem has established itself as a Europe-wide model and a leading force in the global race for AI innovation. At this year's Cyber Valley Day in Tübingen, partners and other international experts presented the results of high-caliber basic research as well as exciting technology transfer projects and startups in the fields of AI and robotics.
The event provided an opportunity to discuss the potential, opportunities, and risks of AI-driven innovations, as well as how AI systems and intelligent robots can be used for the benefit of society in the future. The anniversary celebrations concluded with a gala dinner at Stuttgart’s historic palace.
Continuing successful partnerships and advancing new initiatives
“No university or institution can tackle the profound changes that artificial intelligence will bring in the future alone,” explained Prof. Peter Middendorf. "That's why I'm looking forward to continuing to build on our successful partnerships within Cyber Valley in the coming years, forging new connections, and helping to advance new initiatives. I am certain that Cyber Valley will remain a place where scientific curiosity gives rise to collaborative projects, and where those collaborative projects in turn create new opportunities.”
Combining artificial intelligence and engineering
Within Cyber Valley, the University of Stuttgart represents the connection between artificial intelligence and engineering. Through the Artificial Intelligence Software Academy (AISA), the Interchange Forum for Reflecting on Intelligent Systems (IRIS), the Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Institute for Adaptive Mechanical Systems (IAMS), it has set the course over the past ten years to further improve its profile in the fields of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and intelligent robotics. Its two Clusters of Excellence – “Integrative Computer-Based Design and Construction for Transformative Architecture” (IntCDC) and “Data-Integrated Simulation Science” (SimTech) – as well as the Bionic Intelligence Tübingen Stuttgart Center (BITS) are among the key partners in the Cyber Valley ecosystem.
Highlights from current research
Through short talks, presentations, and interactive demonstrations, researchers from the University of Stuttgart showed where AI can be applied and what challenges come with it. The agenda included, among other topics: AI-assisted materials research, AI and robotics in construction, bio-inspired components for humanoid robots, agile walking robots for manufacturing and logistics, soft robots made of functional materials, AI assistants for pilots, and new approaches to safe human-machine interaction.
Steffen Staab, professor of analytical data processing at the University of Stuttgart’s AI Institute, explained how AI systems can be trained and used in ways that make their behavior safer and certifiable. For him, technical solutions alone are not enough; transdisciplinary research is needed. Together with his research group at the SimTech Cluster of Excellence, he is working to find solutions for such challenges.
David Remy and Philipp Rothemund, both professors at IAMS, explained how movement dynamics found in nature inspire their research into a new generation of agile, energy-efficient walking robots and into soft robotics made from innovative, flexible materials.
At the SimTech Cluster of Excellence exhibition stand, visitors could see how AI models simulate materials down to the atomic level. BITS demonstrated how the running behavior of humanoid robots can be improved using pneumatically driven artificial muscles. As an example of its wide-ranging interdisciplinary research, the IRIS team presented a desktop-based flight simulator designed to assist pilots in the cockpit under the guidance of an AI assistant.
Another highlight was a model of the “Wangen Tower.” The 23-meter-tall original of this demonstration building from the IntCDC Cluster of Excellence can be seen on the site of the former State Garden Show in Wangen im Allgäu and illustrates how computer-based design and planning methods, as well as cyber-physical manufacturing and construction processes, are successfully applied in timber construction research.
About Cyber Valley
Cyber Valley is one of the largest and leading centers for artificial intelligence and modern robotics in Europe. Based in Baden-Württemberg, Cyber Valley is a dynamic ecosystem that brings together experts from academia, industry, and society to exchange ideas, foster excellence, advance research, and translate findings into real-world applications.
Cyber Valley's mission is research, development, application, and acceptance of AI and robotics – while taking ethical considerations into account and societal impacts. By attracting top talent to Baden-Württemberg, it transforms AI research into a sustainable future for the general public.
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