The University of Bonn was prominently represented at the 2nd German Robotics Conference in Cologne. The conference was organized by the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG) and brought together leading figures from politics, academia, industry, and startups to further strengthen research, innovation, and technology transfer in robotics. Among those in attendance were the Vice Rector for Digitalization and Information Management at the University of Bonn, Maren Bennewitz, and Rector Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch. Numerous researchers from the university also presented their work and robotic systems. The conference also featured an exchange with the Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Space, Dorothee Bär. The strong presence at the conference underlines the importance of the University of Bonn as one of the leading research centers for robotics in Germany.
Prof. Bennewitz served as a "local organizer" in helping to design the program and led a session. There, she and her team presented a robot demonstration. "We gave a robot demonstration of our PRIVATAR project, during which Minister Dorothee Bär was able to control our robot," Bennewitz reports. The project "Privacy-Friendly Mobile Avatar for Sick Schoolchildren" (PRIVATAR) develops user-friendly solutions to protect the privacy of affected groups, such as schoolchildren, teachers, and parents, when using mobile robots. The goal is to develop and evaluate data-efficient forms of robot-mediated participation in school life for sick children.
In her speech at the German Robotics Conference, Federal Minister Bär highlighted Germany’s High-Tech Agenda and the robotics initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space. She then opened the RoboCup German Open 2026, one of the most significant national and European robotics competitions, in which the University of Bonn, led Sven Behnke, is once again participating.
