The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) has appointed Prof. Dr. Sven Behnke as an ELLIS Fellow. ELLIS Fellows are top researchers in the field of machine learning who have made outstanding scientific achievements. The aim of the ELLIS network is to promote excellent AI research and secure Europe's leading role in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Prof. Behnke will contribute to the ELLIS program “Robot Learning: Closing the Reality Gap!”. This program focuses on key questions to close the gap in the real world for intelligent systems: How should the robot move? How should it act? How should it interact? How can sensorimotor behavior be improved through machine learning approaches?
ELLIS is a pan-European AI network of excellence that focuses on basic research, technical innovation and societal impact. Founded in 2018, the network focuses on machine learning as a driver for modern AI and aims to ensure and strengthen Europe's sovereignty and competitiveness in it. New scientists are regularly accepted into the ELLIS network. At the beginning of December 2024, 161 new members were announced, including Prof. Behnke. The network currently comprises a total of 516 Fellows and Scholars from 23 countries.
Prof. Behnke has held the Chair of Autonomous Intelligent Systems since 2008 and heads the Institute of Computer Science VI — Intelligent Systems and Robotics. He is Chair of the Embodied AI research area in the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Principal Investigator in the Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob, the DFG Research Unit Anticipating Human Behavior, and the BMBF projects AI Service Center WestAI, Establishment of the German Rescue Robotics Center (EDRZ), Robots in Everyday Life (RimA), and BNTrAinee.
Prof. Behnke is a founding member of the Bonn Center for Robotics and a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Areas TRA1 Mathematics, Modelling and Simulation of Complex Systems and TRA6 Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Futures.
His team NimbRo regularly wins numerous robot competitions.