Team
The team led by Dr. Manfred Hild consists of twelve employees. As part of studies and theses, the team is accompanied by an average of six freelancers. Every Monday the conjoint Jour fixe takes place, where daily work is coordinated. Specially organized workshops serve as further education and focused content exchange.
Dr. Manfred Hild
Manfred studied mathematics and psychology at the Universität Konstanz, Germany, and got his doctoral degree at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where he is lecturing and supervising diploma and PhD theses.
His scientific interests lie in the following fields: dynamics of recurrent neural networks, humanoids robotics with a special focus on sensorimotor and audio-visual processing, unsupervised learning paradigms for autonomous self-exploration, and parallel distributed systems.
As leader of the Neurorobotics Research Laboratory, he is supervising the design of bionic constructions, electronic circuits, and computational architectures. Further fields of interest are computer music, digital signal processing, and applications of FPGAs.
Christian Benckendorff
Christian has started studying Computer Science with a minor in Geography at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2003. He is with the team since 2006. In 2010 he received his diploma and is now a research associate.
The programming of FPGA firmware and applications on various microcontrollers are part of Christian's main tasks. His interests specifically lie in the areas of sensors and real-time image processing. Also he likes designing small electronic circuits or CAD models.
Besides work, Christian cares about his daughter Lilli and whenever time permits, enjoys jogging or cycling. He also is interested in photography and aquatics.
Stefan Bethge
Stefan studies computer science and musicology since 2005 at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and has joined the team in late 2010.
His work supports the exploration of reactive systems and their resulting dynamic motion. He is particularly interested in the application of biological principles to technical systems.
In his free time, Stefan is on the road with his band, attending concerts and likes to ride his bike.
Tim Geppert
Tim studies mechanical engineering at the Technische Universität Berlin since 2007. His interests mainly lie in construction and in FEM simulation. He is with the team since 2010.
His responsibilities include both the assembly and manufacturing as well as the CAD design of experimental arrangements and sub-components.
He spends his free time with various sporting activities such as swimming, bouldering and cycling. He also likes to visit concerts.
Matthias Kubisch
Matthias studied computer science and physics with a focus on cognitive robotics, sensorimotor loops and signal processing and has graduated with his diploma in October 2010. He is actively working on building humanoid robot platforms since 2006.
His responsibilities in the team include the layout and production of electronic circuits and their operation and maintenance test. His current research interest is developmental robotics, specifically, he explores the mechanisms of intrinsic motivation and unsupervised neural learning.
In his spare time he enjoys playing drums in his girl-rock band, is concerned with home recording and is interested in socio-political issues.
Tanja Richter
Tanja is a fully-trained computer scientist in management and since 2002 she is studying computer science and sociology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Her responsibilities include accounting, office management, and human resource management.
In her spare time she likes reading literature of the 19th century and spending time with friends.
Torsten Siedel
Torsten is a trained industrial mechanics and IT systems engineer. He studied mechanical engineering at the Rheinische Fachhochschule in Cologne and is working towards a doctorate since 2009 at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
His work includes the development of bio-mechanical drive systems and lightweight scaffolding, and the process development and optimization of various manufacturing techniques. He is the designer of the humanoid robot Myon and of several other robotic platforms.
Torsten is not only interested in robotics but also in interior design and architecture since a long time. Also, he is excited by sporting challenges. Torsten regularly organizes tours for friends and colleagues.
Christian Thiele
Christian studies computer science, physics and economics since 2003 at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Since January 2006 he works with robots at the Institute for Computer Science.
He develops software for large parts of the humanoid robots of the team: the firmware for the microprocessors in the robots as well as graphical applications for PCs. He also works with FPGAs.
Christian enjoys programming in Assembler, C, C# and PHP and is also interested in Web site development and -programming (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). In private, Christian meets with friends and often goes out to the movies. He is active in the free encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
Mario Weidner
After training as an industrial mechanic Mario took over the mechanical workshop of the laboratory in 2010.
Among other things, he is responsible for the maintenance of the mechanical humanoid robot Myon. In addition, he designs and builds new parts and test equipment and mills boards.
In his spare time, he likes to eat out, read texts on a variety of subjects and extend his T-shirt collection.
Benjamin Werner
Benjamin studies computer science and chemistry since 2003 at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. As the focus of his studies, he chose robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
His main task in the team is the development of neural systems. Here he deals primarily with the generation of walking patterns and their stability for the A-and M-series robots.
Benjamin decided to make the team his only hobby - leaving aside parties and snowboarding.
Alumni
Alexander Mantei, André Stephan, Ferry Bachmann, Mario Lasseck, Mario Lühmann, Martin Schumann, Matthias Markl, Michael Spranger, Philipp Hähnel, Robert Wolff, Robin Meißner, Sebastian Höfer, Thomas Lobig