Haptic Intelligence

Department News

Electrohydraulic Wearable Devices Create Unprecedented Haptic Sensations

  • 07 January 2025

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems invented compact wearable devices that deliver rich, expressive, and pleasant tactile sensations that go far beyond the buzzing vibrations of today’s consumer devices. The team just published their findings in Advanced Science.

Natalia Sanchez-Tamayo Zachary Yoder Philipp Rothemund Giulia Ballardini Christoph Keplinger Katherine Kuchenbecker


Forty years of robotics research showcased at ICRA@40

  • 15 October 2024

The anniversary celebration for the world’s largest robotics conference brought together top leaders in Rotterdam, among them MPI-IS Director Katherine J. Kuchenbecker.

Katherine Kuchenbecker Ludovic Righetti Linda Behringer


Katherine Kuchenbecker debates about the peer-review process at ICRA 2024

  • 17 May 2024

At this year’s five-day event in Yokohama, Kuchenbecker and other leading scientists from the robotics community argued the pros and cons of three controversial topics: single-blind peer review, generative AI, and the relevance of universities for modern robotics.

Katherine Kuchenbecker


David Gueorguiev receives ERC Starting Grant

  • 09 October 2023

The researcher from the Haptic Intelligence Department and from CNRS receives 1.5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC). He and his team will develop an experimental and computational framework that will open new possibilities for engineers and designers to develop applications that rely on the sense of touch.

David Gueorguiev Katherine Kuchenbecker


Blog: Creating the Tools to Conserve our Wildlife

  • 22 August 2023

Conservation tools vary, but are united in their potential to aid conservation of wildlife

We have published a perspectives piece on the different tools used throughout the world that are aiding in conservation of wildlife, and helping preserve the biodiversity of our planet. The perspectives highlight advances in technology, including both hardware and software, as well as frugal resources that are changing the way animals are conserved. For researchers and persons interested in learning about the ways conservation technology and tools are created and the foundational building blocks this piece serves as a starter guide to the field.

Andrew Schulz


Haptic Intelligence Keeping in Touch with Research at World Haptics 2023

  • 13 July 2023

Director Katherine J. Kuchenbecker and 24 other current members of the MPI-Haptic Intelligence (HI) Department presented an abundance of their current research projects at the 2023 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC) at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in Delft, Netherlands. Dr. Yasemin Vardar, a former HI Department postdoctoral researcher and current Assistant Professor at TU Delft, helped organize the conference as Local Arrangements Chair. WHC combines EuroHaptics, AsiaHaptics, and the IEEE Haptics Symposium (North America) every other year. The HI team presented posters for six work-in-progress (WIP) papers, posters for two IEEE Transactions on Haptics (ToH) articles, a talk for one World Haptics technical paper and three hands-on demonstrations. Dr. Kuchenbecker also served on the four-person Editorial Board that managed the review of all ToH short papers and technical papers submitted to the conference. Additionally, HI’s brand-new CaCTüS intern, Moaaz Mughrabi, supported the conference as a student volunteer by helping participants check in, get accustomed to the presentation rooms, and set up their posters and demos.

Katherine Kuchenbecker Iris Andrussow Giulia Ballardini Farimah Fazlollahi Yijie Gong David Gueorguiev Ravali Gourishetti Moaaz Hudhud Mughrabi Autumn Hughes Haliza MatHusin Bernard Javot Behnam Khojasteh Rachael Lorsa Zhaoyang Li Ben Richardson Baptiste Rohou--Claquin Nataliya Rokhmanova Natalia Sanchez-Tamayo Andrew Schulz Gokhan Serhat Demet Tangolar Arekh Tiwari Lijuan Wang Cara Nunez Hasti Seifi Adam Spiers Yasemin Vardar Jonathan Fiene Hojin Lee Yitian Shao


Gokhan Serhat and Yitian Shao become faculty members at prestigious European universities

  • 15 November 2022

KU Leuven and TU Dresden have hired outstanding postdoctoral researchers from the MPI-IS Haptic Intelligence Department

Gokhan Serhat Yitian Shao


HI at EuroHaptics 2022

  • 22 May 2022

Director Katherine J. Kuchenbecker and sixteen other members of the MPI-IS Haptic Intelligence (HI) Department presented seven of their current research projects at the 2022 EuroHaptics conference, which was held on-site and in-person from May 22 to 25, 2022, in Hamburg, Germany. EuroHaptics is a major international conference on haptics and touch-enabled computer applications and is the primary European meeting for researchers in this field. Together, the HI team presented two workshop talks, one workshop poster, two oral session talks, and three hands-on demonstrations, winning one award. Two HI members also chaired sessions of the conference.

Katherine Kuchenbecker Gokhan Serhat Hasti Seifi Yasemin Vardar David Gueorguiev Gunhyuk Park Bernard Javot Saekwang Nam Farimah Fazlollahi Alexis Block


Otto Hahn Medal awarded to Alexis E. Block

  • 31 March 2022

The Max Planck Society honors Block with this prestigious award for her fundamental and innovative research in the field of human-robot interaction through the creation and evaluation of intelligent hugging robots.

Alexis Block Katherine Kuchenbecker


Fingertip sensitivity for robots

  • 24 February 2022

Striving to improve touch sensing in robotics, scientists developed a thumb-shaped sensor with a camera hidden inside and trained a deep neural network to infer its haptic contact information. When something touches the finger, the system constructs a three-dimensional force map from the visible deformations of its flexible outer shell. This research invention significantly improves a robot finger’s haptic perception, coming ever closer to the sense of touch of human skin.

Huanbo Sun Georg Martius Katherine Kuchenbecker