Frank Kirchner

Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Frank Kirchner is a leading robotics expert and Managing Director of the DFKI Bremen since 2020. He holds the Chair of Robotics at the University of Bremen's Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science since 2002, leading the Robotics Innovation Center with over 100 employees. His career spans academic leadership, industry innovation, and international collaboration.

• Doctorate (Dr. rer. nat) from University of Bonn (1999)
• Diploma in Informatics and Neurobiology from University of Bonn (1994)

His research focuses on biologically inspired robotics, autonomous systems, and AI, with applications in space exploration, maritime technologies, and industrial automation. He pioneered the Soft Robotics Priority Program at DFG and co-founded institutions like the Brazilian Institute of Robotics and MarTech. His recent work includes AI-driven robotic ecosystems for marine conservation and transformer-based adaptive control systems.

Selected projects:

• AI-REEFSHIELD: AI-driven robot learning for marine habitat monitoring
• ActGPT: Generative AI in robot control
• FieldCoBots: Human-robot collaboration in agriculture

Scientific recognition includes an honorary doctorate (2017), Research Fellow at Tsinghua University (2018), and membership in the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (2015). He has supervised over 65 doctoral theses and authored 350+ publications.