The Finnish-German Competence Center for Advanced Robotics Control was founded by Prof. Peter Eberhard from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and Prof. Henrik Ebel from the Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT), Finland, to promote knowledge transfer and cultural exchange between LUT and ITM. Its scientific focus lies in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, cooperative swarms, and control systems. Through close cooperation between the two institutions, the center enhances the education of students and researchers, accelerates scientific advancement, and deepens mutual cultural understanding.

Researchers share their expertise through seminars and presentations designed for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. These events aim to inspire and educate a broad academic audience.

Key topics include:

• lectures on robotic swarm behavior and decentralized control
• hands-on workshops on assembling omnidirectional robots
• cooperative swarm robotics working toward collective goals

Seminar talks already given are:

• Benedict Röder: "Data-Driven Design Assistance for the Synthesis of Planar Mechanisms", May 28, 2025. Seminar presentation at LUT.
• Mario Rosenfelder: "Workshop: Advanced Kinematics and Control of Wheeled Mobile Robots", October 23 and 24,2024. 2 days workshop at LUT.

Research stays at the partner university provide unique opportunities to leverage each institution’s strengths and foster closer academic collaboration. These exchanges also serve as a bridge for cultural interaction between Finland and Germany. 

Key aspects include:

• conducting research abroad at the partner institution
• co-supervising students and joint research projects
• experiencing cultural enrichment through daily academic life and collaboration
• building long-term academic networks and joint innovation opportunities

Research stays already done are:

• Inge Wenger (ITM) at LUT, October - December 2025: Research on antagonist detection in robot swarms. 
• Benedict Röder (ITM) at LUT, May - July 2025: Research on data-driven path generation using conditional latent diffusion models.
• Mario Rosenfelder (ITM) at LUT, October 2024: Research on sub-Riemannian model predictive control for nonholonomic mobile robots.
• Torbe Schiz at LUT, September 2024 - March 2025: Master's thesis on "Reducing the Communication Effort of Distributed Model Predictive Control".

• Torben Schiz was a graduate student at the University of Stuttgart and wrote his master's thesis on the topic of "Reducing the Communication Effort of Distributed Model Predictive Control" at the LUT in Finland under the supervision of Prof. Henrik Ebel from September 2024 to March 2025. He is now a doctoral student at LUT researching on the topic of "Reduction of and Alternative Approaches to Communication in Distributed Collaborative Robotics and Control" under the supervision of Prof. Henrik Ebel.

• Wenger, I.; Eberhard, P.; Ebel, H.: Detecting Arbitrary Numbers of Antagonistic Robots. International Journal of Mechanical System Dynamics. (submitted)
• Chen, J.; Xu, L.; Ebel, H.; Eberhard, P.: An Online Optimization-Based Trajectory Planning Approach for Cooperative Landing Tasks. Proceedings 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IROS 2025), Hangzhou, China, October 19-25, 2025. Preprint at ArXiv http://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13823. (accepted)
• Rosenfelder, M.; Carius, H.; Herrmann-Wicklmayr, M.; Eberhard, P.; Flaßkamp, K.; Ebel, H.: Efficient Avoidance of Ellipsoidal Obstacles with Model Predictive Control for Mobile Robots and Vehicles. Mechatronics, Vol. 110, paper 103386, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechatronics.2025.103386. Preprint at ArXiv http://arxiv.org/abs/2412.11552. (accepted)
• Rosenfelder, M.; Bold, L.; Eschmann, H.; Eberhard, P.; Worthmann, K.; Ebel. H.: Data-Driven Predictive Control of Nonholonomic Robots Based on a Bilinear Koopman Realization: Data Does Not Replace Geometry. Robotics and Autonomous Systems. Preprint at ArXiv http://arxiv.org/abs/2411.07192. (accepted)
• Ebel, H.; van Delden, J.; Lüddecke, T.; Borse, A.; Gulakala, R.; Stoffel, M.; Yadav, M.; Stender, M.; Schindler, L.; de Payrebrune, K.; Raff, M.; Remy, D.; Röder, B.; Raj, R.; Rentschler, T.; Tismer, A.; Riedelbauch, S.; Eberhard, P.: Data Publishing in Mechanics and Dynamics: Challenges, Guidelines, and Examples from Engineering Design. Data-Centric Engineering, Vol. 6, e23, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1017/dce.2025.13. Preprint at ArXiv. (published)
• Röder, B.; Hajipour, S.; Ebel, H.; Bestle, D.; Eberhard, P.: Design of a Four-bar Mechanism from Hand Drawings of Desired Coupler Trajectories and Velocity Profiles. Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines, Special Issue on Data-Driven Methods for Multibody System Dynamics. (accepted)
• Röder, B.; Ebel, H.; Berkemeier, M.; Eberhard, P.: A dual-network approach for avoiding feature ambiguity in the synthesis of crank-driven four-bar linkages. Multibody System Dynamics (Sonderheft zu ECCOMAS MBS Innsbruck). Preprint at ResearchSquare https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6246481/v1 (submitted)
• Wenger, I.; Ebel, H.; Eberhard, P.: Discovering Antagonists in Networks of Systems: Robot Deployment. Robotics and Autonomous Systems. Preprint at ArXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.20125 (published)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Prof. E.h. Peter Eberhard
Universität Stuttgart
Pfaffenwaldring 9
70569 Stuttgart
Tel.:  +49 711 685 66388
Fax:  +49 711 685 66400
Email: peter.eberhard@itm.uni-stuttgart.de

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Henrik Ebel
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT
Yliopistonkatu 34
53850 Lappeenranta
Tel.:  +358 50 305 2979
Email: henrik.ebel@lut.fi