Yesterday, Prof Dr-Ing. Sami Haddadin from Leibniz University Hanover and his partners Dr med. Simon Haddadin and Dipl.-Inf. Sven Parusel in Berlin were awarded the German Future Prize 2017. The researchers received the award, presented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, for their work on robot assistants. The HRK had nominated Professor Haddadin’s team for the prize at the start of the year.
“The HRK congratulates Mr Haddadin and his colleagues on this tremendous success,” says HRK President Prof Dr Horst Hippler. “The fact that this outstanding and award-winning technology was largely developed at a university demonstrates the central importance of universities in the German innovation system.”
He continues: “The innovation developed by the prize recipients has the potential to revolutionise robotics and therefore impact on many areas of society in the era of Industry 4.0. From highly automated production in the automotive industry to the care of elderly people at home, these new robot assistants have a host of potential applications.”
The German Future Prize, the Federal President’s Award for Technology and Innovation, is awarded annually and is worth €250,000. The HRK is one of 19 organisations entitled to put forward nominations. The recipients are selected by an independent jury.
For more information about the project, visit www.deutscher-zukunftspreis.de/en
