Summer School 2026

August 3 to 7, 2026 | Karlsruhe, Germany

The FZI Research Center for Information Technology, in cooperation with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, will organize a summer school to enable walking robots for domestic environments using 3D mapping, semantics, ML, ROS 2, and behavior trees for unknown and dynamic environments.

Towards Walking Robots in Domestic Environments

Target Group

PhD Students or last-year-M.Sc. with programming experience in C++ and/or Python. The event language is English.

Cost

The participation is free of charge (incl. lectures, lunch, access to robots, refreshments, welcome drinks, farewell drinks, and social program).

But: You will have to take care of and pay for your travel and accommodation!

Program

Presentations by top robotics researchers from the University of Bonn, FZI, ETH Zurich and KIT on machine learning, behavior trees, perception and control for mobile walking robots
Group-based software challenges in Python / C++ in ROS/ROS 2, each focusing on a typical domestic problem such as clothes and shoes as obstacles on the floor
Practical integration and evaluation of software on the walking robots Unitree Go2 and Boston Dynamics Spot with arm for navigation, perception and manipulation tasks
Evaluation in a final competition in which each group presents their developed approaches in a course modeled on a typical domestic environment
Social and networking program with barbecue and drinks in the evening

Dec 15, 2025
Application Opens
March 31, 2026
Application Deadline

March 31, 2026
May 15, 2026
Feedback on Your Application via email is expected ~~by the end of April~~.

Due to almost 450 applications, the confirmation has been delayed. Confirmation of participation via email by approx. May 15.
August 3, 2026
Start of Summer School

August 3, 2026
August 7, 2026
End of Summer School