News and agenda

On 18 February, a new collaboration between TU Delft and the Dutch Driving Test Authority (CBR) was officially launched. Fred van Keulen, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TU Delft, signed the agreement for the PhD research project led by David Stefan. This project aims to explore how data can enhance the assessment process conducted by driving examiners during practical driving tests.

Over the past four years, TU Delft and the National Police Lab AI have collaborated on developing autonomous flying drones that can safely navigate unknown environments with limited human feedback. This technology is ideal for exploring hard-to-reach and potentially dangerous locations, such as drug labs.

For the first time, scientists at TU Delft have uncovered how the human grip adapts to sudden changes in friction and load, using a novel device that alters friction on demand with ultrasonic vibrations. This deeper understanding of the neurological processes behind grip control could pave the way for innovative rehabilitation tools for stroke survivors and enhance the development of tactile robotics.

Scientists at TU Delft have developed a new model that better describes human behaviour when merging into motorway traffic. Current models often assume that drivers are constantly trying to optimise their behaviour to reach their destination as quickly and safely as possible, but this is not always the case, says postdoctoral researcher Olger Siebinga.

It’s surprising, but in the Netherlands – a nation of cyclists – there’s very little data on how cyclists respond to each other in traffic. Yet this data is essential for creating more realistic traffic models, which in turn are key to designing better cycling infrastructure across the Netherlands. Anna Marbus, a master’s student in robotics, wants to change that by causing near collisions with cyclists.

We are thrilled to announce that our paper "Group-based Distributed Auction Algorithms for Multi-Robot Task Assignment", authored by Xiaoshan Bai, Andres Fielbaum, Maximilian Kronmüller, Luzia Knoedler, and Javier Alonso-Mora, has received the 2024 IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Best Paper Award!

Cosimo Della Santina has received an ERC Starting Grant to advance the intelligence of soft robots. His research will focus on having robots interacting with their environment via multiple complex large-area contacts, similar to how an elephant wraps its trunk around a branch.

TU Delft, University of Amsterdam, TNO and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee are joining forces to develop artificial intelligence (AI) for surveillance robots. The OpenBots consortium, officially launched on 4 September, focuses on creating intelligent systems that can support security staff in their daily tasks.

Rise of assistance robots at KLM and in healthcare: 'In five years, this will be very normal'

A robot that cleans cowsheds. 95 Master Robotics students have been working on this project for the past few weeks. On 13 June, they presented their robots to lecturers and client Lely, manufacturer of automated systems for dairy farmers. The students developed the control software for the robot. It had to avoid cows and other obstacles and navigate itself to places where there is manure.