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AI Robotics Booster

One of the flagship initiatives of the High-Tech Agenda Germany (HTAD) is the AI Robotics Booster. Through this initiative, the German government aims to position Germany as an internationally competitive player in the fields of AI-based robotics and embodied artificial intelligence. The rationale is clear: developments in robotics and AI are progressing at breakneck speed worldwide. At the same time, there is growing concern that significant parts of value creation will take place outside Europe in future. The AI Robotics Booster is therefore designed to help translate scientific strength more quickly into industrial applications, marketable technologies and economic competitiveness. To this end, the German government is providing 100 million euros, divided into two funding streams – the funding guideline for the development of robo-hubs and a challenge on AI-based multi-purpose robots, run by the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND).

Germany’s drive for embodied artificial intelligence

AI-based robotics is regarded as one of the key technologies of the coming years. Adaptive systems such as humanoids or drones, which can operate autonomously and respond flexibly to changing situations, are set to transform industrial processes and value chains. Germany has strong research institutions and a high level of scientific expertise in robotics. The AI Robotics Booster is designed to drive Germany forward: it aims to accelerate the transfer of research findings, reduce technological dependencies and unlock new industrial potential in Germany – in short: the scaling and commercialisation of new AI-based robotic technologies.

Robo-Hubs

Funding Guideline (in German)

The ‘Robo-Hubs’ funding guideline announces a call for proposals to establish innovation laboratories, known as Robo-Hubs, each with a clear domain-specific focus (e.g. manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, construction or health/care). The Robo-Hubs are intended to strengthen collaborative research into AI-based robotics and facilitate its transfer into practical applications and value creation in Germany. The Robo-Hubs are to act as practical bridges between science and industry, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular to access forward-looking technologies. The three best concepts are to be implemented immediately following the competition.

The domain-specific Robo-Hubs are intended to address topics ranging from academic basic research on key societal challenges, through innovation transfer into practical applications, to the training of skilled personnel. Pilot initiatives, in particular competitions and focused transfer projects within the established research structures, are intended to create synergies that shorten the path from idea to application.

The Robo-Hubs have been deliberately designed as a networked funding approach. The aim is to strengthen links between existing initiatives, research consortia and regional expertise. At the same time, the initiative relies on close involvement from academia, industry and the federal states.

The Robo-Hubs thus form part of the further development of the technology-related roadmaps of the HTAD. The aim is to create a more closely integrated innovation ecosystem in which research, development, testing and industrial application work more closely together.

Challenge on AI-based multi-purpose robots

About SPRIND

We will continue to advance this important field of research through a challenge focused on the development of AI-based multi-purpose robots. The Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND) has been commissioned to develop the challenge.

The Robotics Institute Germany as the scientific backbone

About RIG

The Robotics Institute Germany (RIG), which has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) since 2024, plays a central role in these areas. The network brings together 16 leading research centres in AI-based robotics. The network includes leading universities as well as institutions such as the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and several Fraunhofer Institutes. The RIG will be involved in the design of the Robo-Hubs and is intended to support the direction of the robotics research based there in line with its research roadmap. The shared research infrastructure of the Robo-Hubs is intended to strengthen collaborative research between the RIG and the other players in the national robotics ecosystem.

A new approach to research and technology policy

The AI Robotics Booster exemplifies the HTAD’s aim to give technology policy funding a more strategic focus. The focus is not solely on individual research projects, but on the targeted development of innovation ecosystems, industrial value creation and technological capacity.

The initiative is also intended to provide impetus for other key technologies and strategic research areas within the HTAD. In this way, the AI Robotics Booster combines research funding, industrial development and technology policy in a unified approach – with the aim of strengthening Germany’s position in the long term as a hub for AI-based robotics and embodied artificial intelligence.

more information:

(German only)

Robo-Hubs des KI-Robotikboosters