Another award for "Father of Robotics"

Created: 06/07/2022, 1:00 p.m

By: Hanna von Prittwitz

Prof. Gerd Hirzinger and the DLR robot Justin, in the development of which Hirzinger played a key role.

Photo: private © private

Prof. Gerd Hirzinger from Seefeld received the Golden Ring of Honor from the Eduard Rhein Foundation in Hamburg.

This makes Hirzinger the first roboticist to receive all relevant international awards.

Hirzinger is considered the "father of robotics".

Seefeld

– soccer field in Unering, Sunday around 11 a.m.: A few men of all ages are running across the soccer field and kicking.

The group has been meeting for many years.

In goal: Prof. Gerd Hirzinger, 76 years young and for everyone "the Gerd".

Sometimes he didn't come because he had an appointment with Angela Merkel.

Or a performance with the Seefeld male choir.

As unpretentious as Hirzinger is in his private life, the “father of robotics” is a big deal in research and business.

Now he is the first roboticist to have received all relevant international awards.

It all started at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen.

Hirzinger and his colleagues set up the Center for Robotics and Mechatronics there, and they were the first to send a small robot into space in 1993 with the so-called Spacelab D2 mission "and also successfully remote-controlled and remote-programmed it from Earth". as Hirzinger explains.

The technology transfer successes in industrial and medical technology can also be described as spectacular.

Examples are the rise of the Augsburg robot manufacturer Kuka to the top of the world and the space mouse, which still offers a popular 3D man-machine interface.

Also not to be forgotten are innovative surgical robots and the sensitive joint torque control as the basis for modern,

Robotics working closely with humans.

Hirzinger's work received awards at regular intervals.

Among other things, he is the recipient of the Leibniz Prize, the Federal Cross of Merit and the Maximillian Order - the highest award in Bavaria, limited to 100 living people.

Hirzinger retired in 2013. "But I don't really feel that much," he says today.

After that, Hirzinger was appointed a member of the future council of the Bavarian economy and initiated the geriatronics research center in Garmisch for the development of assistance systems for older people.

The nucleus for this was his mother, who lived 200 kilometers away in his birthplace Schwandorf and whom he often tried in vain to reach.

In a conversation with the Starnberger Merkur newspaper at the time, he ranted: "That can't be the case in the high-tech age." The robot assistants should by no means replace the nursing staff.

But they can help seniors stay in their homes longer.

In addition, the man from Seefeld was involved in founding small companies, for example to develop solar-electric planes and drones, which are primarily used to fight forest fires and damage worldwide.

But Hirzinger's heart is also attached to the so-called 3D modeling of landscapes and magnificent buildings, residences and monasteries in Bavaria.

In the medium term, this should also enable virtual visits.

"As a long-time deputy board member of the Deutsches Museum, I also use these techniques to illustrate machines such as the first steam engines, power generators, the Benz car as the first car or the Walchensee power plant as well as historical technological events such as the first moon landing, car journeys over the moon or Lilienthal's first flight attempts of the Making people a virtual experience,” says Hirzinger,

Hirzinger has to pull reports from his friends and acquaintances about all the successes.

He has always remained humble.

Today it worries him that “my core topic, robotics, is increasingly falling into Chinese hands”.

Kuka, for example, is to become completely Chinese, and the electronics group Midea plans to take it over completely.

Hirzinger has a special bond with his homeland.

"In all my lectures in the USA and Asia, I always felt with pride as an ambassador for my Bavarian homeland."

He always remained loyal to the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen.

The footballers in Unering too.

If the schedule allows.