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  • PRIVATAR at the German Robotics Conference

    Im März 2026 waren Prof. Maren Bennewitz und Xuying aus Bonn gemeinsam auf der German Robotics Conference (GRC).

    The German Robotics Conference brings together representatives from academia, industry, politics and start-ups to explore the latest developments in robotics and AI. It serves as a leading platform for fostering research collaboration, promoting innovation and accelerating technology transfer across Germany.

    We presented the PRIVATAR robot, which enables sick children to take part in distance learning. We also demonstrated a child-friendly user interface that allows users to see how a pupil interacts with the robot and the virtual learning environment, and to select an avatar to represent them if they do not wish to show their face.

    We also demonstrated the ‘privacy area feature’: if the robot approaches this area, it automatically takes control and returns to the authorised area.

    Thank you very much to the many visitors who have shown an interest in our project.

  • PRIVATAR Consortium Meeting in Kassel

    On 10 November 2025, the PRIVATAR consortium meeting took place in Kassel. All project partners came together to present the latest developments, share experiences from previous tests and plan the next steps for the coming months.

    The meeting focused on progress made in the design of user interfaces, the further development of robot navigation, and new approaches to safeguarding privacy in everyday school life. In addition, insights were provided into ongoing and planned studies examining how children, teachers and parents experience the use of telepresence systems in the classroom, and what technical or educational improvements can be derived from these findings.

    Another key focus was on coordinating future research directions. Among other things, the discussion centred on ideas for new approaches to making telepresence systems in educational contexts even more data-efficient, secure and user-friendly.

    The meeting provided all participants with a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas and work together to further develop the project’s objectives. We would like to thank all our partners for their constructive cooperation and ongoing commitment to the success of the project.

  • PRIVATAR in action!

    We are very happy that Luca, who is part of our team in Göttingen, was able to test our robot in schools. We introduced the robot for our initial classroom tests and are now addressing the remaining challenges.

    Our project continues!

    We would like to thank the schools for their cooperation and willingness to participate, and we are delighted that we were able to achieve concrete results.

    Thank you!

  • Night of Knowledge 2025

    PRIVATAR was at the Night of Knowledge 2025!

    On June 21, 2025, the 6th Night of Knowledge took place in Göttingen. We were also there and, together with NaMeKi (Sustainable Human–AI Collaboration), hosted a booth at the Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine.

    In the evening, Prof. Dr. Reinhardt and Prof. Dr. Schicktanz held an engaging panel discussion. We talked about the history and ethics of human–robot interaction over time, as well as about privacy, security, and trust in robots. We were delighted to welcome so many visitors who came to talk with us about our projects.

    Thank you for being there!