Wissenbasierte Systeme
Wissensbasierte Systeme/Knowledge-Based Systems
Group Profile
AI systems with incomplete control and incomplete knowledge of their environment, e.g., autonomous mobile robots, profit greatly from knowledge-level representation and reasoning for acting rationally: active sensing, sensor data disambiguation, performance optimization, human-robot co-operation, explanation – these and more aspects of robust and beneficial robot performance are impossible without applying at least a bit of symbolic knowledge. However, intertwining in closed-loop and in real-time the faculties of knowledge-level reasoning, robot control, sensing and sensor data interpretation is a fundamental challenge in AI. Within this spectrum, research in the Knowledge-Based Systems group focused on hybrid (task-level, spatio-temporal, hierarchical, probabilistic) planning, and we developed control architectures to amalgamate it with multi-modal active sensing, learning-based methods for sensor data interpretation, object anchoring, multi-modal semantic mapping, and closed-loop plan execution and monitoring. Regular teaching by group members has spanned over introductory AI, Robotics, and Knowledge-Based Systems topics.
A textbook on Mobile Robotics (1st edition, published in 2012), which has resulted from the group’s work.
The group was established in 2004, headed by Prof. Dr. Joachim Hertzberg, and terminated in 2025, shortly after his retirement in 2024. Many of the topics have been taken up by two new working groups in the institute: Hybrid AI, and Computer Vision and Robust AI.
The group was deeply involved in establishing in Osnabrück first a branch, then a Lab, and eventually a permanent Niedersachsen Site (in Osnabrück and Oldenburg) of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz, DFKI) from 2011 on. Joachim Hertzberg was the head of the DFKI Research Group Plan-Based Robot Control; after his retirement in 2024 continued under the direction of Martin Atzmüller as the DFKI Research Group Cooperative and Autonomous Systems. Joachim Hertzberg was also the inaugural Managing Director of DFKI Niedersachsen, 2022–24.
Members 2004–2025
The following list includes all graduate persons who have worked for the group on UOS contracts as scientific assistants (“Wiss. Mitarbeiter”), irrespective of the source of financing – be it on regular State contracts, or in externally funded research projects, or on doctorate scholarships (such as DAAD or scholarship foundations). The many student assistants are not covered. Regarding academic titles, we use the highest ones known when writing this list – in many cases, they have changed as part of the persons’ work in the group.
- Sven Albrecht (Dr.), 2011–17
- Johannes Brust (MSc), 2018–21
- Michaela van Eickelen (Dr.), 2021–22
- Martin Günther (Dr.), 2011–15
- Desiree Heijne (Dipl.-Geogr.), 2019–23
- Lena Herrmann (MSc), 2018–21
- Felix Igelbrink (MSc), 2015–22
- Kai Lingemann (Dr.), 2004–13
- Neele Meyer (Dr.), 2021–22
- Alexander Mock (Dr.), 2019–25
- Andreas Nüchter (Prof. Dr.), 2004–09
- Piper Powell (MSc), 2024–27
- Sebastian Pütz (Dr.), 2017–21
- Juan Carlos Saborío Morales (Dr.), 2015–19
- Jan H. Schoenke (Dr.), 2014–17
- Thomas Schüler (Dr.), 2011–14
- Amos Smith, MSc (2024-27)
- Jochen Sprickerhof (MSc), 2012–17
- Stefan Stiene (Prof. Dr.), 2006–2009
- Sebastian Stock (Dr.), 2011–15
- Stefanie Thieme (MSc), 2023–2024
- Thomas Wiemann (Prof. Dr.), 2008–20
- Dennis Ziegenhagen (MSc), 2023–2024
Other former doctoral students of the group
A number of persons have finished their doctorates in the group without a formal work contract, i.e., in some form as external doctoral candidates, working at DFKI, at University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, or industry. We list them with the years of their thesis defenses.
- Mohamed Altaleb (Dr.), 2024
- Iman Awaad (Dr.), 2025
- Henning Deeken (Dr.), 2022
- Simone Frintrop (Prof. Dr.), 2005
- Maik Fruhner (Dr.), 2025
- Ronny Hartanto (Prof. Dr.), 2009
- Stefan May (Prof. Dr.), 2009
- Stephan Scheuren (Dr.), 2014
- Irem Stratmann (Dr.), 2007
- Wolfram Strothmann (Dr.), 2016
2026
2025
-
BonaRes (Modul A, Phase 3): SOILAssist - Nachhaltige Sicherung und Verbesserung von Bodenfunktionen durch intelligente Landbewirtschaftung - Ein Echtzeit-Assistenzsystem für die Praxis - Teilprojekt D (Universität Osnabrück)
-
Towards Auto-generated Ground Truth for Evaluation of Perception Systems in Agriculture
-
Acting and Planning with Hierarchical Operational Models on a Mobile Robot: A Study with RAE+UPOM
-
RadaRays: Real-Time Simulation of Rotating FMCW Radar for Mobile Robotics via Hardware-Accelerated Ray Tracing
-
Consolidation of Symbolic Instances Using Sensor Data via Tracklet Merging for Long-Term Monitoring of Crops
-
Uncertainty-Resilient Active Intention Recognition for Robotic Assistants
-
Context-Aware Robotic Assistance for Workers Using Intention Recognition and Semantic Digital Twin
-
Hyperspectral band selection using segmented autoencoders for visual quality assessment of food products
2024
-
Teilflächenspezifische Beikrautregulierung im ökologischen Landbau am Beispiel Mais (Zea mays L.)
-
resKIL - Ressourceneffiziente KI für eingebettete Systeme in Landmaschinen
-
MICP-L: Mesh-based ICP for Robot Localization Using Hardware-Accelerated Ray Casting
-
Streamlined Acquisition of Large Sensor Data for Autonomous Mobile Robots to Enable Efficient Creation and Analysis of Datasets
-
Dynamic Anchoring Agent: A Probabilistic Object Anchoring Framework for Semantic World Modeling
2023
-
The Relationship of Field Geometry, Harvester Size, and Traffic Intensity during Wheat Harvesting
-
Hyperspectral 3D Point Cloud Segmentation Using RandLA-Net
-
Konzeption und Realisierung einer feldbasierten landwirtschaftlichen Versuchsumgebung zur dynamischen Umgebungswahrnehmung
-
Towards model-based automation of plant-specific weed regulation
-
Evaluation of a decision support system for the recommendation of pasture harvest date and form
-
Route-planning in output-material-flow operations using side-headlands
-
Scalable Evaluation Pipeline of CNN-Based Perception for Robotic Sensor Data under Different Environment Conditions
-
Object Anchoring forAutonomous Robots Using theSpatio-Temporal-Semantic Environment Representation SEEREP
-
Rmagine: 3D Range Sensor Simulation in Polygonal Maps via Ray Tracing for Embedded Hardware on Mobile Robots
-
Sozio-digitale Innovation durch partizipative Prozessgestaltung im virtuellen Raum
-
Cognitive Weeding: An Approach to Single-Plant Specific Weed Regulation
-
Der Dynamic Anchoring Agent : Wissensrepräsentation und Reasoning zur automatischen Wiedererkennung von individuellen Objekten
-
AI in Current and Future Agriculture
-
Interview: Cyrill Stachniss’ View on AI in Agriculture
-
AI in Current and Future Agriculture : An Introductory Overview
-
AI-TEST-FIELD - An Agricultural Test Environment for Semantic Environment Perception with Respect to Harsh And Changing Environmental Conditions
2022
-
Modeling obesity in complex food systems: Systematic review
-
Effects of varying field geometry and machine configurations on spatial field traffic intensity: A case study for winter wheat harvest
-
A Spatio-Temporal-Semantic Environment Representation for Autonomous Mobile Robots equipped with various Sensor Systems
-
Automated Byproduct Segmentation In Grain Images
-
Route-planning in output-material-flow arable farming operations aiming for soil protection
-
On the way to a decision support system for the cultivation and harvesting of grassland areas [Auf dem Weg zu einem Entscheidungsunterstützungssystem zur Pflege und Ernte von Grünlandflächen]
-
A data mining process for building recommendation systems for agricultural machines based on big data Recommendation system for agricultural machinery application
-
The pitfalls of transfer learning in computer vision for agriculture
-
Analysis of Combine Harvester Threshing Systems Across Different Climate Regions
-
Online Inference of Robot Navigation Parameters from a Semantic Map
2021
-
The Mesh Tools Package - Introducing Annotated 3D Triangle Maps in ROS
-
Monocular localization in feature-annotated 3d polygon maps
-
Gaia-AgStream: An Explainable AI Platform for Mining Complex Data Streams in Agriculture
-
Overview of a route-planning tool for capacitated field processes in arable farming
-
First steps towards a context-sensitive navigation in a long-term autonomous field monitoring system [Erste Schritte zu einer kontextsensitiven Navigation in einem langzeitautonomen Field-Monitoring-System]
-
Illumination compensation for classification of hyperspektral 3d point clouds [Beleuchtungsausgleich zur klassifikation auf hyperspektral annotierten 3d-punktwolken]
-
ACTION AFFORDANCE AFFECTS PROXIMAL AND DISTAL GOAL-ORIENTED PLANNING
-
Continuous Shortest Path Vector Field Navigation on 3D Triangular Meshes for Mobile Robots
-
Embedding semantic relationships in hidden representations via label smoothing
-
Navigation control & path planning for autonomous mobile robots
2020
-
Hierarchical Modeling with Neurodynamical Agglomerative Analysis
-
Automatische Wiedererkennung von individuellen Objekten mit dem Dynamic Anchoring Agent
-
Impact of Virtual Embodiment on the Perception of Virtual Heights
2019
-
A spatio-semantic approach to reasoning about agricultural processes
-
Tools for visualizing, annotating and storing triangle meshes in ROS and RViz
-
Compressing ROS Sensor and Geometry Messages with Draco
-
‘Virtual harvesting' as a key element in the development of a novel LiDAR based combine harvester steering system
-
A File Structure and Reference Data Set for High Resolution Hyperspectral 3D Point Clouds
-
"Digital twins" as tool for the development of field robots in agricultural processes [„Digitale Zwillinge“als Werkzeug für die Entwicklung von Feldrobotern in landwirtschaftlichen Prozessen]
-
Markerless AD-HOC calibration of a hyperspectral camera and a 3D laser scanner
-
Planning under uncertainty through goal-driven action selection
-
Efficient Planning Under Uncertainty with Incremental Refinement.
-
Relevance-based online planning in complex POMDPs
2018
-
Grounding semantic maps in spatial databases
-
Context-aware 3D object anchoring for mobile robots
-
Move Base Flex
-
Surface reconstruction from arbitrarily large point clouds
-
Simulation of laser scanners in plant populations for the development of environment-based functions [Simulation von Laserscannern in Pflanzenbeständen für die Entwicklung umfeldbasierter Funktionen]
-
Towards domain-independent biases for action selection in robotic task-planning under uncertainty
-
A spatio-semantic model for agricultural environments and machines
2017
-
AI, Kitsch, and Communication
-
Model-based furniture recognition for building semantic object maps
-
Plant classification with In-Field-Labeling for crop/weed discrimination using spectral features and 3D surface features from a multi-wavelength laser line profile system
-
A multilevel simulation framework for highly automated harvest processes enabled by environmental sensor systems
-
Practical assumptions for planning under uncertainty
-
Online context-based object recognition for mobile robots
2016
-
AI reasoning methods for robotics
-
Towards a flexible hybrid planner for machine coordination in arable farming
-
Methods for generating scan poses to optimally complete partially acquired 3D scenes [Methoden zur Bestimmung optimal ergänzender Scanposen in unvollständig erfassten 3D-Szenen]
-
Online Mesh Optimization for Large Scale KinectFusion Meshes
-
3D Navigation Mesh Generation for Path Planning in Uneven Terrain
-
Optimizing Triangle Mesh Reconstructions of Planar Environments
-
Real time texture generation in optimized large-scale polygon meshes with KinectFusion
-
Hierarchische hybride Planung für mobile Roboter
-
Data handling in large-scale surface reconstruction
2015
-
An Extended Evaluation of Open Source Surface Reconstruction Software for Robotic Applications
-
The Role of Functional Affordances in Socializing Robots
-
Integrating physics-based prediction with Semantic plan Execution Monitoring
-
Online task merging with a hierarchical hybrid task planner for mobile service robots
-
SEMAP - A semantic environment mapping framework
-
Generating topologically consistent triangle meshes from large scale Kinect Fusion
-
Reflections and early evidence of the importance of presence for three types of feedback in virtual motor rehabilitation
-
Abducing hypotheses about past events from observed environment changes
-
Hierarchical hybrid planning in a mobile service robot
-
Diskussion der Forschungsergebnisse
-
Das Therapiesystem AVUS
-
Abstrakte virtuelle Illusionen für die Schlaganfalltherapie : wie mit Hilfe virtueller Umgebungen motorisches Lernen gefördert werden kann
2014
-
The RACE Project: Robustness by Autonomous Competence Enhancement
-
Finding ways to get the job done: An affordance-based approach
-
Generating and executing hierarchical mobile manipulation plans
-
Planning domain execution semantics: A way towards robust execution?
-
Integrating semantic information in navigational planning
-
Generating and Executing Hierarchical Mobile Manipulation Plans
-
Planning Domain Execution Semantics: A Way Towards Robust Execution?
-
Abstrakte virtuelle Illusionen für die Schlaganfalltherapie
-
Lokalisierung und Kartenbau mit mobilen Robotern
-
Multiwavelength laser line profile sensing for agricultural crop characterization
2013
-
Building semantic object maps from sparse and noisy 3D data
-
Automatic creation and application of texture patterns to 3D polygon maps
-
The incremental risk functional: Basics of a novel incremental learning approach
-
Spatio-Temporally Constrained Planning for Cooperative Vehicles in a Harvesting Scenario
-
Beacons and flow heaters [Leuchttürme und Durchlauferhitzer]
-
From Object Recognition to Activity Interpretation and Back, Based on Point Cloud Data
-
An evaluation of open source surface reconstruction software for robotic applications
-
Automatic map creation for environment modelling in robotic simulators
-
Encoding HTN heuristics in PDDL planning instances (extended abstract)
-
An ontology-based multi-level robot architecture for learning from experiences
2012
-
Online scheduling of flexible job-shops with blocking and transportation
-
Laser-based geometrical modeling of large-scale architectural structures using co-operative multiple robots
-
Therapeutic presence - Virtual illusions for neurorehabilitation
-
Uncertainty and trust estimation in incrementally learning function approximation
-
A toolkit for automatic generation of polygonal maps - Las vegas reconstruction
-
Approximating reference trajectories for autonomous vehicles using motion primitives
-
Hybrid reasoning in perception: A case study
-
Zum Einstieg: Worum geht es?
-
Lokalisierung in Karten
-
Sensorik
-
Navigation
-
Mobile Roboter
-
Fortbewegung
-
Kartierung
2011
-
Could positive affect help engineer robot control systems?
-
A Heuristic Loop Closing Technique for Large-Scale 6D SLAM
-
Model-based object recognition from 3D laser data
-
Trusted learner: An improved algorithm for trusted incremental function approximation
-
The problem of spatio-temporally constrained motion planning for cooperative vehicles
-
The 3D Hough Transform for plane detection in point clouds: A review and a new accumulator design
-
A heuristic loop closing technique for large-scale 6D SLAM [Heuristi ̌cka metoda zatvaranja petlje za 6D SLAM velikih dimenzija]
-
Unter Modulhandbuchhaltern und Sprintstudierenden – Wer studiert heute KI? Und warum?
-
On the impact of embedded knowledge-based systems
-
Neue Bücher in der Reihe DISKI: Dissertationen zur Künstlichen Intelligenz Editor-in-Chief: Wolfgang Bibel
-
User Stories als Kommunikationsbasis bei der Integration von e-Learning in ein Campusmanagementsystem
-
KI-Systeme zu Lande, zu Wasser und in der Luft
2010
-
Automatic construction of polygonal maps from point cloud data
-
Non-rigid registration and rectification of 3D laser scans
-
3D robotic mapping in Osnabrück [3D-Roboterkartenbau in Osnabrück]
-
How does one attract journal authors? [Wie lockt man Zeitschriftenautoren?]
-
LiSA: On the way to safe assistant robotics [LiSA: Auf dem Weg zur sicheren Assistenzrobotik]
-
Towards real time robot 6D localization in a polygonal indoor map based on 3D ToF camera data
-
A data structure for the 3D Hough Transform for plane detection
2009
-
Three-dimensional mapping with time-of-flight cameras
-
On the benefit of fusing DL-reasoning with HTN-planning
-
Virtual range scan for avoiding 3D obstacles using 2D tools
-
Evaluation of 3D registration reliability and speed-A comparison of ICP and NDT
-
3D Robotic mapping the simultaneous localization and mapping problem with six degrees of freedom
-
Parallel and cached scan matching for robotic 3D mapping
-
Laser-based geometric modeling using cooperative multiple mobile robots
-
An Explicit Loop Closing Technique for 6D SLAM.
-
Multisensorfusion zur semantisch gestützten Navigation eines autonomen Assistenzroboters
-
A Mobile Blended Learning Approach Based on Podcasts with Respect to the Students' Media Literacy
2008
-
Globally consistent 3D mapping with scan matching
-
Towards semantic maps for mobile robots
-
Benchmarking urban six-degree-of-freedom simultaneous localization and mapping
-
Using semantic knowledge in robotics
-
Evaluating a 3D camera for RoboCup rescue
-
Fusing DL reasoning with HTN planning
-
Does it help a robot navigate to call navigability an affordance?
-
The MACS project: An approach to affordance-inspired robot control
-
The efficient extension of globally consistent scan matching to 6 DoF
-
Action-Planning in the MACS Robot Control Architecture
2007
-
6D SLAM-3D mapping outdoor environments
-
Augmenting JSHOP2 planning with OWL-DL
-
Ground truth evaluation of large Urban 6D SLAM
-
Safe human-robot interaction in a life science environment
-
Cached k-d tree search for ICP algorithms
-
Performance of 6D LuM and FFS SLAM - An example for comparison using grid and pose based evaluation methods
-
High speed differential drive mobile robot path following control with bounded wheel speed commands
-
Safe navigation in dynamic environments with 3D collision avoidance [Sicheres Navigieren in dynamischen Umgebungen mit 3D-Kollisionsvermeidung]
-
LiSA: A robot assistant for life sciences
-
Performance of 6D LuM and FFS SLAM: an example for comparison using grid and pose based evaluation methods
-
6D SLAM with cached K -D tree search
-
Real-time outdoor trail detection on a mobile robot
-
6D SLAM—3D mapping outdoor environments: Research Articles
-
Salient Visual Features to Help Close the Loop i n 6D SLAM
-
Parallelization of Scan Matching for Robotic 3D Mapping.
2006
-
3D mapping with semantic knowledge
-
Extracting drivable surfaces in outdoor 6D slam
-
Contour-based object detection in range images
-
Proceedings of the 2006 international conference on Towards affordance-based robot control
-
Towards Affordance-based Robot Control Dagstuhl Seminar 06231 June 5–9, 2006
-
Device level simulation of kurt3d rescue robots : Third Intl. Workshop on Synthetic Simulation and Robotics to Mitigate Earthquake Disaster (SRMED 2006). CDROM Proceedings
2005
-
High-speed laser localization for mobile robots
-
Heuristic-based laser scan matching for outdoor 6D SLAM
-
USARSIM - Game engines in the teaching of robotics [USARSIM - Game-Engines in der Robotik-Lehre]
-
Offering existing AI planners as web services
-
Robust object detection at regions of interest with an application in ball recognition
-
Accurate object localization in 3D laser range scans
-
6D SLAM with approximate data association
-
Mapping of rescue environments with Kurt3D
-
Simultanous mapping and localization of rescue environments [Gleichzeitiges kartieren und lokalisieren von rescue-umgebungen]
-
USARSIM – Game-Engines in der Robotik-Lehre