Computer science professor Erwin Prassler retires

In addition to his academic work, Prassler founded several companies, including KELO Robotics, which specialises in the development of mobile service robots. He continues to work there as Managing Director. In 2015, he was also the first German to be appointed to the President's Office of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, which promotes the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge in the field of robotics and automation.

Before his time at H-BRS, Prassler worked at the Research Institute for Application-Oriented Knowledge Processing (FAW) in Ulm, where he headed a research group from 1994 to 2003, and at the Gesellschaft für Produktionssysteme (GPS) in Stuttgart. His research focussed on the areas of service robotics, autonomous vehicles and machine learning. Among other things, he conducted research in the RoboLand project on the development of telepresence robots that can be used in the home care of people with dementia.

University President Marion Halfmann recognised Prassler's contribution to shaping the profile of the Department of Computer Science and his long-standing commitment to networking the university with companies and research institutions at his farewell ceremony. Prassler's commitment to practical teaching and application-oriented projects had characterised his work at the university, Halfmann said.