KUKA Innovation Award 2026

Evan Ackerman is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum, where he has been writing about robots, science, and emerging technology for over 10 years. After co-founding his own robotics blog in 2007, he began writing for IEEE Spectrum in 2011. In addition to Spectrum, Evan’s work has appeared in a variety of other websites and print magazines, and you may have heard him talking about robots on NPR’s Science Friday or the BBC World Service if you were listening at just the right time. Evan currently lives in Washington DC, and a steadily growing collection of robot vacuums. In his spare time, he enjoys scuba diving, rehabilitating injured raptors, and playing bagpipes excellently.

Alin Albu-Schäffer received the M.S. in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Timisoara, Romania in 1993 and the Ph.D. in automatic control from the Technical University of Munich in 2002. Since 2012 he is the head of the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which he joined in 1995. Moreover, he is a professor at the Technical University of Munich, holding the Chair for "Sensor Based Robotic Systems and Intelligent Assistance Systems". His research interests range from robot design and control to robot intelligence and human neuroscience. He centrally contributed to the development of the DLR-light-weight robot and its technology transfer to the KUKA company, leading to a paradigm shift in industrial robot applications towards light-weight, sensitive and interactive robotics. Alin Albu-Schäffer was as well strongly involved in the development of the MIRO surgical robot system and its commercialization through technology transfer to Covidien/Medtronic, the worldwide largest medical devices manufacturer. He is author of more than 270 peer reviewed journal and conference papers and received several awards.

Oussama Khatib received his PhD from Sup’Aero, Toulouse, France, in 1980. He is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Robotics Laboratory at Stanford University. His research focuses on methodologies and technologies in human-centered robotics, haptic interactions, artificial intelligence, human motion synthesis and animation. He is President of the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR) and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He is Editor of the Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) series, and the Springer Handbook of Robotics, awarded the American Publishers Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences and Mathematics. He is recipient of the IEEE Robotics and Automation (IEEE/RAS) Pioneering Award (for his fundamental contributions in robotics research, visionary leadership and life-long commitment to the field), the IEEE/RAS George Saridis Leadership Award, the Distinguished Service Award, the Japan Robot Association (JARA) Award, the Rudolf Kalman Award, and the IEEE Technical Field Award. Professor Khatib is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

During his career at KUKA, Volker Schmirgel has been responsible for various research and development activities in the field of robotics. After completing his studies in electrical engineering, specialising in robotics, at RWTH Aachen University, Volker Schmirgel began his career at KUKA in 2006. For more than five years, he worked on and headed various research projects in KUKA's Corporate Research department. He was then responsible for the market launch of the first collaborative robot "LBR iiwa" in close collaboration with R&D. From 2016, his focus was on the development of software and hardware for a new human-robot collaboration (HRC) robot system. This work resulted in the KUKA LBR iisy and later in the KUKA LBR iisy product family.
Volker Schmirgel has headed KUKA's Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) since 2023.

Dieter Rothenfusser has been working in robotics for over 30 years. He has held various positions - from commissioning and programming at the customer, to R&D and customer service. He has now been responsible for portfolio management and business development in the consumer goods/food sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for six years.

After studying mechanical engineering, Michael Müller worked in various positions at Goldfuß. He started there as a development engineer in special machine construction and was later responsible for sales. He has been managing director of the family business erler GmbH automation.robotik since 2018 and founded robotextile GmbH in 2022.