Johannes at a glance

I grew up in a small town near Munich, Germany. In my free time, I love to go hiking, traveling, and exploring new countries or simply having a nice dinner with my friends. During visits to Germany, I enjoy spending time in my workshop, building furniture and mechanisms from metal and wood.

Beyond my research, I am dedicated to guiding young researchers on their path to becoming independent scholars. I mentor a gender-minority high school team high school team participating in the global robotics competition, the “FIRST Tech Challenge,” fostering inclusivity among the next generation of engineers and researchers. Additionally, I am actively involved in mentoring MIT's Engineers Without Borders chapter. Together, we are currently renovating a dispensary facility in Mkutani, Tanzania, to provide improved maternal and menstrual health care.

PhD Research

My PhD was supervised by Stefano Stramigioli (University of Twente) and Neville Hogan (MIT). My PhD thesis, entitled "A Geometric Approach to Robotic Manipulation in Physical Human-Robot Interaction," can be accessed HERE. It was awarded with highest distinction and was a finalist for the Georges Giralt PhD Award. The main methodology of my PhD work was Differential Geometry, which remains one of my passions and key research tools.

Professional Career

Before joining MIT, I worked 9 years for the global robotics company KUKA. In my latest role, I was a Senior Researcher at KUKA Corporate Research, focusing on robot control with an emphasis on physical interaction. During this time, I participated in several research projects, such as MURAB, IoC , and OPERA, applying various control algorithms on real robots.

In my first three years at KUKA, I was part of the team that introduced the robot “LBR iiwa” to the market, one of the first robots designed for torque control and heavily used in physical human-robot interaction. We identified suitable customer applications and implemented them in real-world scenarios in the General and Automotive industries.

During my time at KUKA, I published several patents, some of which have been transferred to products. More details can be found on Google Patents.