Prof. Dr. Jan Peters is Full Professor of Intelligent Autonomous Systems at TU Darmstadt, Department Head of Systems AI for Robot Learning (SAIROL) at DFKI, and a Founding Research Faculty Member of hessian.AI.
With over 54,000 Google Scholar citations, Jan is one of the world’s most influential robot-learning pioneers; having co-developed foundational algorithms like Natural Actor-Critic, REPS, and Probabilistic Movement Primitives (ProMPs).
IAS Lab: https://ias.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de
Jan's Website: https://www.jan-peters.net
Ilir on X: https://x.com/IlirAliu_
Ilir on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilir-aliu/
Timestamps:
0:00 Combining machine learning with physical robotics before it was cool
4:05 Studying 4 Master’s degrees & dodging the German military draft
8:27 Why DLR and ATR in Japan were lightyears ahead of German universities
12:37 Meeting Kawato, Chris Atkeson, and Stefan Schaal in a bamboo forest
17:10 Turning down Stanford and CMU for a smaller lab at USC
21:46 How double-blind reviews leveled the academic playing field
23:44 Injecting physical mechanics into reinforcement learning
26:01 How 9/11 permanently shifted American culture and optimism
29:40 Returning to Max Planck: The "monastery" era of AI research
35:14 Why being authentic & speaking your mind wins long-term respect
44:01 Surviving hostile German hiring commissions in the 2000s
47:55 Why TU Darmstadt became Europe’s secret powerhouse for physical AI
57:39 High-speed table tennis, juggling, and the limits of robot perception
58:32 Raising €2M for humanoids and fighting 4 years of European bureaucracy
65:49 German red tape vs. American risk-taking: What's holding Europe back?
68:33 Why TU Darmstadt rivals top US universities in AI breadth
