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

Ep 105 | Red Tape Cost Us a 5-Year Lead in Humanoid Robotics (w/ Jan Peters)

22Astronauts

Ep 105 | Red Tape Cost Us a 5-Year Lead in Humanoid Robotics (w/ Jan Peters)