CYBATHLON Lectures Series

Christian studied at the Technical University of Hamburg, the University of Stuttgart and the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) from 2001-2006. He graduated as Diplom-Ingenieur Technische Kybernetik and a Master of Science in Engineering Science and Mechanics.

During his doctoral studies at the Autonomous Systems Lab of ETH Zurich, Christian worked on the development of a microdrone as part of the EU research project muFly and graduated as Dr. sc. ETH in 2010.

After several years in the industry as a corporate researcher (Alstom Power AG) and as a product developer (Robert Bosch Power Tools), Christian started as a professor of automation and mechatronics at the University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (HSR) in 2014. As part of his research projects, his team has developed drones and land robots for search and rescue missions. In addition, his team HSR enhanced succeeded in winning the gold medal at the CYBATHLON 2016 in Zurich, at the CYBATHLON Powered Wheelchair Series 2019 in Kawasaki (Japan), as well as at the CYBATHLON 2020.

Since September 2020, Christian Bermes has been teaching and researching at the UAS Graubunden. He leads the Mobile Robotics field of study and develops robots with the IPR research team in the newly founded Mobile Robotics Lab.

Max Erick Busse-Grawitz currently is the Technology Transfer Manager at maxon. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH in Zurich, with a specialization in medical technology and radio frequency engineering. He also holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and GSBA Switzerland. Max Erick’s career started at Bruker Biospin, as an RF engineer on ultra-low noise amplifiers, including low temperature electronics. He then moved on to help build up a new particle accelerator at the Paul Scherrer Institute, responsible for the high-power RF systems for the Swiss Light Source. His next career step was in Central Switzerland, building up and leading the Sensors & Systems group of the newly founded Microrobotics division of the CSEM, a technology consultancy at Alpnach. His work included, among others, work on robots, controls, amplifiers, and Artificial Intelligence for optical pattern recognition and for chemical analysis. He is also a part time teacher at the University for Applied Sciences in Lucerne. After six years at CSEM, he was hired by one of his major clients, maxon. There he led the Encoders & Sensors group, built up the Mechatronics group and is now responsible for technology transfer which involves technology scouting, consultancy, as well as partnerships with academia, high-tech start-ups and think tanks.

Tobias Wellerdieck obtained his MSc and PhD in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich in 2014 and 2018, respectively. Between 2014 and 2017, he was affiliated with the Power Electronic Systems Laboratory at ETH Zurich working on magnetic levitation. Following this, he joined BRUSA, where he was involved in the development of electric motors and power electronics for e-mobility. Presently, he has taken on the role of Head of Robotic Drive Systems at maxon. His primary research interests encompass drive systems, power electronics, and mechatronics for various applications.

Jan Thomas Meyer started his PhD at the Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory in January 2019. His research focuses on the development and application of user-​centred design approaches for assistive technologies. He is particularly interested in improving the user experience and target population involvement in the development of devices for people with sensorimotor deficits. Jan was born in Schwyz, SZ and received his BSc and MSc in Health Science and Technology from the ETH in 2015 and 2017 respectively. His education was focused on rehabilitation engineering and translational science for health and medicine.

Heike Vallery received her Dipl.-Ing. degree in Mechanical Engineering (with honors) from RWTH Aachen University in 2004. Since then, she has been working on robot-assisted rehabilitation and prosthetic legs, in close collaboration with clinicians and partners from the industry. She received her Dr.-Ing. from the Technische Universität München in 2009. From 2008 to 2011, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the SMS Lab at ETH Zürich. At that time, she and her collaborators started realizing diverse transparent robotic interfaces for 3D overground gait training, which are now enabling ground-breaking research on recovery after spinal cord injury. From 2011 to 2012, she worked at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi as an assistant professor, and she joined TU Delft in 2012 for that same function. In 2019 she became a full professor at TU Delft. Since November 2019, she also holds an honorary professorship at the Department for Rehabilitation Medicine at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam.

Heike Vallery has published more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, filed 15 patent applications, and received diverse fellowships and awards, such as the 1st prize of the euRobotics Technology Transfer Award 2014 and a Vidi fellowship in 2016 from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. In April 2023, she moved back to RWTH Aachen as an Alexander-von-Humboldt professor, where she now heads the Institute of Automatic Control. She remains affiliated with TU Delft and Erasmus MC, mainly focusing on minimalistic and unconventional concepts to support human gait and balance.

Cesar Cadena serves as a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich. He leads the Perception, Mapping, and Navigation team within the Robotics Systems Lab. Additionally, he holds the position of Managing Director and is responsible for education in the ETH RobotX initiative. Before his current role, he worked as a Senior Researcher at the Autonomous Systems Lab, also at ETH Zurich. He has also held positions at the School of Computer Science at The University of Adelaide and served as a Postdoc at the CS Department of George Mason University. He earned his PhD from the Department of Computer Science and System Engineering at the University of Zaragoza.

Cesar's primary research focus lies at the intersection of perception and learning in robotics. He is particularly dedicated to empowering machines with the ability to comprehend our constantly evolving world through the sensory information they gather. His extensive work encompasses various aspects of robotic scene understanding, including both geometry and semantics. He engages in tasks such as semantic mapping, data association, place recognition, simultaneous localization, and mapping problems, as well as persistent mapping in dynamic environments. His efforts are channelled into the development of robust, modular, and introspective perception systems.