German Society for Robotics Elects First Regular Board of Directors Under Wolfram Burgard
The German Society for Robotics has elected its first regular board of directors. Starting in October, Wolfram Burgard will assume the presidency of the young professional society.
The German Society for Robotics (DGR) has taken an important step in its still-young history. At the general meeting on September 17 in Berlin, the members elected a regular board of directors for the first time. Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard of the Technical University of Nuremberg was elected as the new chair. The executive board will assume its duties on October 1, 2026, succeeding the founding board of the professional association, which was established just this past March.
In addition to Burgard, the executive board includes Prof. Dr. Georgia Chalvatzaki of the Technical University of Darmstadt as vice chair, Prof. Dr. Johannes Betz from the Technical University of Munich as treasurer, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alice Kirchheim from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML as secretary.
This election marks the end of the DGR’s founding phase. Going forward, the society will serve as a central platform for the German robotics community and promote exchange between academia, industry, startups, and educational institutions. The goal is to jointly discuss and provide expert analysis of technological, scientific, and societal developments in robotics.
The new chairman, Wolfram Burgard, views the DGR as a unifying force for the various stakeholders in the industry. In addition to strengthening scientific exchange, the international visibility of German robotics is also to be further expanded. Support for this effort comes from the Robotics Institute Germany, which played a key role in the DGR’s founding and aims to establish the professional society as the long-term voice of German robotics.
