Welcome to the Cognitive Systems Group

Humans are capable of intelligently acting in complex environments. For instance, humans can find their destination in a city, interact with other people to exchange information or to arrange objects in a room in a suitable way. In these tasks, humans outperform current technical systems such as autonomous robots. Hence, the aim of the Cognitive Systems group is twofold: First, we aim at gaining a deeper understanding of how humans realize their unique intelligent potential; second, we develop artificial cognitive agents to assist humans in performing demanding tasks in order to strengthen their autonomy.

For this purpose, we devise computer models of human intelligent information processing (Computational cognitive modeling), we investigate principles of intelligently dealing with knowledge about spatial environments and events in time (Spatial and temporal representation and reasoning), we develop techniques for presenting spatial information tailored to the needs of human users (Generalization, abstraction, schematization), and we design improved ways of interaction between humans and technical systems (Human-computer interaction).

Our methodological approach is to employ formal methods from computer science and artificial intelligence, investigate human behavior performing on complex tasks, and design software tools and build systems that exhibit intelligent human-like behavior. Results from our basic research are applied in domains such as autonomous intelligent robots, knowledge-based spatial information systems, or assistance systems to enhance human cognitive abilities.