Sandpit work­shops on AI in mole­cu­lar design and as­sis­ti­ve ro­bo­tics

“The sand­pits funded by Wübben Stif­tung Wis­sen­schaft are in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry work­shops for re­se­arch ideas,” says Peter-André Alt, Ma­nage­ment Board Spo­kes­per­son of Wübben Stif­tung Wis­sen­schaft. “The par­ti­ci­pants get to spend three days working on pionee­ring re­se­arch avenues in un­fa­mi­li­ar set­tings. The format differs from con­ven­tio­nal con­fe­ren­ces and is new for many of the par­ti­ci­pants. We hope that the sand­pits will be a seedbed for bold and sur­pri­sing ideas.” 

Ge­ne­ra­ti­ve AI for bio­lo­gi­cal se­quen­ces

The work­shop in In­gel­heim will focus on safe ways to use AI to design mole­cu­lar se­quen­ces. Experts in syn­the­tic biology, bio­en­gi­nee­ring, in­for­ma­tics, me­di­ci­ne, ethics, and po­li­tics will discuss op­por­tu­nities and risks. “Syn­the­tic bio­mole­cu­les de­ve­lo­ped with the help of AI can open up new pos­si­bi­li­ties for drug de­ve­lop­ment and pre­cisi­on me­di­ci­ne,” says Ma­xi­mi­li­an Sprang, the lead pro­po­ser for this work­shop, who is a junior re­se­arch group leader at the Uni­ver­si­ty Medical Center Mainz. “However, we must not ignore the risks and ethical con­cerns. In the worst case sce­n­a­rio, AI models could be used in bio­lo­gi­cal warfare.” The par­ti­ci­pants will develop stra­te­gies for safe, re­spon­si­ble use of AI, and discuss tech­ni­cal pro­tec­tion mea­su­res, in­sti­tu­tio­nal con­trols, and options for global re­gu­la­ti­on. The results will be sum­ma­ri­zed in a paper that sets out re­com­men­ded courses of action, and an in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry ad­vi­so­ry board will be set up to work on the topic on a long-term basis. 

Weara­ble sensor tech­no­lo­gy for as­sis­ti­ve ro­bo­tics

The work­shop in Lübeck will in­ves­ti­ga­te how weara­ble sensor tech­no­lo­gy can give people with phy­si­cal li­mi­ta­ti­ons greater in­de­pen­dence and reduce their care needs. The aim is to develop new ap­proa­ches for data capture and in­ter­pre­ta­ti­on. “We are fo­cu­sing on three ques­ti­ons,” says Julia Starke, one of the two work­shop pro­po­sers and a junior pro­fes­sor at the In­sti­tu­te of Ro­bo­tics and Co­gni­ti­ve Systems at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Lübeck. “How do as­sis­ti­ve robots learn to adapt au­to­no­mously to the in­di­vi­du­al abi­li­ties and pre­fe­ren­ces of pa­ti­ents? How do we bridge the gap between high-quality data in a con­trol­led la­bo­ra­to­ry en­vi­ron­ment and in­com­ple­te data in the real world? And how do we achieve the right balance between au­to­no­mous as­si­s­tan­ce func­tions and direct user control?” The work­shop will bring tog­e­ther re­se­ar­chers from en­gi­nee­ring, in­for­ma­tics, sports science, ro­bo­tics, AI, re­ha­bi­li­ta­ti­on, and human-machine in­ter­ac­tion. The results will inform a paper for re­se­ar­chers with sug­ges­ti­ons for future fields of re­se­arch in the area of weara­ble sensor tech­no­lo­gy.

In 2025, Wübben Stif­tung Wis­sen­schaft ap­pro­ved five sandpit work­shops, with funding to­ta­ling EUR 200,000. A sum of up to EUR 50,000 can be applied for per sandpit. The call for pro­po­sals for 2026 will be an­noun­ced shortly. Further in­for­ma­ti­on about the sandpit funding program can be found here.

The Foun­da­ti­on
Wübben Stif­tung Wis­sen­schaft is a private grant-making foun­da­ti­on based in Berlin. It aims to streng­t­hen Germany’s po­si­ti­on as a science and re­se­arch hub by sup­por­ting out­stan­ding aca­de­mics at various career stages.