We will be present at the German Robotics Conference (GRC) 2026 in Cologne with a hands-on workshop titled “AI-Based Robotics in the Cloud with the Virtual Research Building.”
In this tutorial, we introduce the Virtual Research Building (VRB) as a cloud-based platform for AI-driven robotics research and experimentation.
The workshop is explicitly hands-on: attendees are invited to bring their own laptops and actively try out the demonstrated concepts. We will cover:
The goal is to give participants a concrete, practical understanding of how cloud-based robotics experimentation can be set up, customized, and extended.
In addition to the hands-on tutorial, the session will include two invited talks:
These talks provide context and concrete examples of how cloud-based digital twins and large-scale test infrastructures are integrated into the VRB ecosystem.
Technical requirements: All interaction with the VRB takes place directly in the browser, so no special software installation is required. To obtain and manage the provided example material, having git installed is recommended. For more convenient local development, building, and testing of labs, docker and docker compose may additionally be useful.
Important: Participation in the workshop (WS6) requires separate registration and is not included in the regular GRC conference ticket. Registration details can be found here (reduced student fee available): https://robotics-institute-germany.de/grc-registration/
Limited spots available. Early registration is recommended!
Workshop organizers: Dr. Mareike Picklum, Malte Huerkamp, Luca Krohm, Dr. Benjamin Alt, Andre Meixner, Dr. Jonas Kiemel, Prof. Dr. Alexander König