EXC 2050:  Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI)

• Subject Area: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology ; Computer Science ; Mechanics and Constructive Mechanical Engineering ; Medicine ; Philosophy ; Psychology
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390696704

The Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI) enables real-time interaction between humans and machines in globally distributed real and virtual spaces. Such human-machine interaction addresses grand challenges of the 21st century by democratising global and unrestricted access to skills and expertise to promote equitable opportunities for all people, irrespective of gender, age, cultural background, or abilities. CeTI1, the first CeTI phase, established the foundation for the Tactile Internet (TI) by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and pioneering contributions such as the global IEEE TI standard, the concept of negative latency, and remote skill transfer for various use cases. This established CeTI as a leading research hub for the TI. CeTI2 will advance a wide range of TI applications, promoting sovereign, sustainable, and trustworthy technologies to drive economic growth through human-machine cohabitation. CeTI2 brings together interdisciplinary expertise to create an in-depth understanding of Human-in-the-Loop: the human senses and skills and their transfer via communication technologies through human–machine interfaces. Our interdisciplinary approach not only includes technological and cognitive aspects, but also addresses legal, ethical, and societal dimensions. The most significant advancements in CeTI2 research, which will greatly expand and surpass the scope of CeTI1, are as follows: (i) integration of further human senses, such as smell and advanced touch, to enable wide-ranging multisensory skill acquisition; (ii) new human–machine interfaces to improve sensitivity, durability, and efficiency, based on innovative materials and interaction models; (iii) a cooperative multi-human/multi-robot interaction platform to broaden the range of addressable use cases; and (iv) advanced methods in information theory and computing to address the physical constraints on energy, communication, computing, and latency as imposed by Landauer, Shannon, Turing, and Einstein, respectively. CeTI2 will build a sustainable, trustworthy, and sovereign communication platform, C3PO, which is fully softwarised, open, and AI-enabled, in order to (i) enable quick prototyping of our ground-breaking research; (ii) be fully transparent for data access; and (iii) ensure technological sovereignty. The CeTI2 structural goals are: (i) exploit the vibrant research and industrial landscape in Dresden; (ii) intensify collaborations with world-leading universities and companies; (iii) promote young talent and engage 600 schools with modules on AI, robotics, and programming; (iv) train and support researchers along their academic or entrepreneurial career trajectories; (v) engage in dialogues with society and outreach activities through a number of CeTI2 demonstrators; and (vi) implement a plan to remain an integral part of the university structure beyond the end of the project in 2032.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Dresden
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ); Standort Dresden; c/o Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus; Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR); Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr.-Ing. Frank Hanns Paul Fitzek; Professorin Shu-Chen Li, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Stefanie Speidel
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr.-Ing. Ercan Altinsoy; Professorin Dr. Christel Baier; Professor Dr.-Ing. Holger Boche; Professor Dr.-Ing. Roberto Calandra; Professor Dr. Gianaurelio Cuniberti; Professor Dr.-Ing. Raimund Dachselt; Professor Dr.-Ing. Frank Ellinger; Professorin Merle T. Fairhurst; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Diana Goehringer; Professor Dr.-Ing. Sami Haddadin; Professorin Dr. Elizabeth von Hauff; Professorin Dr. Katharina Kaesling; Professor Dr. Jakob Nikolas Kather; Professor Dr. Stefan Kiebel; Professor Dr. Markus Krötzsch; Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Mayr; Professorin Dr. Susanne Narciss; Professor Dr.-Ing. Giang T. Nguyen; Professor Dr.-Ing. Rafael Schaefer; Professor Dr.-Ing. Eckehard Steinbach; Professor Dr. Martin Wagner; Professor Dr. Tjalf Ziemssen