Torsten Kroeger is the Chief Science Officer of Intrinsic, a robotics software and AI company at Alphabet. Intrinsic aims to unlock the creative and economic potential of industrial robotics for businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers by making industrial robots easier to use and train. Intrinsic became an Alphabet “Other Bet” in July 2021.

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He has more than two decades experience in robotics and AI. Before joining Intrinsic, he was the founder and CEO of Reflexxes GmbH, a startup developing real-time motion generation software, and co-founder and CEO of Loom Vision GmbH, a robotics software startup.

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Torsten was also a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Intelligent Process Control and Robotics Laboratory of the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. In addition, he has worked as a research consultant for Volkswagen AG, KUKA Roboter GmbH, Connyun GmbH, Manz Automation AG, Auris Surgical Robotics, Inc., Redwood Robotics, Inc., and Google, Inc.

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Torsten has been Vice President of Conference Activities for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, as well as an Editor and Associate Editor of multiple IEEE conference proceedings, books, and book series. He is also the Multimedia Editor of the Springer Handbook of Robotics and advisory board member of Fischerwerke and Pictet Asset Management.

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Throughout his career, Torsten has received a number of prestigious awards, including: the 2022 IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award, the 2018 IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award, the 2018 IEEE ICRA Best Associate Editor Award, the 2014 IEEE RAS Early Career Award, the 2011 Heinrich Buessing Award, the 2011 GFFT Award, and two fellowships of the German Research Association. He was also a finalist for the 2012 IEEE/IFR IERA Award and the 2012 euRobotics TechTransfer Award.

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After receiving a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and Doctor’s Degree in Computer Science from TU Braunschweig, Torsten was a postdoctoral student at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.