Niklas Leinz

Hi, I'm Niklas. I am a PhD student at the Chair of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Real-time Systems at the Technical University of Munich, advised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Alois C. Knoll. My PhD is an industrial collaboration with Volkswagen Group.

I'm interested in robotic foundation models and the manipulation skills they can learn, across robot arms and humanoids. My work focuses on closing the gap between what these models do in the lab and what real factories demand. I ground my research in automotive final assembly, where tight tolerances and constant contact make manipulation genuinely hard.

If you'd like to collaborate or work together on a master's thesis, feel free to reach out.