Humanoid robots that perform complex tasks in households, care facilities, or industry while learning from humans and their own experience: this is what Tamim Asfour has been researching for over 25 years. Together with his team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), he has developed the ARMAR family of humanoid robots, spanning from ARMAR-I, one of Europe’s first humanoid robots, to today's ARMAR-7 – developing both their physical bodies and their intelligence. The engineer and computer scientist is internationally recognised as one of the leading figures in robotics and embodied Artificial Intelligence. In recognition of his research achievements in the field of humanoid robotics, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina is now awarding Tamim Asfour the 2026 Greve Prize. The prize, which is endowed with 250,000 euros, is donated by the Helmut and Hannelore Greve Foundation for Science, Development and Culture.  

What causes adversaries to escalate conflicts into costly, prolonged wars even when neither side wants to fight? And in the fog of war, what might help them break that cycle and find a path to peace?

Those questions are at the heart of new research by UCLA cognitive scientist Tao Gao, who used a two-person territorial-conflict computer game to explore how individuals choose between war and peace by deploying troops across a grid.

Gao, a professor in UCLA’s departments of communication and statistics, and his colleagues found that the game’s players frequently misinterpreted their opponents’ defensive actions as threats, triggering cycles of escalating hostilities. But something as simple as a shared visual boundary, they found, helped players better understand one another’s intentions and reach peaceful settlements.