Team & advisors
The people behind the team
A student team forming under RoboTUM. We are advised by researchers at TU Munich, and we learn from the established RoboCup teams Bit-Bots Hamburg and THMOS Tsinghua.
Founders & team leads
Bastian Steinlein
Co-founder and team lead, TU Munich
bastian.steinlein@tum.deLinkedIn— Bastian Steinlein
Supervision & advisors
Scientific guidance from TU Munich, from day-to-day supervision to the chairs that support us.
Philipp Radecker
Scientific supervision, TUM
Chair of Applied Mechanics, TUM, with day-to-day scientific supervision of the team.
Prof. Dr. Johannes Betz
Autonomous Vehicle Systems, TUM
Founder of the TUM Autonomous Motorsport team and winner of the Indy Autonomous Challenge 2021.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Rixen
Chair of Applied Mechanics, TUM
Research on walking control of humanoid robots, and member of the board of MIRMI.
Join the team
Build a humanoid that plays football
The founding team stays deliberately small: eight to ten people. Almost every decision is still open, so you don't inherit someone else's architecture, but you choose how your part is solved and how far you take it.
That only works with people who are genuinely invested and can commit real time. In exchange, you compete with us long before Nürnberg.
Build With Us01 / 04
What you get
- 01
Your code on a real robot
Not a simulation exercise. What you write runs on a competition-grade humanoid, in front of a referee.
- 02
A module that is yours
Perception, motion, behaviour, hardware or ops — you own it end to end instead of picking up tickets.
- 03
Mentorship from title-winning teams
Informed by Bit-Bots Hamburg and THMOS Tsinghua, with scientific supervision at TU Munich.
- 04
One of Germany's largest robotics networks
A place in RoboTUM with more than 150 members, and the European ESRA network behind it.
- 05
Work that can count twice
Theses, student projects and practical courses can be built around your module, together with the chairs supervising us.
- 06
A founding member's seat
Munich's first humanoid RoboCup team is being built now. Everyone who joins this year helped start it.
02 / 04
Areas to work in
Nothing here is fixed. If you want to work on something that is not on the list, tell us and we will look at it.
- 01PerceptionFind the ball, goal, lines and opponents in the camera feed, fast enough to act on.
- 02BehaviourDecide what the robot does once it sees the ball: chase, pass, defend, wait.
- 03Ball controlFrom standing next to the ball to putting it where you aimed.
- 04Hardware & electronicsKeep the robots running: repairs, spares, wiring, the things that break mid-tournament.
- 05Team ops & OutreachSponsors, travel to competitions, and telling people what we are building.
03 / 04
The practical side
- Experience
- No RoboCup experience needed.Nobody here has done this before either — we are all learning it on the way.
- Who
- Any degree, any semester.Students from TU Munich and Munich's other universities.
- Time
- Around 6–10 hours a week.Planned around lectures, lighter during exam periods.
- Skills
- Python or C++ helps; ROS 2 you can learn with us.Hardware and electronics people are just as welcome as coders — and so is anyone strong on sponsoring, media, film, design, writing or running events.
- Where
- Lab and workshop at Garching Forschungszentrum.Robots, tools and workspace are provided — you bring the ideas.
- Season
- Something on the calendar all year, Nürnberg in 2027.Sponsored internal events, competitions in Germany and across Europe — Austria, Rome — and international trips as far as Korea. There is always an event to travel to, and one to win.
04 / 04
How to apply
- Fill in the form
Name, course of study, and which module interests you.
- We answer personally
Every application is read by one of us as fast as possible.
- We meet in Garching
You visit the lab, we talk about what you would take on and how much time you have.
- Your module is yours
No probation phase. You start on the part you picked and travel with us to the first competitions, at home and abroad.