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ICM-Tag 2025

until - KIT Campus Süd, Audimax und Foyer, Karlsruhe

This year's ICM Day is part of KIT Science Week. During KIT's 200th anniversary year, KIT Science Week will focus on the theme "City of the Future". Smart cities, urban planning and architecture, sustainability, energy supply, mobility, digitalization.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 – Public event

 

Admission to the public event in the Audimax is free, and registration is not required—all interested parties, young and old, are welcome! Refreshments will also be available: food trucks in front of the Audimax will offer a selection of food and beverages.

 

From 4 p.m. Interactive exhibition with various exhibits from ICM projects on autonomous driving, robotics, and technology for mobility systems in the foyer of the Audimax
6:00 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

Panel discussion in the Audimax on the topic of "Urban Mobility" (in German)

Mobility in our cities is changing: new technologies such as automated driving and alternative drive systems offer opportunities for greater safety and lower emissions. How is traffic changing and what place does the car have in urban areas? How do new technologies reduce air and noise pollution?

 

Speakers:

  • Prof. Dr. Michael Decker, Director General of the Deutsches Museum
    Physicist Michael Decker from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has been the new Director General of the Deutsches Museum since June 1, 2025, and as such is responsible for the fortunes of the institution with its approximately 550 employees.
  • Prof. Dr. Nejila Parspour, Director of the Institute for Electrical Energy Conversion (iew) at the University of Stuttgart
  • Prof. Dr. Eric Sax, Head of the Institute for Information Processing Technology (ITIV) at KIT
  • Moderator: Corinna Jahn
 
From 7:15 p.m. Exhibition and closing in the foyer

 

 

Thursday, October 16, 2025

  • 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Student laboratories in the foyer of the Audimax
    Workshops for school classes 10-13 with and at the ICM's mobile research laboratories. 
  • School classes can register by email at info@icm-bw.de. We look forward to hearing from you!

The 5 stations

How do autonomous vehicles think and how do they make decisions in traffic? They have "eyes" (sensors) that allow them to see obstacles and a "brain" (computer) that tells them where to go.

In exciting workshops, we will show you how vehicles recognize their surroundings, collect data, and learn from it. You will be able to watch driving maneuvers in real time and experience how hardware and software work together to make tomorrow's driving safer and more efficient.

Discover the city of the future in exciting miniature landscapes – What do mobility and transportation mean for our everyday lives, and how do they work? How exactly do different modes of transportation work together to move people and goods? How could automated driving revolutionize the future of our city and mobility?

Find out how innovative and interdisciplinary mobility systems can become more efficient and sustainable.

Archimedes knew that with the right lever, you can move the world. 

But how do today's vehicles transfer their power to the road? In this workshop, you will learn the basics of modern drive systems – from leverage and transmission principles to the design, testing, and application of gearboxes. You can experience it all hands-on at various stations – for example, on the "eVee" test vehicle and a modern cargo bike.

Animals run on their own, avoid obstacles, and react to their environment. Humans act intuitively. And robots? They can do exactly the same thing—find out how they work!

At the stations, you will learn how robots perceive their environment, move, and make decisions. It's not just about mechanics and electronics, but also about sensors and clever programming. How does nature inspire technology, and why are robots becoming increasingly important in areas such as mobility, logistics, and production?

Whether it's a beam of light or a pendulum swing, a laser or a heat converter – here you can see the physical laws behind the technology.

Explore how light is refracted and analyzed, experience the effect of forces when movement changes, and see how geometry influences movement. Finally, we enter the world of energy conversion: how does an electrocaloric heat pump work – and what is behind power electronics technology?

Key data

Date 10-15 until 10-16-2025
Place
KIT Campus Süd, Audimax und Foyer
Straße am Forum 1
76131 Karlsruhe
Fee Free of charge
Additional Info Organizer: KIT.

No registration is required for the public event on Wednesday. All interested parties, young and old, are welcome to attend.

School classes in grades 10-13 can register for the workshops on Thursday at info@icm-bw.de. We look forward to seeing you there!
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