Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Schrödel

Professor Frank Schrödel provides the academic foundation for HSM Aries: laboratory access, research guidance and the institutional support needed for students to develop and test a rover. His expertise covers control engineering, automation and robotics, with particular interests in robust control, model-based development and the validation of autonomous systems.

Before joining Hochschule Schmalkalden in 2020, he led a team developing intelligent driving functions at IAV and completed his doctorate at RWTH Aachen. His publication record spans controller design, automated vehicles, human–robot interaction and precision robotics. As a coauthor of the LEAP-One preprint and a supervisor of the surrounding research programme, he connects the students’ engineering work with questions that extend beyond one competition.

Selected research & projects

LEAP-One: A Mars Rover Designed for Remote Mars Analogue Scientific Exploration and Sampling Missions — 2026 preprint; rover design, scientific sampling and remote operation.

Data-Driven and Sensor-Based Spatial Error Characterisation and Correction for Multi-Axis Robots — European Control Conference, 2026. N. K. Ramesha, N. Meduri and F. Schrödel.

V2X based Vehicle Environment Perception and Occupancy Analysis for Dynamic Pedestrian Behaviour — European Control Conference, 2024. S. Tendulkar, M. Y. Khandelwal and F. Schrödel.

Multilayer Environment Model for Outdoor Autonomous Mobile Robot Navigation — 2026 preprint by S. Tendulkar, A. Nannuri, S. Nagdev and F. Schrödel; an ongoing research framework for outdoor navigation.

Full university publication list — Further research in control engineering, autonomous systems and human–robot interaction.