Software and Systems Engineering investigates processes, methods, techniques, and tools for developing high-quality software systems, spanning the whole development life-cycle, from requirements engineering to system deployment and maintenance.

The goal of formal methods in software engineering is to provide techniques for developing highly reliable as well as security critical software. Two steps are required to achieve this goal: An unambiguous specification of the system requirements and a mathematical proof (verification) that the implementation adheres to this specification.

The institute performs leading edge research in the area of software-driven robotics and automation. The focus lies on transferring software engineering methods and tools to the mechatronics domain, such as using modern programming platforms for industrial robots.

In artificial intelligence, we design software systems that exhibit some form of "intelligent behavior" - ranging from perceiving the system's environment to making effective decisions in a rational and autonomous manner without human intervention.

The complexity of future software systems embedded in a dynamic environment challenges traditional system design. Our focus is the systematic design of reliable autonomous systems incorporating descriptive modeling, testing, and formal verification to ensure their correctness despite autonomy.

Safety and security are two essential aspects of systems and software. Safety-critical systems may cause serious economic or environmental damage, injuries, or even loss of lives. Further, as our devices become more interconnected, security and privacy continue to play an increasingly larger role in our lives.