About me
I am a robotics researcher and head of the Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab at the Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics at Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI). My current title is Senior research associate (eq. Assoc. prof). I am also an Associate Professor at Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School (IPS).
I received the Diploma degree in electrical engineering in 2004, and a Ph.D. degree in robotics from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2009. I was previosly a Postdoctoral Researcher with SCIEX NMS-CH fellowship at the Biorobotics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, during 2012–13, where I also did a part of my Ph.D. research in 2007–08. I was a visiting researcher at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in the summers of 2009 and 2014.
I received the Jožef Stefan Golden Emblem Award for Ph.D. dissertation for 2012, the ICRA 2015 Best Reviewer Award, and several other awards. They are listed below.
My research interests are focused on robot handling of deformable objects and robot learning, applicable for humanoid and industrial robotics.
News
- April 1st 2024: I took over from Bojan Nemec as head of the Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab.
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- April 29th, 2026: Within our work in the euROBIN project we organized a special issue in Science Robotics, where we also got to publish: Transfer learning in robotics: From promises to practice through the emerging role of foundation models, by Noémie Jaquier, Michael Welle, Andrej Gams, Jens Lundell and Danica Kragic.
- April 25th, 2026: Our workshop proposal for RSS worskshop: Beyond rigidity – Deformable and Articulated Robotic Object Manipulation was accepted. Our other proposal “It’s the demos, st***: A Deep Look at the Role of Demonstration Quality in Imitation-Based Robot Manipulation” was also accepted.
- March 24th, 2026: I attended ERF2026 where I organized and presented at a well attended WS#53 Advanced Robot Manipulation of Deformable and Fragile Objects.
- March 1st, 2026: Within AID4SME we started a fstp project with the company b-robotized, where they will under our supervision develop a gasket mounting solution for refrigerator doors.
- Feb. 13th, 2026: We organized the 2026 ROMANDIC winter school on robot handling of deformables by robots in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia..
Publications et al.
A list of my publications is available at Google Scholar.
My complete bibliography is available at the Slovenian publications database COBISS.
Some videos showing my work are available at my Youtube channel (updated sparsely).
I am proud of my awards: RAAD 2024 Best Application paper FINALIST award, 2015 ICRA CEB Best Reviewer Award, 2012 Jožef Stefan Golden Emblem award for Ph.D., 2014 RAAD Best Scientific Paper Award, 2010 RAAD Best Scientific Paper Award.
I am proud of our team achievement:ICRA 2024 – Cloth Competition where we ranked 2nd; 1st euROBIN coopetition where we won the Robotic manufacturing for a circular economy League.
Teaching
I am co-lecturer of subject “Humanoid and Service Robotics” at Jožef Stefan International postgraduate Scool (MPŠ) and course leader of “Developing and programming robot applications” (with lecturer Mihael Simonič).
Contact
Andrej Gams
Jožef Stefan Institute
Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, EU
+386 (0)1 477 3319
andrej{dot}gams{at}ijs{dot}si