Science ahoi!

This week, the exhibition ship MS Wissenschaft set sail from Berlin. In spring and summer, it will tour 30 cities in Germany and Austria, presenting visitors with an interactive exhibition on the subject of freedom. Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt is also represented with an exhibit.

This year, everything on the MS Wissenschaft is centred around the theme of "freedom". Photo: THI

The various levels of automated driving can be experienced in the driving simulator. Photo: THI

The exhibit is divided into different areas and playfully invites interaction. Photo: THI

From left to right: Claus Pfeilschifter, Prof Dr Andreas Riener, Franziska Hegner and Markus Weißenberger implemented the technology. Photo: THI

Around 30 interactive exhibits invite visitors to explore the various facets of freedom: Interested visitors can become brain researchers themselves and find out how free their decisions really are. Or they can play pinball and find out how genetic and social factors influence certain areas of life. In addition, there is a varied programme of events and school workshops at many locations on the tour.

Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI) has contributed an exhibit on automated driving. It shows how this technology affects our understanding of freedom.In times of technological progress, driving has also changed dramatically.Today, there are already automated vehicles that manage almost without human control. This technology promises many advantages: Thanks to state-of-the-art sensor technology and the use of artificial intelligence, there are fewer traffic jams, fewer accidents and less pollution. But it also raises questions: Does it bring more or less freedom if you can no longer drive yourself and hand over control of the vehicle? How does automated driving affect your freedom? The exhibit was realised by the "Human-Computer Interaction" research group at THI under the leadership of Professor Andreas Riener as part of the "Mensch in Bewegung" initiative. The aim of the team, consisting of Franziska Hegner, Claus Pfeilschifter and Markus Weißenberger, is to make scientific findings understandable for different target groups.

The MS Wissenschaft is touring Germany on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD) is realising the exhibition with the support of the WiD sponsoring organisations.The exhibits come directly from research and are provided by institutes of the Fraunhofer Society, the Leibniz Association, the Max Planck Society and DFG-funded projects, universities and other partners.

The MS Wissenschaft will be stopping off in Aschaffenburg, among other places. Further information on the tour can be found at: https://ms-wissenschaft.de/de/besuch/tour/ 

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