The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science (DMI) is taking an innovative step: the latest member is not a human being, but a robot named DiMI. “We acquired the robot for three reasons: as a modern device for research, as a basis for exciting and innovative student projects, and to support our outreach activities,” explains Prof. Heiko Schuldt, head of the Databases and Information Systems research group.

Research and teaching

DiMI is more than just another device in the Internet of Things (IoT), and their potential applications in research and teaching are manifold. Starting in the spring semester of 2026, there will be a new seminar on “Robot Programming” with practical applications of DiMI. “This will give our computer science students the opportunity to gain practical experience in the field of robot programming,” explains Heiko Schuldt, who also wants to use DiMI in his research: He and his research group are planning to port results from multimedia search in XR to the robot, which would allow DiMI to automatically recognize objects. The robot can also provide insights and support research in the field of privacy-enhancing technologies, which has been represented by a dedicated research group at DMI since 2022. “You can visualize privacy issues with the robot,” says Prof. Isabel Wagner, who heads the research group in this field. The use of a robot also increases efficiency. “DiMI could help automate interaction, for example with VR, so that we can investigate the privacy and security of more VR apps than would be possible with manual interaction.”

Opportunities and challenges

The acquisition of a humanoid robot is a novelty at the University of Basel and brings with it opportunities, but also new challenges: The question of a suitable name was one of the more humorous challenges, which was resolved in a department-wide competition. The suggestion “DiMI” was submitted twice and ultimately prevailed.

Equipping DiMI with their own UNIcard was somewhat more complicated. Until now, only natural persons had been issued with the card. However, the flexible processes of the “Next Generation Identity” (NGI) program and the support of the security technology team, which is also responsible for access control at the university, made it possible to issue a UNIcard and email address for a robot for the first time. The NGI team considers this a technical and symbolic milestone: “The entry in our database represents more than just a new record: it shows how the University of Basel is rethinking the boundaries between humans and machines.”