University spin-off TOPAS Industrial Mathematics Receives the Steinbeis Löhn Prize for Autonomous Firefighting Robotics

TOPAS Industriemathematik, a spin-off from the University of Bremen, has been awarded the Steinbeis Foundation’s Transfer Prize—the Löhn Prize 2026—in collaboration with Alpha Robotics Germany. The award recognized a project to develop autonomous firefighting robotics for fire department operations.

How can robots support firefighters in dangerous and complex operational situations? The University of Bremen spin-off TOPAS Industriemathematik is working on this question in collaboration with Alpha Robotics Germany from Vechta. For their project “Autonomous Firefighting Robotics: Development of a Hardware and Software Platform for Firefighting Operations,” the partners have now been awarded the Steinbeis Foundation’s Transfer Prize—the Löhn Prize 2026.
The prize, worth 10,000 euros, recognizes outstanding projects that successfully translate scientific findings into marketable applications.

The award-winning project focuses on further developing existing firefighting robots into intelligent assistance systems for firefighting operations. To achieve this, the project employs, among other things, industrial mathematics methods such as dynamic 3D mapping, AI-supported object recognition, robust sensor fusion, and semi-automated navigation. The goal is to relieve the burden on emergency responders, particularly in situations involving heavy smoke, unstable buildings, or unclear conditions. The systems are designed to help assess incident sites more quickly, improve decision-making, and reduce risks to firefighters.

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