Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI)
Robert Trappl is head of the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Vienna, which was founded in 1984. He is Professor Emeritus of Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence at the Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna. He was full professor and head of the Department of Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, University of Vienna, for 30 years. His main research interest had always been the human mind since it can be analysed by three distinct methods the results of which eventually have to converge: 1. by introspection, 2. by analysing the behaviour of a person, e.g. through psychological experiments, and 3. by studying the human brain. And then progress in technology made method 4 possible: Modelling the human mind and the human brain. For this reason, he has extended his research methods from cybernetics and systems theory to artificial intelligence, but not restricted to the so-called rational processes but encompassing also emotional ones.
