PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Daniel Polani

Daniel Polani is a professor of artificial intelligence whose work applies information theory to cognition and robotics. He earned a PhD at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 1996 and held a research fellowship at Lübeck's Institute for Neuro- and Bioinformatics. His research includes a 2008 study of empowerment for sensorimotor systems and his 2000 RoboCup Scientific Challenge Award for behavior-classification work. He served on the RoboCup Federation's Board of Trustees, led the European Commission's Horizon 2020 socSMCs project, and coauthored the 2025 robot-learning paper SuPLE. As of October 2026, he is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Hertfordshire's Centre for AI and Robotics Research.

Works
335
Citations
3,832
h-index
30
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1996

    A PhD and research post

    He earns a PhD at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 1996. His early research includes a fellowship at the University of Lübeck's Institute for Neuro- and Bioinformatics.

  2. 2000

    An award for behavior classification

    In 2000, his work “Behavior Classification with Self-Organizing Maps” earns the RoboCup Scientific Challenge Award in Melbourne.

  3. June 2001

    Coaching Lucky Lübeck

    In June 2001, he coaches Lucky Lübeck's software-agent team at the RoboCup German Open in Paderborn.

  4. 2008

    Keep Your Options Open

    In 2008, he coauthors “Keep Your Options Open” with Alexander Klyubin and Chrystopher Nehaniv, exploring empowerment as an information-theoretic measure of an agent's sensorimotor options.

  5. 2008–2014

    Serving on RoboCup's board

    From 2008 to 2014, he serves on the Board of Trustees of the RoboCup Federation.

  6. 2015–2019

    Leading the socSMCs project

    From 2015 to 2019, he leads the European Commission's Horizon 2020 socSMCs project as principal investigator in Herts' Centre for AI and Robotics Research, with Chrystopher Nehaniv as co-investigator.

  7. 2025

    Robot learning and information flow

    In 2025, he coauthors the ICRA paper “SuPLE: Robot Learning with Lyapunov Rewards” with Phu Nguyen and Stas Tiomkin. In November 2025, he presents a seminar on information flow in the perception-action loop as Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Hertfordshire.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Hertfordshire

    As of October 2026, he is Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the University of Hertfordshire's Centre for AI and Robotics Research and Adaptive Systems. His research uses information theory to study the perception-action loop and cognitive agents.

Career

  1. Since 2015University of HertfordshirePrincipal Investigator
  2. 2008–2014RoboCup FederationBoard of Trustees member
  3. 2000–2004University of LübeckResearch Fellow
  4. 1997–2001Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Education

  1. 1996Johannes Gutenberg University MainzPhD

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. INFORMATION FLOWS IN CAUSAL NETWORKS2008 · Advances in Complex Systems · 284 citations
  2. Empowerment: A Universal Agent-Centric Measure of Control2005 · IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) · 283 citations
  3. Information Theory of Decisions and Actions2010 · Springer eBooks · 267 citationsWith Naftali Tishby
  4. Bivariate measure of redundant information2013 · Physical Review E · 211 citations
  5. Empowerment–An Introduction2013 · Emergence, complexity and computation · 154 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes University of Hertfordshire. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  4. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Daniel Polani | Socializing Sensorimotor Contingencies - socSMCs socsmcs.eu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Lübecker Informatiker programmieren Ballgefühl und Teamgeist: Universität zu Lübeck uni-luebeck.de. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Keep Your Options Open: An Information-Based Driving Principle for Sensorimotor Systems | PLOS ONE journals.plos.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Daniel Polani - University of Hertfordshire (Research Profiles) researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Organisation of the Information Flow in the Perception-Action Loop with Daniel Polani - ART-AI cdt-art-ai.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.