Wolfgang Fink

Timeline

1. 1990–1997

   Physics degrees at Göttingen and Tübingen

   Born in Limburg an der Lahn, Germany, he earns a B.S. in physics in 1990 and an M.S. in physics and physical chemistry in 1993 at the University of Göttingen. He completes a summa cum laude PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Tübingen in 1997.

2. 2001–2009

   Caltech and JPL

   From 2001, he is a visiting associate in physics at Caltech, where he founds the Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory, and a senior researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory until 2009. In the early 2000s, he and colleagues devise the tier-scalable reconnaissance paradigm, in which robots operate at different command levels, for example an orbiter that controls a blimp, which controls landers or rovers on the ground. In 2004, his Caltech research group is working on computer-enhanced vision for patients wearing visual prostheses.

3. 2009

   Vision software and the Cyclops robot

   On the Department of Energy's artificial retina project, he develops a real-time image-processing system for the implant, determines effective electric stimulation patterns, and designs a robotic surrogate called Cyclops that tests the implant's image-processing software by simulating the day-to-day experiences of blind people. He is a co-recipient of the 2009 R&D 100 and R&D 100 Editors' Choice awards for the project.

4. 2009

   Joining the University of Arizona

   In 2009, he joins the University of Arizona faculty from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech. He holds the inaugural Edward and Maria Keonjian Endowed Chair, with joint appointments in electrical and computer engineering, biomedical engineering, systems and industrial engineering, aerospace and mechanical engineering, and ophthalmology and vision science.

5. 2012

   AIMBE College of Fellows

   In 2012, he is elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering for contributions to ophthalmology and vision sciences, with a focus on diagnostics and artificial vision systems. His research concept for planetary exploration is a hierarchy of intelligent, autonomous robots, from satellites and blimps to a fleet of rovers or lake landers.

6. 2023

   Breadcrumbs for cave-exploring robots

   In 2023, he is lead author of a paper in Advances in Space Research that details a communication network linking rovers, lake landers and submersible vehicles, so the machines can work together as a team, independently from human input. The patent-pending concept, named the Breadcrumb-Style Dynamically Deployed Communication Network, has rovers deploy miniaturized sensors as communication nodes while they traverse a cave or other subsurface environment on Mars and other worlds.

7. 2023

   SPIE award and NAI fellowship

   He receives the SPIE Aden and Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award in 2023 for work on ophthalmic technologies, including visual prostheses and diagnostic methods. In December 2023, the National Academy of Inventors elects him to its 2023 class of Fellows.

8. As of October 2026

   Associate professor emeritus

   In 2026, he is an associate professor emeritus in the University of Arizona's School of Electrical, Computing, and Software Engineering, where he joined the faculty in 2009.