Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGDMartin Ritz has been deputy head of the Automating Digital Manufacturing (ADM) focus area in the Manufacturing and Mobility (MaM) industry since 2026. Previously, he was deputy head of the Autonomous Digital Technologies department. His career at Fraunhofer began in 2009 as a research associate in the Industrial Applications / Interactive Engineering Technologies department.
In parallel to technical coordination, his research topics include acquisition of 3D geometry as well as optical material properties, meaning light interaction of surfaces up to complete objects, for arbitrary combinations of light and observer directions. Challenges in both domains are equally design and implementation of algorithms as well as conceptualization and realization of novel scanning systems in hardware and software with the goal of complete automation in mind.
Current research and development focuses on autonomous processing of surfaces with a priori unknown shape, where autonomous 3D digitization is used to derive the basis for intelligent path planning to accurately guide robotic systems. One example is the fully autonomous robot-based decoating of arbitrary parts during dismantling of nuclear power plants.
Martin Ritz received his Master of Science degree in Informatics 2009 from the Technische Universität Darmstadt. The focus of his final thesis in the domain of photogrammetry was the extension of Multi-view Stereo by the advantages of the Photometric Stereo approach in order to reach better results and a more complete measurement data coverage during 3D reconstruction.
During his studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, he received his Master of Science degree computer science in 2008. His Bachelor of Science thesis from 2006 in the context of the European research project SmartSketches at Fraunhofer IGD targeted the implementation of a consistency mechanism satisfying continuity constraints between freeform surfaces.