The Research Network Cooperative Technical Systems is a joint effort of several research groups in the engineering sciences of the University of Kassel. It aims at advancing methods to describe, analyze, operate and optimize technical systems that are composed of cooperating subsystems.

An increasing degree of integration within technical systems can be observed in many applications such as mobile robotics, automotive, and manufacturing to name a few. This increasingly yields scenarios, where neither behavioral models nor states of subsystems may be fully known to a central instance. This, however, is the basis of conventional centralized approaches to operate and optimize systems. Particularly in such cases, the advent of cooperation mechanisms permit to make independent agents to achieve a global objective. The research network investigates challenges and benefits arising from the principles of cooperation for system domains like smart grids, e-mobility, and tightly integrated supply chains.