Rolf Pfeifer received his master’s degree in physics and mathematics and his Ph.D. in computer science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He spent three years as a post-doctoral fellow at Carnegie-Mellon University and at Yale University in the US. Since 1987 he has been a professor of computer science at the Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, and director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

He worked as a visiting professor and research fellow at the Free University of Brussels, the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., the Neurosciences Institute (NSI) in San Diego, the Beijing Open Laboratory for Cognitive Science, the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris, and was elected "21st Century COE Professor, Information Science and Technology" at the University of Tokyo. He was also a visiting professor at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, and he was appointed "Fellow of the School of Engineering" at the University of Tokyo.

Currently, he is the Deputy Director of the NCCR Robotics, the "National Competence Center for Research in Robotics" in Switzerland. His research interests are in the areas of embodiment, biorobotics, artificial evolution and morphogenesis, modular robotics, self-assembly and educational technology.

He is the author of the books "Understanding Intelligence", MIT Press, 1999 (with C. Scheier), "How the body shapes the way we think: a new view of intelligence," 2007 (with Josh Bongard) MIT Press (popular science style), "Designing intelligence - why brains aren't enough" (short version - with Josh Bongard and Don Berry, e-book), and "Gérer l'imprévu" ("Coping with the unexpected"; with Alexandre Pitti) (in French, to appear spring 2012).

Lecture series: “The ShanghAI Lectures”, a global mixed-reality lecture series on embodied intelligence, broadcast this time from Machester Media City in the UK, the University of Zurich and EPF-Lausanne in Switzerland, Hakodate Future University in Japan, Northeastern Polytechnic Institute in Xi'an (China), in cooperation with other universities from around the globe (fall term 2011, 29 September 2011 until December 2011).

Version française:

Rolf Pfeifer est directeur du laboratoire d'intelligence artificielle à l'université de Zurich en Suisse et co-directeur du Centre de Compétence National de Robotique. Il a reçu son master en physique et en mathématique et son doctorat en informatique à l'École Polytechnique Fédérale (ETH) de Zurich. Après trois années de postdoctorat passées aux États-Unis au début de sa carrière,  il est nommé professeur au département d'informatique de l'université de Zurich, en 1987.

Il a travaillé comme professeur/chercheur invité à l'université libre de Bruxelles, au laboratoire d'intelligence artificielle à Cambridge, Mass., à l'institut des neurosciences (NSI) à San Diego, au Beijing Open Laboratory for Cognitive Science en Chine, au Sony Computer Science Laboratory de Paris, à l'université de Tokyo ("21st Century COE Professor, Information Science and Technology"), à la Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna à Pise, et à l'université Shanghai Jiao Tong en Chine. En 2009 il fut nommé "Fellow of the School of Engineering" de l'université de Tokyo.

Ses thèmes de recherche incluent les domaines de "l'intelligence incarnée", de l'évolution artificielle, de la morphogénèse, de la biorobotique, de la robotique modulaire, de l'auto-assemblage, des machines morphologiques et des technologies éducationnelles.

Il est l'auteur de "Understanding Intelligence", MIT Press, 1999 (avec C. Scheier), "How the body shapes the way we think: a new view of intelligence," 2007 (avec Josh Bongard) MIT Press (style science populaire), "Designing intelligence - why brains aren't enough" (avec Josh Bongard and Don Berry, e-book), et "Gérer l'imprévu" avec Alexandre Pitti) (livre en français, à paraître à parti du printemps 2012).

Depuis 2009, il conduit les "ShanghAI Lectures", une expérience globale d'enseignement avec plus de 40 universités des quatre coins du monde. Son prochain grand événement: Les robots humanoïdes et les cyborgs - 25ème anniversaire du laboratoire d'intelligence artificielle: 8/9 Mars 2013 à Zurich