Dr B.J.A. Kröse (1952) has been appointed Professor by special appointment of Ambient Robotics at the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The special chair was made available by the Bèta Plus Foundation and funded by the CREATE-IT applied research knowledge centre of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences (HvA).

Kröse has been working at the UvA since 1989 and has been associate professor at the Intelligent Autonomous Systems research group of the Informatics Institute since 1997. In his research, Ben Kröse focuses on the development of new methods for real-world intelligent systems such as robots, surveillance systems and interactive devices.

As professor by special appointment, Kröse will also deal with computing methods for distributed, interactive systems that can be used in the health care, security and leisure sectors. Such research is needed to be able to make robotics and home automation systems capable of communicating with people. Kröse works closely with the HvA, where he has been ‘lector’ in Digital Life since 2004. The Ambient Robotics Chair is directly linked to his Digital Life research group at the HvA which focuses on home automation. Kröse is also scientific manager of CREATE-IT applied research, the knowledge centre of the HvA's School of Design and Communication.