2nd Unconventional Robots: Rethinking Robotic Systems Beyond Convention

When you think about a robot, what comes to mind? A humanoid, quadruped, quadcopter, or a multi-degree of freedom robot arm? These standard robot morphologies have become widely commercialized and are often our go-to general purpose systems, benefiting from well-established and accessible tools for working with these robots. However, when a task falls outside of the operational capabilities of these robots, this gives us an opportunity to rethink the design of a robot, making it more unconventional. An unconventional robot design can offer the potential for enhanced capabilities, improved performance, and operation in complex and unstructured environments. These designs include exploratory robots for space and Earth sciences, modular robots for industrial applications and transportation, and soft robots for medical uses and human interaction. However, unconventional robots are often underactuated or characterized by high degrees of freedom, necessitating the development of novel mechanisms, models, and control strategies.

Building on our first unconventional robots workshop at ICRA 2024, this workshop aims to provide a platform to discuss several key questions: How can we create systematic approaches for designing, manufacturing, and modeling complex robotic systems? How can embodied intelligence be integrated into robot design and control? What strategies can advance unconventional designs from laboratory settings to real-world applications? How can we bridge the gap between modeling and controlling unconventional robots in simulation and achieving reliable performance in real-world systems? How will specialized systems and standardized robots coexist in the future? We aim to bring together researchers and engineers from diverse fields—including mechanism design, modeling and simulation, and robotic sensing and control—to share their insights and experiences in developing and advancing unconventional robots.

Schedule (May 19, 2025)

Meeting Room: 312

08:30 - 08:45 Opening Remarks and Keynote -  Prof. Aaron Johnson

08:45 - 09:15 Prof. Yong-Lae Park - Soft wearable Robotic Systems for Motion Sensing and Assistance

09:15 - 09:45 Prof. Kris Dorsey - Sensing in the fold: Proprioception in origami robots

09:45 - 10:00 Startup - Hatchmee

10:00 - 10:10 Spotlight Talks

10:10 - 11:00 Coffee Break, Poster Session and Robot Demos (Optional) 

11:00 - 11:30 Prof. Cynthia Sung

11:30 - 12:00 Prof. Josie Hughes - Rethinking Robot Design

12:00 - 12:10 Startup - Allonic

12:10 - 12:40 Panel Discussion 1  - Prof. Park, Prof.  Dorsey, Prof. Sung and Prof. Hughes led by Prof. Ryan St. Pierre

12:40 - 13:30 Lunch Break

13:30 - 14:00 Prof. Phanindra Tallapragada - Spin is all you need

14:00 - 14:30 Prof.  David Zarrouk

14:30 - 14:40 Spotlight Talks

14:40 - 15:30 Coffee Break, Poster Session and Robot Demos (Optional) 

15:30 - 16:00 Prof. Elizabeth Farrel Helbling

16:00 - 16:30 Prof. Justin Yim

16:30 - 17:00 Panel Discussion 2 - Prof. Tallapragada, Prof. Zarrouk, Prof. Helbling and Prof. Yim led by Shashwat Singh

17:00 - 17:15 Closing Remarks and Award Session - Prof. Zeynep Temel 

Confirmed Speakers

Call for Abstracts - CLOSED 

Organizers

Shashwat Singh, Carnegie Mellon University

Zilin Si, Carnegie Mellon University

Naomi Oke, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Qinghua Guan, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Dr. Aaron Johnson, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Zeynep Temel, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Ryan St. Pierre, University at Buffalo

Dr. Justin Yim, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign