Emerging Paradigms in Soft Manipulation:
from the lab to the real world
RoboSoft 2025 Half-day Workshop
23rd April 2025, Lausanne, Switzerland
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"A workshop addressing the gap between research and applications in soft manipulation"
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
The advent of soft robotics has greatly changed researchers’ perspectives on robotic manipulation. Robotic hands with passive compliance can safely and deliberately interact with the surrounding environment, and have demonstrated versatile grasping capabilities that were inconceivable with their rigid counterparts. In real-world applications, however, softness might result in an undesired lack of controllability, low precision, and limited grasp strength. From here, the on-going quest for robotic hands that are still soft, but have an increased number of actuators and sensors, and possibly embed rigid structures. In this regard, the use of new smart materials and new actuation and sensing techniques can lead to novel, promising designs. This workshop aims at delineating the lessons learned on the design and control of soft hands in the last 10 years, and at answering the question of whether or not currently available prototypes are ready to stand the challenge of real-world scenarios. A panel of research experts as well as representatives of companies will discuss how new approaches in soft manipulation can efficiently be transferred from the research labs to the productive and service world, outlining best practices from real use cases, and highlighting the gaps that still need to be addressed.
PROGRAM
PROGRAM
09:00 - 09:15 Welcome and presentation of workshop objectives
09:15 - 10:45 SESSION I: Emerging paradigms in soft manipulation
09:15 - 09:30: "Getting a Grip on Industrial Automation with Soft Grippers" - YEOW Chen Hua, Raye (National University Singapore)
09:30 - 09:45: "From Skin to Sensor: Bio-Inspired Designs and Tactile Systems for Soft Robotic Manipulation" - Chapa Sirithunge (University of Cambridge, UK)
09:45 - 10:00: "Soft robotic arm with bodily awareness" - Alberto Oliveri (University of Genova, IT)
10:00 - 10:15: ”Sensorizing soft actuators enabling intelligent grasping and for fruit evaluation ” - Chengjin Du (IIT, IT)
10:15 - 10:30: "Advancing Smart Materials in Soft Robotics: Photoresponsive Hydrogels for Adaptive Gripping and Selective Steering" - Emilia Zari (Imperial College London, UK)
10:30 - 10:45: Q&A
10:45 - 11:30 Poster Session and Coffee Break
11:30 - 13:00 SESSION II: From the lab to the real world
11:30 - 11:45: Francesca Negrello (JOIINT Lab)
11:45 - 12:00: "Variable compliance grippers for handling soft materials” - Maximo Roa (DLR, DE)
12:00 - 12:15: Francesco Ferro (PAL Robotics, SP)
12:15 - 12:30: “How Softness Almost Solved Dexterity – And What Remains to be Solved” - Oliver Brock (TU Berlin, DE)
12:30 - 13:00: Q&A and Round Table Discussion
13:00: Announcement of the best poster, closing remarks of the workshop and end of the workshop
INVITED SPEAKERS
INVITED SPEAKERS
Raye Yeow Chen Hua (National University of Singapore)
Chapa Sirithunge (University of Cambridge)
Alberto Oliveri (University of Genova)
Chengjin Du (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - IIT, Genova)
Emilia Zari (Imperial College London)
Francesca Negrello (JOIINT Lab)
Maximo Roa (German Aerospace Center, DLR)
Francesco Ferro (Pal Robotics)
Oliver Brock (Technische Universität Berlin)
POSTER/DEMO CONTRIBUTIONS
POSTER/DEMO CONTRIBUTIONS
Researchers interested in presenting their work during the workshop can submit an extended abstract in standard IEEE conference template, 2 pages max. Please note that it is possible to use material that has already been published and that authors who plan to show a demo should describe it in the abstract and possibly attach a video of the demo. We also welcome contributions describing and discussing the results of real-world tests of soft manipulators. Abstracts will be reviewed by the organizers. Authors of accepted abstracts will have to prepare a poster and present it in person during the workshop.
Extended abstracts should be submitted by e-mail to:
Virginia Ruiz Garate <vruizg@mondragon.edu>
Maria Pozzi <maria.pozzi@unisi.it>
Best Poster Award
Best Poster Award
Organizers and invited speakers will vote for the BEST POSTER, which will be announced at the end of the Workshop.
Important dates
Important dates
Abstract submission deadline: March 31st, 2025 (AoE)
Notification of acceptance: April 7th, 2025 (AoE)*
Workshop: April 23rd, 2025
* [If authors need a faster reply they are encouraged to please indicate this in the submission phase.]
* [If authors need a faster reply they are encouraged to please indicate this in the submission phase.]
Presentation instructions
Presentation instructions
Authors of accepted abstracts will have to prepare a poster in A0 portrait format and present it in person during the workshop.
ACCEPTED POSTERS
ACCEPTED POSTERS
Coutinho, A., and Rodrigue, H., "Reinforced Artificial Muscles and Morphing Suction Cups for Real-World Soft Manipulation", PDF
Jiang, R. et al., "High resolution vision-based tactile sensing with piezoluminescent skin", PDF, Video
Neumann, O., et al., "Building Human-Like Dexterity: A New Take on Multi-Material Joints for Robotic Hands"
Ramırez Montero, M., et al., "Mastering Contact-rich Tasks by Combining Soft and Rigid Robotics with Imitation Learning", PDF
Nguyen, K.T., et al., "ROSE: A Rotated-based Soft Gripper Harnessing Morphological Computation for Adaptive and Robust Manipulation", PDF, Video
Hardman, D., "Single Layer Soft Sensory Skins exploiting High-Density Electrical Impedance Tomography", PDF
Chung, S., and Rodrigue, H., "Development and Research on 3D Printed Telescopic Bidirectional Actuator", PDF, Video
Daunizeau, T., and Shea, H., "Electroadhesive Gripper with Thermochromic Visuo-Tactile Sensing"
Hasanen, B., et al., "Soft Vision-Based Tactile-Enabled SixthFinger: Advancing Daily Objects Manipulation for Stroke Survivors"
ORGANIZERS
ORGANIZERS
Mondragon Unibertsitatea and IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Spain
University of Siena and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia of Genova, Italy
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
The previous editions of this workshop were held at RSS2019, ICRA2021, and ICRA2023:
"Emerging paradigms for robotic manipulation: from the lab to the productive world", Robotics Science and Systems Conference (RSS 2019), Freiburg, June 2019.
"Emerging paradigms for robotic manipulation: from the lab to the productive world (II edition)", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2021), virtual event, May 2021
"Emerging paradigms for assistive robotic manipulation: from research labs to the real world", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2023), London, June 2023, Link.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the support of IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain, and of the European Union by the Next Generation EU project ECS00000017 “Ecosistema dell’Innovazione” Tuscany Health Ecosystem (THE, PNRR: Spoke 9 - Robotics and Automation for Health).
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