Emerging Paradigms in
Robotic Manipulation:
the challenges of extreme environments
IEEE ICRA 2026 Workshop
1-5 June, 2026, Vienna, Austria
Embedded Files
"How extreme can robotic manipulation get?"
"Are our robots ready for the reality of extreme environments?"
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
Robots present a unique opportunity to deal with extraordinary challenges in applications and environments that can be tedious, dangerous, or even unreachable for human capabilities. These include hazardous conditions such as natural disaster zones, heavy machinery and coal factories with long-term health impact on workers, underwater and high-pressure zones, and the uninhabitable outer space. Inspection, sample retrieval, and hardware dismantling and/or integration in these environments present unique requirements in grasping and manipulation for robots that require innovative and tailored software and hardware solutions, while aiming to keep the generality of robot repurposing and cost-efficiency.
This workshop will bring together a multidisciplinary team of experts in grasping and manipulation for extreme environments to create a bridge between application field professionals and the research communities. The objective is to unveil the potential of state-of-the-art robotic technologies in these challenging scenarios, as well as the barriers that prevent their adoption in the real-world.
PROGRAM
PROGRAM
09:00 - 09:05 Welcome and presentation of workshop objectives
09:05 - 10:30 SESSION I:
09:05 - 09:30:
09:30 - 09:55
09:55 - 10:20:
10:20 - 10:30: Poster teasers
10:30 - 11:00 Poster Session and Coffee Break
11:00 - 12:30 SESSION II:
11:00 - 11:25:
11:25 - 11:55:
11:55 - 12:30: Round Table Discussion
12:30: Announcement of the best poster, closing remarks of the workshop and end of the workshop
INVITED SPEAKERS
INVITED SPEAKERS
Maren Bennewitz (University of Bonn, Germany) - "Goal-Directed Object Pushing in Cluttered Scenes"
Manuel Catalano (Istituto Italiano di tecnologia - NuBots, Physical AI Technologies for Human-Robot CoEvolution and JOiiNT LAB ) - "Manipulating the Extreme: From Object Grasping to Ground Manipulation "
Oussama Khatib (Stanford University) - TBA
Joseph McIntyre (IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science and Tecnalia, Spain) - "Human reaching, grasping and manipulation on orbit: Insights for robotic manipulation in weightlessness"
Maximo Roa (German Aerospace Center - DLR) - "Robotic Manipulation, Assembly and Manufacturing in the new Space Race"
Robin Murphy (Texas A&M University) - to be confirmed
Aaron Parness (Amazon Robotics) - to be confirmed
Maren Bennewitz
University of Bonn
Manuel Catalano
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Oussama Khatib
Stanford University
Joseph McIntyre
Ikerbasque, Tecnalia
Maximo Roa
German Aerospace Center - DLR
TOPICS
TOPICS
Novel gripper design for extreme environmental conditions
Shared autonomy in grasping and manipulation
Multi-robot and robot-fleet grasping and manipulation
Virtual and augmented reality for loco-manipulation tasks
Safety strategies
Mobile manipulation
Manipulation systems for space, underwater, underground and search-and-rescue applications
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>
Francesca Negrello <francesca.negrello@iit.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: April 1st, 2026 (AoE)
Notification of acceptance: April 17th, 2026 (AoE)*
Workshop: 1st or 5th of June, 2026
* [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.
ORGANIZERS
ORGANIZERS
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
The previous editions of this workshop were held at RSS2019, ICRA2021, ICRA2023, and RoboSoft 2025:
"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.
"Emerging Paradigms in Soft Manipulation: from the lab to the real world", IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2025), Lausanne, April 2025, 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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