Tactile sensing plays key roles in advancing embodied robotic intelligence, allowing robots to understand complex contact scenarios, interact with unstructured environments, and perform manipulation more efficiently and robustly. However, current robotic tactile capabilities are still far from matching human touch from different aspects including sensing granularity, coverage, response speed and more. Compared to other modalities such as vision, leveraging tactile sensing to improve robotic dexterity are still under exploration.

This workshop will bring together experts spanning tactile hardware design, modeling and simulation, grasping and manipulation, and robot learning to share their latest research focusing on tactile sensors and their applications in robotics that drive intelligent robotic systems. This workshop will also provide a platform for researchers from all career stages, from early to senior to present their latest discoveries, adding diverse insights to the discussion. Interactive sessions at the end of the workshop will facilitate direct engagement between speakers and attendees, fostering a collaborative environment for exchanging ideas and brainstorming new directions in tactile sensing technology for robotics. Key topics will include tactile sensor design and modeling, tactile-driven grasping and manipulation, robot learning with tactile sensing and tactile simulation and sim-to-real —novel areas not extensively explored in previous workshops.