Challenges and Application Prospects for Reconfigurable Modular Robots

Call for Posters and Papers

We welcome research contributions across a broad spectrum, including original research, preliminary findings, and conceptual proposals. All submissions will be peer-reviewed based on their relevance and technical merit.    

The workshop will focus on modular robots, covering the following topics, but not limited to:

• Design principles and development of modular robotic systems

• Control strategy for modular reconfigurable robots

• Motion planning approaches for modular reconfigurable robots

• Applications of modular robotic systems across various domains
  
  

Submission Portal: website

Submission Open: August 1st, 2025                                     

Submission Deadline: September 15th, 2025 , September 25th, 2025,  October 5th, 2025

Acceptance Notification: Rolling (Start from August 15th )  

Contributions can be submitted in one of the following two formats:

• 1. Paper for Extended Abstract 

     • Format: Extended abstract of up to 4 pages, following the IEEE IROS conference format

     • Supplementary Materials: Videos and demonstration proposals are encouraged

     • Presentation: Accepted papers will be presented through 5-minute spotlight talks. With the authors’ consent, abstracts will be published on the workshop website.

  2. Poster Presentation

     • Format: A0 size, printer size pending on the IROS official requirement

     • Supplementary Materials: Hardware demonstrations and robotic system exhibitions related to the posters are strongly encouraged.

Schedule: Full-day Workshop 

Room 310, Hangzhou International Expo Center, Hangzhou City, China

09:15 – 09:20

Workshop Introduction

09:20 – 09:45 

Luyang Zhao: "Soft Modular Robots: From Modular Tensegrity Structures to Bioinspired Sea Robots."

09:45 – 10:10 

Hua Chen: "One Policy for multi-robot locomotion: cross embodiment generalization with diffusion model and reinforcement learning." 

10:10 – 10:25 

Paper Presentation

Nico Bohlinger (Technical University of Darmstadt): "Multi-Embodiment Locomotion at Scale with extreme Embodiment Randomization"

Yicheng Chen (University of Tokyo): "Hierarchical Trajectory Planning of Reconfigurable Multi-Link Aerial Robot for Maneuvering in Confined Environments" 

10:35 – 11:00 

Poster Session & Coffee Break  

11:00 – 11:15 

Paper Presentation 

Hongxu Wang (Harbin Institute of Technology): "Configuration optimization of reconfigurable space robot for impulse minimization" 

Jonathan Külz (Technical University of Munich): "A Design Co-Pilot for Task-Tailored Manipulators"

11:15 – 11:40 

Tin Lun Lam: "Decoding Modular Reconfigurable Robots." 

11:40 – 12:05

Roderich Gross: "The role of physics: From modular robots to robotic fabrics."

12:05 – 12:30 

Benoît Piranda: "Self-Reconfiguration Algorithms for Tiny Quasi-Spherical Robots." 

12:30– 13:45

Lunch Break

13:45 – 14:10

Lin Zhao: "MARS-Dragonfly: Agile and Robust Flight Control of Modular Aerial Robot Systems."

14:10 - 14:35

Moju Zhao: “Modularity in Aerial Robotics: Design, Control, and Application”

14:35 – 15:00

Rui Fukui: "Modular Robot Technologies for Environmental Structuring:  Environment of the robots, by the robots, and for the robots." 

15:00– 15:35

Poster Session & Coffee Break

15:35 – 15:55 

Selected Poster Presentation

Zhongchao Zhou (University of Tokyo): "A toolbox for designing modular pneumatic driven systems in

healthcare application" 

Zhaoqi Ma (University of Tokyo): "Collaborative Valve Opening through Sequential Task Execution by Reconfigurable Modular Aerial Robots"

Nicholas Gunter (University of Colorado Boulder): "Soft piezoelectric (PVDF) actuators for shape morphing microrobots" 

15:55 – 16:20 

Nikos Tsagarakis: "CONCERT: A Modular Reconfigurable Robot for Construction."

16:20 – 16:45 

Josie Hughes: TBA

16:45 – 16:55

Closing Remarks