Workshop introduction
This workshop aims to convene researchers across robotics, medicine, materials science, and control to address the foundational and translational challenges highlighted by the ARPA-H Autonomous Interventions and Robotics (AIR) program. In alignment with AIR’s vision, the workshop will focus on moving tethered and untethered microrobotics beyond isolated demonstrations of locomotion or sensing toward integrated, autonomous systems capable of performing clinically meaningful interventional and surgical tasks.
The workshop will provide a forum to identify critical barriers to interventional autonomy at small scales, including reliable navigation in complex anatomy, wireless power and actuation, closed-loop sensing and decision-making, safety-constrained autonomy, and system-level integration under clinical and regulatory constraints. Participants will share emerging solutions spanning novel tethered or untethered microrobot architectures, advanced fabrication and functional materials, learning-enabled control, and human–robot interaction strategies for supervision and fail-safe operation.
By bringing together roboticists, clinicians, and translational researchers, the workshop seeks to discuss recent advances in microrobotic intervention that is directly responsive to the objectives of the ARPA-H AIR program. The outcomes of the workshop will help catalyze new collaborations and accelerate the transition of microrobotic systems from laboratory prototypes to clinically actionable platforms for autonomous or semi-autonomous intervention and surgery.
Intended audience:
The workshop is intended for a broad, interdisciplinary audience engaged in microrobotics and medical robotics research. This includes researchers working on microrobots and miniature robotic systems with a focus on robot locomotion, wireless power transfer and charging, remote and in situ sensing, motion planning, control, and autonomy at small scales. The workshop will be particularly relevant to faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students (PhD and MS) developing microrobotic platforms for surgical and interventional applications, as well as researchers seeking to translate fundamental microrobotics technologies into clinically actionable systems.
