Robot Learning from Human Teleoperation: Scaling Demonstrations and Leveraging Foundation Models
ICRA 2026 - Workshop Proposal
1–5 June, Vienna, Austria
1–5 June, Vienna, Austria
Imitation Learning from human teleoperation has proven effective for training robots in dexterous, high-dimensional tasks. At the same time, learning directly from video demonstrations is emerging as a complementary approach, offering scalable data sources extending beyond traditional teleoperation. With the rise of large pre-trained models in robotics, a key frontier is understanding how both teleoperated and video-based demonstrations can fine-tune these models for diverse downstream applications. This workshop will explore emerging challenges and opportunities at this intersection: How should teleoperation and video data be collected, structured, and scaled to maximize transfer to large models? What role do modalities such as tactile sensing, haptics, and multimodal feedback play in enabling robust fine-tuning? And how can we benchmark and standardize practices across data sources and teleoperation setups to accelerate progress?
Building on the success of the first edition, this workshop will convene leading researchers to present perspectives on leveraging human demonstrations — from teleoperation to video — for large-model adaptation. Through invited talks, a poster session, and lightning presentations, participants will engage in discussions on dataset design, evaluation protocols, and integration of new sensing modalities. The goal is to foster collaboration across the community to establish best practices.
Invited Speakers
"Learning robot manipulation with natural human demonstration"
Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Computer Science at Stanford University, leading the Robotics and Embodied AI Lab
"Learning manipulation skills from instructional videos"
Distinguished researcher at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics at the Czech Technical University. Director of ELLIS Unit Prague
"Post-Training Vision-Language-Action Models for High Performance"
Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University and co-founder of Pi
"VR Interfaces for Interactive Robot Learning"
Full professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), heading the chair "Autonomous Learning Robots"
"A probabilistic framework for imitation-learning-based assistive teleoperation"
Group leader of the Interactive Skill Learning group at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)
"From pixels to actions: In search for the best backbone for generalized dexterity"
Co-Founder & CTO @ mimic robotics AG
Organizers
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
University College of London (UCL)
Edgar Welte
Dr. Rania Rayyes
Dr. Gabriele Giudici
Dr. Yue Li
Dr. Lorenzo Jamone
Important Dates:
Deadline for Poster Submission: TBD
Notification of Acceptance: TBD
Final Poster Submission: TBD
Workshop Date: TBD