Speakers

Yonas Tefera is the Research Team Lead of the Vicarios Lab in the Department of Advanced Robotics at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). His research focuses on developing teleoperation systems, multimodal immersive interfaces, and robotic autonomy for operation in complex and unstructured environments. Yonas holds a Bachelor of Science from Bahir Dar University, a master’s degree from the University of Trento, and earned his Ph.D. jointly from the University of Verona and IIT. 

Currently, he leads his team in three national-level Italian projects focused on remote teleoperation and simulation. These projects cover a broad range of real-world applications, including the development and deployment of quadruped robots—in both single-arm and bimanual configurations—for remote firefighting missions, as well as wheeled robotic platforms designed for remote inspection tasks. 

Seiko Piotr Yamaguchi received a M.S. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from AGH University of Science and Technology, Cracow and Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo (double degree).  He currently belongs to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Human Spaceflight Technology Directorate. He is responsible for the Lunar Pressurized Rover  (“Lunar Criuser”) development (robotics and thermal control), ISS Japanese Experimental Module’s Robotics Systems Integration.  He earned his Ph.D from the Tohoku University in 2025.  

Thomas Hulin is the head of the Telemanipulation Research Group at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the aerospace research centre of the Federal Republic of Germany, a position he has held since 2020. He received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in 2003, and his Dr.-Ing. degree in mechanical engineering from the Leibniz University of Hannover (LUH) in 2017. Thomas has over 20 years of experience in haptic and telerobotic research, with a focus on stable control, human-robot interaction, haptic rendering, and augmented reality. He is the co-inventor of several innovative interaction devices, including the HUG bimanual haptic device, VibroTac-S tactile wristband with distance sensors, FingerTac augmented-haptics tactile finger feedback device, and CoaxHaptics coaxial parallel mechanism for rotational degrees of freedom. The bilateral telemanipulation control approaches developed in his research group have been used for several telerobotic experiments from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth, enabling the safe teleoperation of DLR’s humanoid robot Justin with force feedback. Thomas has participated as project lead in various DLR internal projects, industry projects, EU-projects (including Networks of Excellence), and national excellence clusters. He has published around 100 peer-reviewed publications and holds more than 10 patents. Thomas has served as an Associate Editor for several IEEE conferences and journals, particularly ICRA, WHC, and RA-L.