December 4th, 2025

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Sustainable
Space Robotics

Activities through Robotic Pre-deployment and Autonomous Operations

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Workshop @ iSpaRo 2025

About

Conventional space missions have historically followed a "reach and complete" philosophy. The coming era of space activities, however, requires a fundamental shift towards sustainability, where infrastructures can be autonomously prepared and maintained by robotic systems. This workshop will address this paradigm shift, where space robotics transition from supporting roles to primary actors, pioneering, constructing, and maintaining infrastructures for future human presence. The program combines conceptual framing, invited talks from leading agencies (JAXA, NASA, DLR), academia, and industry, along with a hands-on session, to promote collaboration and resource sharing.

The first workshop was held at International Conference on Space Robotics in Sendai, Japan.

The proceedings / workshops materials are available for public access: Drive.

Reflecting the workshop discussion, special issue is planned on the Frontiers in Robotics and AI Journal.

Scope and topics

The workshop aims to build a cross-disciplinary understanding of how robotics must evolve to support sustainable space activities.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Dexterity, manipulation, and autonomous assembly in microgravity and planetary environments.
Perception and locomotion for surface exploration under severe communication constraints.
Simulation and validation platforms for in-space autonomy.
Modularity and scalability in space robotic systems.
Advanced materials and manufacturing technologies for robotic infrastructure deployment.
In-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM).
Soft robotics for delicate operations in space environments.
Generative AI and autonomous mission planning for deep-space operations.
Lessons learned from on-orbit demonstrations (e.g., NASA Robonaut2 and dexterous manipulation studies, NASA iMETRO, JAXA Int-Ball2, RACS2, ICHIBAN, DLR Surface Avatar and other missions/research projects).