Forty years of robotics research showcased at ICRA@40

Rotterdam – The fortieth anniversary of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA@40) took place from September 23 to 26 and showcased everything from robot design and control to AI tools and materials. Alongside the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), ICRA is one of the most important conferences in robotics; it has been held forty times, most recently in Yokohama, Japan, in May of 2024. The robotics community decided to celebrate this anniversary by holding a special conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The aim of the gathering was to look back at the robotic innovations that have shaped our past and to look forward to the technologies that will define the future of this research field.

Katherine J. Kuchenbecker delivers her keynote talk.

This was no ordinary conference. Rather than paper presentations, 82 distinguished faculty speakers from around the world took the stage to deliver short talks about their vision of robotics research. Among them was Katherine J. Kuchenbecker, Director of the Haptic Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS). Other speakers with MPI-IS connections include former MPI-IS group leaders Ludovic Righetti, who is an Associate Professor at New York University, and Jan Peters, who is now a Professor at TU Darmstadt. Another was Brad Nelson, who is a Professor at ETH Zurich and is affiliated with MPI-IS through the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems (CLS). Last but not least, faculty from several other institutions in the newly founded Robotics Institute Germany (RIG), in which MPI-IS is a partner, contributed to making ICRA@40 a memorable event.

Former MPI-IS group leader Ludovic Righetti moderates a panel.

"The keynote speakers come from all over the world, each giving a 10-minute TED-style talk. It is an all-star line-up, and I am really looking forward to being there," said Kuchenbecker before she left for Rotterdam. She delivered her keynote, entitled "Haptic Intelligence" as the first talk on the second day of the event, highlighting three of her favorite research projects from across her scientific career: fingertip haptic feedback for palpation in robotic surgery, intrahug gestures for HuggieBot, and the CUTE device for delivering pleasant and expressive tactile sensations. These projects are united by their use of making/breaking contact and high-frequency vibrations, two aspects of touch that are often neglected in perceptual systems for robots and haptic feedback for humans.

As the name ICRA@40 suggests, this event commemorated the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) and the launch of ICRA. In addition to the twelve keynote sessions, ICRA@40 featured eight interactive plenary sessions, four industry pitch sessions, four debate/panel sessions, posters, exhibits, and three social events. Another highlight was the distribution of important prizes in the field of robotics: Kuchenbecker’s former doctoral student, Professor Heather Culbertson from the University of Southern California, received one of the two Rising Star Awards bestowed at ICRA@40. The entire scientific program was organized by Professor Tamim Asfour from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which is the newest academic partner in Cyber Valley and a leader in robotics research.

Professor Heather Culbertson (second from right) received
one of the two Rising Star Awards.

"ICRA@40 marks a significant milestone in the history of robotics as an intellectual discipline, offering a unique format that promises to be a historic gathering," said the conference organizers. "Over four days, we will embark on a journey through the evolution of robotics and automation, from its early days as a subfield of disparate fields to its current incarnation as a rich intellectual discipline in its own right."

Find out more here: https://icra40.ieee.org