Workshops
The following Workshops will be carried out at IEEE ARM 2026:
This workshop focuses on recent advances in actuator technologies that enable agile, safe, and high-performance humanoid robots. It addresses the full actuation pipeline, from novel mechanical architectures, high-efficiency motors, and compliant or variable-stiffness mechanisms, to embedded sensing, modeling, and control strategies for force and motion generation. By bringing together expertise from mechanics, electronics, and control, the workshop aims to tackle key challenges related to power density, adaptability, reliability, and safety in real-world humanoid applications. The event encourages open discussion and cross-disciplinary exchange, welcoming both mature research contributions and late-breaking results. Accepted contributions will be shared through the workshop website.
List of Topics
- High-efficiency and high-power-density actuators for humanoid motion
- Variable-stiffness, soft, and compliant actuation mechanisms
- Lightweight transmissions and novel mechanical architectures
- Modeling, identification, and simulation of actuation dynamics
- Embedded sensing, tactile/force perception, and state estimation for actuation
- Intelligent, adaptive, and learning-based actuation control strategies
- Reliability, safety in actuation in real environments
The Keynote Speakers
- Nicolaus Radford, CEO, Persona AI, USA
- Prof. Pablo Lopez Garcia, CEO AILOS Robotics, Belgium
- Prof. Olivier Stasse, Head of LAAS-CNRS, France
- Prof. Tadej Petrič, Head of CoBoTaT, Slovenia
- Prof. Bertrand Tondu, LAAS-CNRS INSA, France
Organizers
- Wael Soukarieh, Université Paris-Saclay, France
- Maya Sleiman, Université Paris-Saclay – KALYSTA, France
- Katarina Josić, LNE/LURPA/CETIM, France
- Kristina Savevska, Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia
- Prof. Rodrigue Imad, University of Balamand, Lebanon Lab – STICC, France
As robotic systems increasingly transition from isolated industrial settings to unstructured human-centric environments, ensuring operational safety requires a holistic approach that transcends traditional boundaries between hardware and software, especially with the new dynamic robots. This workshop bridges the critical gap between compliant actuation, safe software architecture and safe robot learning, exploring how physical interaction capabilities: whether driven by hydraulic/electro-hydraulic units, torque-controlled electric motors, or other types of actuators, can be rigorously integrated into robust system frameworks. By converging perspectives on linear, nonlinear and AI-based control strategies, fault tolerance, real-time control architectures, robot learning, and safe physical human robot interaction, we aim to address the fundamental challenge of guaranteeing reliability during contact-rich tasks, ultimately providing a roadmap for designing the next generation of robots that are safe by design, from the actuator dynamics up to the intelligence layer.
List of Topics
- Safe reinforcement learning
- AI-based control strategies
- Safety-critical software architectures
- Handling non-linearities in robot joint control
- Safe Physical Human–Robot Interaction (pHRI)
- Control strategies for active and hybrid compliance
- Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR) in robots
- Formal verification and validation of robot control software
- Stability guarantees in coupled, contact-rich environments
- Sensorless force estimation and proprioception for interaction
- ROS2-based robot software
The Keynote Speakers
- Johannes Englsberger, CEO, Versatile Robotics GmbH & DLR, Germany
- Lorenzo Natale, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy
- Serena Ivadi, INRIA, France
- Isiru Godage, Texas A&M University, USA
- Fabio Puglia, Founder & President, Oversonic Robotics
Organizers
- Sheriff Oyeranmi, Université Paris-Saclay, France
- Maysoon Ghandour, Université Paris-Saclay, France
- Chinonyelum Okereafor, Texas A&M University, USA
- Carlo Alessi, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy
- Mohammed Elobaid, King Abdullah University of Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
- Francesco Semararo, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy
Robotic systems are moving beyond structured industrial environments into open, human-centered, and physically dynamic spaces. To operate reliably in these settings, next-generation robots must do more than perceive, plan, or control in isolation. They must integrate cognition, multimodal sensing, and embodied action into a unified intelligence stack. This workshop focuses on the convergence of three pillars of future robotics: cognitive intelligence for reasoning, planning, memory, and decision-making; sensing intelligence for multimodal perception, proprioception, tactile understanding, and real-time scene interpretation; and embodied intelligence for learning, control, interaction, and physical adaptation. By bringing together researchers working on robot learning, perception, control, human–robot interaction, foundation models, embodied AI, and robotic system integration, the workshop aims to identify the core principles, architectures, and evaluation methods needed to build robots that can understand the world, act through their bodies, and adapt safely in real-world environments.
List of Topics
- Cognitive architectures for autonomous and interactive robots
- Robot reasoning, task planning, memory, and decision-making
- Foundation models, world models, vision-language-action models, and robot policy models
- Knowledge representation, semantic mapping, and scene understanding
- Multimodal sensor fusion for robotics
- Visual, tactile, auditory, force, torque, inertial, and proprioceptive perception
- Active perception and sensorimotor exploration
- Embodied AI and sensorimotor learning
- Imitation learning, reinforcement learning, and self-supervised learning for robots
- Human–robot interaction, shared autonomy, and safety-aware embodied decision-making
Information about the keynote speakers and organizers is available on the workshop website.
As entertainment technologies increasingly evolve from screen-based and software-centered systems toward interactive, intelligent, and embodied experiences, new opportunities are emerging at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, mechatronics, and creative practice. This workshop explores how AI-driven methods, interactive systems, sensing technologies, and physically situated machines are reshaping the creation, performance, and perception of entertainment experiences. Particular attention is given to systems that combine computation, embodiment, interaction, and human creativity, including intelligent musical systems, sound and motion generation, immersive media, interactive installations, expressive robots, and autonomous performative platforms. By bringing together researchers, engineers, artists, designers, and practitioners, the workshop aims to provide an open forum for discussing both technical advances and experimental creative practices. Rather than focusing only on finalized research outcomes, it welcomes early-stage ideas, prototypes, interactive demonstrations, instruments, devices, and ongoing projects. Through cross-disciplinary exchange, the workshop seeks to advance a broader understanding of how intelligent and embodied systems can contribute to the future of entertainment, creativity, and human-centered interactive experience.
List of Topics
- Human–machine interaction in entertainment and creative contexts
- Embodied, gestural, and sensor-based interaction with sound, motion, and visuals
- Entertainment robotics and physically situated interactive systems
- Robotic performance, expressive motion, and autonomous performative agents
- Intelligent instruments, devices, and interactive artifacts
- AI-assisted content creation, performance, and experience design
- Generative models for sound, music, movement, visuals, and behavior
- Interactive audio-visual systems, immersive media, and live systems
- Games, playable systems, and interactive installations
- Artistic and practice-based research in entertainment technologies
- Human–AI co-creativity in entertainment and creative practice
- Ethical, social, and cultural implications of intelligent entertainment systems
- Impacts of AI, robotics, and interactive technologies on creative practice and education
Information about the keynote speakers and organizers is available on the workshop website.
Robots are increasingly entering domains that demand not only physical competence, but sensitivity to human cognition, behavior, and variability. In settings ranging from clinical and social interaction to rehabilitation and assistive mobility, intelligence is not solely a matter of perception and control, but emerges through embodied interaction between robot and human. This special session brings together perspectives from social robotics, neuroscience-informed human–robot interaction, and embodied adaptive systems to explore how social and motor intelligence co-evolve in interactive robots.
Contributions will examine robots as experimental probes of human behavior and cognition, including social coordination and psychiatric conditions; principles of embodied learning and adaptation in contact-rich interaction; and neuro-inspired approaches to assistive and rehabilitative robotics grounded in human motor organization. Across these domains, the session highlights a unifying theme: intelligent behavior arises from structure in bodies, brains, and environments, and from the continuous loop between action and perception in interaction.
By bridging social cognition and motor control within a shared embodied framework, this session aims to foster dialogue between robotics and neuroscience communities. It invites new paradigms for designing robots that do not merely act on people, but move with them—co-adapting in ways that are socially aware, physically supportive, and fundamentally human-centered.
List of Topics
- Social robotics and embodied human–robot interaction
- Motor intelligence and adaptive robot control
- Robot-assisted rehabilitation and assistive robotics
- Human motor behavior, coordination, and variability in robot interaction
- Neuroscience-informed models for robotic interaction and assistance
- Embodied learning and adaptation in contact-rich human–robot interaction
- Robots as experimental platforms for studying human cognition and behavior
- Socially aware, physically supportive, and human-centered robot design
Information about the keynote speakers and organizers is available on the workshop website.