Session Ⅰ: Embodied Human-Robot Interaction and Collaborative Manipulation
Chair: Dr. Xiuze Xia, Ocean University of China, China
Co-chairs: Reader Yanan Li, University of Sussex, UK
Assoc. Researcher Houcheng Li, Institute of Automation，Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Senior Lecturer Ildar Farkhatdinov, King's College London, UK
Session Information:
As embodied intelligence advances toward deeper integration of humans, robots, and environments, understanding human intentions and enabling safe and efficient human–robot collaboration have become important frontiers in robotics research. This session focuses on technologies for embodied human-robot interaction and collaborative operation, targeting researchers and engineers in wearable robotics, multimodal perception for human-robot interaction, embodied manipulation, and related fields. It will highlight recent advances in exoskeleton robots, human intention recognition, embodied human-robot interaction, and safe human-robot interaction, with the aim of promoting new human-centered theories, methods, and applications for shared embodied intelligence.
Below is an incomplete list of potential topics to be covered in the Session:
•Intelligent Wearable Robots
•Multimodal Perception for Human-Robot Interaction
•Embodied Manipulation and Shared Embodied Intelligence
•Safe and Trustworthy Human–Robot Embodied Systems
Session Keywords:
•Human-Robot Interaction
•Wearable Robot
•Human-Robot Interaction Perception
•Embodied Manipulation
•Shared Embodied Intelligence
•VLA Model
•Safe Human-Robot Interaction
•Multimodal Human-Robot Interaction Data
DDL: 2026-09-30
Session Ⅱ: Bioinspired Robot
Chair: Prof. Yichuan Wu, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China
Session Information:
Bionics and soft robotics: one is a mimic of nature, the other a revolutionary of flexibility. We are hosting this small-scale forum precisely to shatter the stereotype of rigid robots and explore the wondrous fusion of biological inspiration and soft materials. Our audience spans bionics researchers, soft-actuator engineers, medical rehabilitation experts, and all geeks obsessed with the technology of "overcoming rigidity with flexibility." Here, we discuss how to find the future form of robotics somewhere between the rigid and the soft.
Session Keywords:
•Bioinspired Robot
•Small Robot
•Soft Robot
Session Ⅲ : Safe Learning and Control for Embodied Human–Robot Interaction
Chair: Assoc. Professor. Yunda Yan, University College London, UK
Co-chairs: Lecturer Zezhi Tang, University College London, UK
Lecturer Chengyuan Liu, Loughborough University, UK
Session Information:
Embodied robots interacting with humans and their environments must adapt to changing tasks while respecting physical and operational constraints. Human behaviour, contact dynamics, perception errors, delays, and external disturbances introduce uncertainties that complicate both learning and control. This special session focuses on combining the adaptability of learning-based methods with explicit safety constraints and rigorous closed-loop analysis from control and optimisation.
The session will bring together researchers in robotics, control, optimisation, and machine learning, with particular emphasis on predictive safety filters, robust control barrier functions, disturbance-aware planning and control, safe compliant interaction, and human-in-the-loop shared autonomy. We welcome theoretical, methodological, and experimental contributions addressing collaborative manipulation, human-following robots, aerial physical interaction, and teleoperation. Submissions are encouraged to specify uncertainty assumptions, safety criteria, computational requirements, and experimental evidence, and to distinguish formal guarantees from empirical safety performance.
Through technical presentations and discussion, the session aims to identify evaluation criteria for safety, robustness, intervention frequency, and task performance, and to highlight open challenges in deploying safe learning and control in real-world embodied interaction.
Below is an incomplete list of potential topics to be covered in the Session:
•Safe reinforcement learning and learning-based control for human–robot interaction
•Model predictive control and predictive safety filters for embodied robots
•Robust and adaptive control barrier functions under disturbances and uncertainty
•Safety-critical compliant, impedance, and admittance control for physical interaction
•Human-in-the-loop shared control and safety-aware command arbitration
•Motion planning and control with perception errors, delays, and visibility constraints
•Disturbance estimation and compensation for safe robotic motion and contact
•Experimental validation and benchmarking of safety, robustness, and task performance in human–robot interaction
Session Keywords:
•Embodied intelligence
•Human–robot interaction
•Safe learning
•Control barrier functions
•Predictive safety filters
•Disturbance rejection
•Safe Human-Robot Interaction
•Shared autonomy