ICRA2024 Workshop on Bio-inspired Robotics and Robotics for Biology, May 13 2024, Yokohama, Japan

(Room North G5)

Workshop Overview

Over half a billion years of evolution, animals evolved remarkable adaptations for locomotion in complex three-dimensional environments. For centuries, engineers have turned to these biological systems to seek inspiration for constructing functional, flexible, and efficient robotics. In the past decades, biologically inspired robotics has matured into a significant branch of robotics. Recently, biologists and interdisciplinary teams are using robots as viable testbeds to explore and evaluate hypotheses in animal behavior. This strategy offers a suitable alternative to traditional biological methods, which have several limitations, including the feasibility to minimize confounding influences and isolate effects, the effects of the experiment and the experimenter on the study animal, and other limitations imposed by the behavior of the animals, etc. This workshop aims to bringing latest results in bio-inspired robots and expand their applications in biological studies from individual locomotion to collective behavior. Current studies on bio-inspired robots are evolving due to a deeper understanding of biological principles. In return, these bio-inspired robotics are providing the perfect platform for biologists to better understand biological phenomena.

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Speakers

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Talia Moore

University of Michigan

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Heiko Hamann

University of Konstanz

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Shuguang Li

Tsinghua University

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Li Wen

Beihang University

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Guangming Xie

Peking University

Registration

We invite submissions on late-breaking research at the intersection of robotics and biology.

Some of the topics of interest include:

- Bio-inspired flying robots and their applications in biology
- Bio-inspired territory robots and their applications in biology
- Bio-inspired underwater robots and their applications in biology
- Bio-inspired sensing and locomotion control in robotics and animals
- Swarm robotics and their applications in biology

Submissions should take the form of 1-page extended abstracts. Contributions can encompass novel ongoing work, recently published research, or collaborative and/or large-scale projects.

Accepted submissions will have the opportunity to deliver a spotlight talk and present a poster. Please note that these submissions will not be published, shared, or archived.

Final submission deadline: Within a rolling 5-business-day period until May 1, 2024 (23:59:59 PST)

Submission link: https://forms.gle/eQnWgLdT6Q3RE1gB9

Outstanding submissions will be awarded robot cars as prizes and recommended for the upcoming special issue, "RoboTwin: Reciprocal Insights between Biology and Robotics," in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.

Program and Schedule

Time Chair Speaker Title
08:20-08:30 Opening
08:30-09:00 Steven Ceron Talia Moore A Symbiotic Philosophy for Bio-Inspired Robotics
09:00-09:30 Steven Ceron Shuguang Li Swarm Robotics Inspired by Collective Cell Migration
09:30-10:00 Steven Ceron Sasha Rayshubskiy The Fruit Fly, Drosophila Melanogaster, as a Micro-robotics Platform
10:00-10:30 Coffee Break (Poster Session 1)
10:30-11:00 Heiko Hamann Cecilia Laschi From Marine Species to Soft Robotics, and Back: the Case of Soft Benthic Robots
11:00-11:30 Heiko Hamann Dario Floreano Perching Like a Hawk: What Avian-informed Drones can Tell us about Avian Flight Manoeuvres
11:30-12:00 Heiko Hamann Li Wen Octopus-inspired Sensorized Soft Arm for Environmental Interaction
12:00-12:10 Liang Li Xingwen Zheng From Schooling Pufferfish in Nature to Swimming Pufferfish Robots and Back: Lateral Lines-Based Location and Orientation Perceptions Among Schooling Fish
12:10-12:20 Liang Li Zhendong Dai Biomimetic on Gecko Locomotion: from Biology to Application
12:20-12:30 Liang Li Dixia Fan Sea Guru-I, the Bio-Inspired Deep-Sea Robot From Laboratory Tests to Dives at 2000m
12:30-13:30 Lunch Break
13:30-14:00 Andreagiovanni Reina Ardian Jusufi Soft PaleoRobotics - Tail Fin Shape Change for Pitch Control During Swimming
14:00-14:30 Andreagiovanni Reina Guangming Xie TBD
14:30-15:00 Andreagiovanni Reina Auke Ijspeert Investigating Animal Locomotion Using Biorobots and Neuromechanical Simulations
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break (Poster Session 2)
15:30-16:00 Wei Wang Robert Katzschmann Musculoskeletal Biohybrid Robots: From Swimmers to Legged Creatures
16:00-16:30 Wei Wang Kevin Chen Agile and Robust Micro-aerial-robot Powered by Soft Artificial Muscles
16:30-16:40 Jonas Kuckling Maya Dagher Investigating the Coevolution of Cooperative Swimming with Robotic Fish
16:40-16:50 Jonas Kuckling Nathan Lepora Dexterous Biomimetic Tactile Robots
16:50-17:00 Jonas Kuckling Tony G. Chen TadBot: A Tadpole-Mimic Robot for Studying Poison Frog Parental Investment
17:00-17:20 Closing & Award

Organizers

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Liang Li

MPI-AB & University of Konstanz

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Wei Wang

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Steven Ceron

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Daniela L. Rus

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Heiko Hamann

University of Konstanz

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Andreagiovanni Reina

University of Konstanz

Contact

If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact:
Liang Li <lli@ab.mpg.de> or Wei Wang <wweiwang@mit.edu>

Sponsors