World’s leading robotics event to come to the UK
28 April 2023
For the first time ever, the world’s foremost pioneers, inventors and innovators in robotics and automation will come together in London, at the 40th IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2023).
ICRA 2023 – the flagship event in the robotics and automation calendar – will be held from 29 May to 2 June at ExCeL London. It’s set to be the largest-ever gathering of the world's top academics, researchers, and industry representatives in the fields of robotics and automation.
More than 100 organisations that are pushing the boundaries in robotics and automation will showcase the latest robotic technology and equipment, including:
• Boston Dynamics’ Spot
• Furhat’s social robots
• Shadow Robot Company’s next generation robot hands and systems
• Kinova’s new cobots
• CMR Surgical Robotics’ Versius robotic surgical system
• DEEP Robotics new robot dog, Lite 3
The international conference is for anyone working in the field of robotics and automation – and registration is now open.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Embracing the future: Making robots for humans’ with some of the most influential and innovative figures in the world of robotics delivering plenary speeches, including:
• Hugh Herr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: On the Design of Bionic Limbs: The Science of Tissue-Synthetic Interfaces (Tuesday 30 May – 11:00-12:00)
• Jasia Reichardt, British art critic, writer and specialist in the emergence of computer art: In Praise of Strangeness (Wednesday 31 May – 11:00-12:00)
• Marc Raibert, Boston Dynamics AI Institute: Making Robots Smarter in Body and Mind (Thursday 1st June – 11:00-12:00)
Keynote interactive sessions from leading academics from the world’s most renowned universities* will cover a range of topics from Robots for Society, Healthcare Robotics and Morphological Computation to AI in Robotics.
Some of the industry’s most innovative companies including the UK’s Engineered Arts, Hong Kong’s Hanson Robotics and Japan’s ATR Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories will discuss Human-like Robots, with Tortuga AgTech, RightHand Robotics and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology exploring Agrifood Robots.
Kaspar Althoefer, Professor of Robotics Engineering, Head of Centre for Advanced Robotics at Queen Mary University of London and General Chair of ICRA 2023, said: “ICRA 2023 will showcase the latest innovations in robotics technology and research and offers unparalleled access to the industry’s leading minds, technology and research from around the world, all under one roof.”
“The UK is perfectly placed to host the world’s largest-ever ICRA conference. It’s home to some of the world’s leading research hubs and – combined with the government’s ambitions for the UK to be a world-leading ‘science superpower’ – has a unique opportunity to accelerate innovation in robotics.”
Another key feature of the ICRA programme is the competitions for university students from around the world, which include the Autonomous Grand Prix, Humanoid Robot Wrestling, Autonomous Quadruped Challenge and Robot Manipulation & Grasping.
Delegates attending ICRA 2023 will also have the opportunity to visit robot labs at world-leading research universities, including Queen Mary University of London, University College London, Imperial College London, King’s College London, and the University of Oxford.
“In another first for ICRA, remote hubs will live stream the event at universities in low-income countries, to ensure that the global community can participate in this unmissable event.
Helge Wurdemann, Professor and Chair of Robotics at UCL (University College London) and Co-General Chair of ICRA 2023, said: “The rise in robotics and automation technology has never been more relevant.
“Our vision for ICRA 2023 is to demonstrate how robotics and automation can contribute positively to society and work alongside us for the benefit of humankind, driving advancements in healthcare, transportation, agriculture and the environment – and we’re excited to showcase and debate the potential and possibilities that robots can offer for human progress.”
Young people in London are also benefiting through ICRA 2023’s outreach programme with three local London schools, where one in three of students are disadvantaged. The programme aims to inspire the next generation of roboticists and automation engineers –practical sessions with robotic equipment have been held at three academies run by The Harris Foundation.
A number of these students are also being invited to spend a day at ICRA 2023 on Wednesday 31 May, where they will take part in robotics challenges and the Give a Hand workshop, where they’ll assemble prosthetic hands that will ultimately be sent to recipients in low-income countries around the world.
Registration for ICRA 2023 is open to anyone in the robotics and automation field. To register, please click here.
*Universities running keynote sessions include:
Imperial College London
University of Cambridge
The Alan Turing Institute, University of Edinburgh
Delft (Netherlands)
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Italy)
EPFL (Switzerland)
Tennessee
Toronto Mississauga
MIT
Stanford