Welcome to the 4^th Workshop on Proximity Perception in Robotics at IROS 2021:
Increasing Safety for Human-Robot Interaction using Tactile and Proximity Perception

Starting 27th of September, IROS 2021

Multi-Modal Prosthetic Hand
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

GelSight Sensor
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

 

One-Shot Haptic Object Recognition

Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier (LIRMM)

 

 

 

Model-Based Sensor Fusion for Soft Robotics

Inria

 

 

 

Proximity Sensing Cuffs

Chemnitz University of Technology

 

 

 

Collaborative human-robot work cell
JOANNEUM RESEARCH ROBOTICS (JR ROBOTICS)

3D Ultrasound Sensor
University of Antwerp

 

 

Multi-Modal Perception for HRC Gripper

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

 

 

 

 

 

Touch-Sensitive Prostate Phantom with Model-based Sensing
(Inria and University of Lille)

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In the 4^th workshop we want to focus on the open questions on safety-related applications involving proximity and tactile systems and sim-to-real learning, respectively. We have therefore put together a program of speakers with expertise in these areas. Our speakers from industry are able to provide first-hand accounts of the procedures for certifying and deploying proximity and tactile perception technologies on real robotic systems. They will also provide valuable insights about the challenges found in this domain in general. Our speakers from research provide expertise in cutting edge proximity and tactile perception technology and their applications. This includes approaches for sensor simulation and HRI using these sensors. As a result, the workshop continues to bridge between research and industry as well as between the communities of proximity and tactile perception. Once again, we will feature an extensive demo -session that will anchor these concepts to concrete hardware already available today.

As in the previous editions, we will feature a Panel Discussion for an organized exchange between the workshop participants and an extensive Demo Session that will relate these ideas to concrete hardware already available today. In addition, we provide a platform for PhD students to present their work in the field to a broader audience.

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The goals of the workshop can be summarized as follows:

• Continue to foster the community of roboticists and hardware developers working in this domain
  • Feature technologies with various measurement principles such as optical, acoustic, capacitive, radar etc.
  • Show current technologies in the Demo Session
• Provide insights in current research and industry on safety applications
  • Discuss the benefits in safety with proximity and tactile perception.
  • Elaborate the requirements for certification and deployment of such systems.
• Let experts in multi-modal perception and HRI give an account of their experience, to help motivate novel approaches for proximity perception in robotics. 
  • Identify requirements on the technology of proximity sensors for such approaches.
• Continue to bridge to industry via invited industrial talks and demos
  • Let leading industry experts provide insights on how current technologies can be part of products and commercial solutions in the future.
  • Offer a point of contact between industrial partners and researchers
• Offer PhD-students a forum for their work through short talks, posters and demos
• Promote scientific collaborations between the participants of the workshop

Support

We are grateful for the support of the following organizations:

- IEEE RAS Technical Committee Robotic Hands, Grasping and Manipulation (Homepage)

- IEEE RAS Technical Committee Human-Robot Interaction and Coordination (Homepage)

- IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Haptics (Homepage)

Invited Speakers

Prof. Hubert Zangl

University of Klagenfurt, Austria

Real Time Simulation of Proximity Perception Sensors towards Sensors System Design and Sim2Real Applications

Prof. Shinichi Hirai

Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Fabric-based Proximity/Contact Sensors with Application to Variable Stiffness Links

Prof. Gordon Cheng

Technical University of Munich, Germany

Rich robot interactions with large area e-skin

Prof. Lorenzo Jamone

Queen Mary University of London, UK

Tactile Sensing for Robotic Manipulation based on Soft Materials and Magnetism

Dr. Katherine J. Kuchenbecker

Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany

Broad Sensing of Tactile Events Supports Social-Physical HRI

Prof. Choi Hyouk Ryeol

Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

Flexible Dual-mode Tactile and Proximity sensor for safe human robot physical interaction (pHRI)

Prof. Danica Kragic

Royal Insitute of Technology, Sweden

Perceptual learning for interaction

Prof. Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio

Yale University, US                   

Integrated sensing in soft robots with adaptive morphology.

Dr. Kirill Safronov

KUKA Deutschland GmbH, Germany

Application of Machine Learning-based Technologies for Bin-Picking Automation

Thomas Pilz

Pilz GmbH, Germany                 

Safety is the key for proximity

Dr. Peter Heiligensetzer

MRK-Systeme GmbH, Germany

Safe human-robot collaboration in the industrial sector by using capacitive proximity sensors

Prof. Zackory Erickson

Carnegie Mellon University, US

Capacitive Servoing for Physically Assistive Robotics

Invited Speakers

On-Demand Material and Live Session

This year's IROS will feature a 2h live session of the workshop during the regular conference program. Apart from the live session, pre-recorded talks of our invited speakers will be available as on-demand material. If you are interested, feel free to participate as audience during the pre-recordings. The link to participate will be anounced here on this page once the dates are determined.

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Live Session:

The live session will take place on September, 27th 2 pm - 4 pm CEST (Central European Summer Time) and will feature:

• A panel discussion with the invited speakers
• Paper presentations and demos

Pre-Recordings:

On-Demand Material:

• Grouped talks of invited speakers
• PhD Forum

Watch the pre-recorded talks of the workshop.

Youtube Playlist: [Click Here]

Session A:

Session B:

Session C:

Session D:

Session E:

Session PhD Forum:

Call for Papers

to download the official Call for Paper as PDF file.

Note: New submission deadline is August 20th, 2021.

Paper Submission

Submission of a paper with a minimum length of 2 pages and maximum 3 pages. Novel ideas/experimental results are required for acceptance of the paper.

PhD Forum Proposal

If you want to participate in the PhD forum, please provide an 1 page abstract of your talk as proposal.

Submission

[Click here] to download the LaTex-Template (IEEE template with marking for the workshop).

All submissions will be reviewed using a single-blind review process. Please provide your submission as PDF to:

iros2021-workshop [at] joanneum.at

Accepted contributions will be published at the open access repository KITopen under the Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND).

Topics of Interest

• Proximity Sensors
• Multi-Modal Sensors (tactile, shear, vision, etc.)
• Robotic Skins (architectures)
• Bridging from Tactile to Proximity Perception
• Bio-Inspired Robotics
• Multi-Modal Sensors for Soft Robotics
• Applications:
  • Human-Robot Interaction
  • Human-Robot Collaboration
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Multi-Modal Control
  • Teleoperation with Proximity Sensing
  • Prosthetics
  • Assistive Robots
  • Preshaping ans Grasping
  • Haptic Exploration
  • Intuititve Robot Programming
  • Human-Robot Interface

Kaspar Althoefer

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), London, United Kingdom

Christian Schöffmann

University of Klagenfurt, AAU, Austria

Barnaba Ubezio

JOANNEUM RESEARCH ROBOTICS, Austria

Yitao Ding

Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany

Lisa-Marie Faller

Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria

Stefan Escaida Navarro

Inria Lille - Nord Europe, France

Jan Steckel

University of Antwerp

Ulrike Thomas

Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany

Björn Hein

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Germany

 

Hosam Alagi

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
Germany