IROS

IROS
Name	IROS
Status	Active
Frequency	Annual
Discipline	Robotics
First	1988
Organizer	Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Robotics Society of Japan; other sponsors

IROS is a major annual international conference devoted to robotics, automation, and intelligent systems. It brings together researchers, engineers, and industrial practitioners from academia, industry, and government to present advances in robotic perception, control, planning, and human-robot interaction. The meeting serves as a hub for cross-disciplinary exchange among participants associated with leading institutions, laboratories, and companies worldwide.

Overview

The conference draws submissions and attendees from institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Tokyo, and ETH Zurich, along with industrial laboratories from Google, Amazon, Microsoft Research, Boston Dynamics, and ABB. Sessions typically include oral presentations, poster sessions, plenary talks, workshops, and tutorials featuring contributors from NASA, European Space Agency, Toyota Research Institute, Honda Research Institute, and Siemens. Proceedings are indexed alongside venues such as IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation and Robotics: Science and Systems and are often cited by authors affiliated with California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

History and Development

The meeting originated in the late 1980s amid parallel developments at organizations including IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the Robotics Society of Japan. Early editions featured work from labs like MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and corporate research groups such as Bell Labs and IBM Research. Over subsequent decades the program expanded to include topics pioneered by teams from Honda, Nissan, Sony, and university groups at University of Cambridge and Imperial College London. Milestones in the conference’s evolution reflect breakthroughs associated with projects at DARPA challenges, collaborations involving European Commission-funded consortia, and innovations driven by startups emerging from Silicon Valley and Shenzhen.

Conferences and Publications

Proceedings are published in IEEE-sponsored series and frequently cross-cited with articles in journals like The International Journal of Robotics Research, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, and Science Robotics. Special issues and edited volumes often collect extended versions from keynote speakers affiliated with Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Oxford, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Michigan. Workshops have partnered with initiatives from OpenAI, DeepMind, Facebook AI Research, and standards efforts by International Organization for Standardization committees in robotics. Archive collections include contributions from conference locations hosted in cities such as Kyoto, Vancouver, Stockholm, Singapore, and Lisbon.

Technical Topics and Research Areas

Core themes encompass perception and sensing methods developed at California Institute of Technology, motion planning inspired by work at ETH Zurich, manipulation strategies explored at Carnegie Mellon University, and field robotics exemplified by teams from NASA JPL and University of Colorado Boulder. Research spans machine learning integration promoted by University of Toronto and University College London, control theory linked to studies at Cornell University and Purdue University, and human-robot interaction advanced by groups at University of Southern California and University of Washington. Additional focus areas include multi-robot coordination investigated at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, soft robotics from Harvard Wyss Institute, aerial robotics tied to AeroVironment collaborations, medical robotics associated with Johns Hopkins University and Mayo Clinic, and ethical or regulatory discussions influenced by panels including World Economic Forum contributors.

Notable Contributions and Awards

Influential papers first presented at the conference have been foundational for algorithms used by companies like Intuitive Surgical, iRobot, and KUKA. Awardees have included researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, ETH Zurich, University of Tokyo, and Tsinghua University receiving best-paper and career awards often recognized alongside honors from IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and ACM. Landmark demonstrations have showcased advances in autonomous driving tested with partners such as Uber ATG and Waymo, manipulation advances later integrated into products by Toyota, and humanoid platforms influenced by work at Honda and Boston Dynamics.

Organization and Governance

Steering committees typically include representatives from academic institutions like University of California, San Diego and National University of Singapore, professional societies including IEEE, regional hosts such as Robotics Society of Japan, and industry liaisons from Siemens and Bosch. Program committees select papers through peer review drawing reviewers from EPFL, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tsinghua University, KAIST, and other leading centers. Local organizing committees coordinate logistics with municipal partners when hosted in cities like Tokyo, Daejeon, Montreal, Seoul, and Zurich.

Category:Robotics conferences