A bronze medal and Soft Robotics-pioneers at IIT as speakers
The eighth edition of the “RoboSoft” international conference, themed “Interdisciplinarity and Widening Horizons” and sponsored by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, took place at EPFL in Lausanne from April 24th to 26th. The theme of interdisciplinarity and widening of horizons in research and development of advanced robotic technologies was addressed by exploring innovations across the diverse sectors of soft robotics: design, materials, components and control strategies. A diverse array of applications took center stage, including soft manipulators for agriculture, soft robots for environmental monitoring in marine and terrestrial settings, and soft devices for robotic surgery and the creation of artificial organs for personalized diagnostics and treatment.
Nearly 800 attendees from 47 nations spanning six continents confirmed the global interest in “soft” robotics is well established. Since its emergence in the early 2000s, the field maintains a young approach, embracing novel solutions to refine components and system control. Reflecting this commitment, around 40% of participants were students, drawn to the experimental, curiosity-driven, and cross-disciplinary nature of soft robotics.
Among conference attendees were researchers from Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), including principal investigators Barbara Mazzolai and Lucia Beccai. Numerous IIT Alumni, now holding positions as Group Leaders, Associate Professors, and post-docs at prestigious universities both in Italy and internationally – from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa to the University of Freiburg, and extending to Hong Kong and Singapore – also partecipated.
IIT stands as one of the pioneers in soft robotics, with a history of several scientific projects in the field. Initiatives of the past years include the European project OCTOPUS, which studied octopus to design a bio-inspired robot, leading to research in tactile sensors and octopus-like soft arms with suction cups. The Coordination Action RoboSoft initiative aimed to foster a Europe-wide development plan bridging robotics and long-term sustainability. IIT also coordinated the Plantoid project, which resulted in the creation of the world’s first plant robot, and more recently IIT soft robotics groups coordinated other European Future and Emerging Technologies projects, such as GrowBot on robots inspired by climbing plants, and Proboscis, dedicated to understanding the elephant’s trunk. Additionally, the projects I-Seed, funded by the European Innovation Council, and I-Wood, supported by the European Research Council, are advancing knowledge in both the plant kingdom and robotics.
In 2022, IIT co-organized the RoboSoft conference in Edinburgh, introducing the theme of sustainability in robots – “Soft Robots for the Planet” – from design to applications.
This year, the IIT community played key roles at the conference. Lucia Beccai was the Program Chair of the conference, alongside Hugo Rodrigue of Sungkyunkwan University (Seoul, South Korea), and she moderated the focus group on sensing during a workshop.
Barbara Mazzolai delivered a plenary talk titled “Soft Robotics Meets Biodiversity: Nature-Inspired Paths to Innovation.” Her presentation highlighted how biodiversity and natural species can provide efficient and sustainable models for the design and realization of adaptable, efficient, and environmentally friendly soft robots.
Researchers, post-docs, and students also represented the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory led by Mazzolai and the Soft BioRobotics Perception Laboratory led by Beccai: they took on roles as chairs and co-chairs of various sessions and contributed through talks and posters, covering topics such as growing robots, soft manipulation, soft sensing, modeling, and adaptive control.
The team from the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Lab also competed in the manipulation challenge, going head-to-head with nine other teams to grasp small fruits (raspberries) without causing damage. Their score of 180/192, collecting all the fruits with only a minor penalty, secured them a spot on the podium and the bronze medal.
The year 2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the “Embodied Intelligence” concept dating back from Rolf Pfeifer’s book “Understanding Intelligence.” To commemorate this milestone, a celebratory workshop was held on April 27th, featuring key figures who gave pivotal contributions to founding, enhancing, and establishing the concept of Embodied Intelligence, a basic principle for soft robotics. Among the speakers were Giulio Sandini, who participated in one of the event’s panels, and Barbara Mazzolai, who contributed to the second panel on the future of Embodied Intelligence (https://embodied-intelligence.org/25-years-of-embodied-intelligence-2025/).
The next edition of the conference is scheduled for early April 2026 in Kanazawa, Japan.
