Tutorial on Computational Co-Design for Robotics

IROS 2023 - Oct. 5, Full Day

Organizers: Andrew Spielberg, Gioele Zardini, Andrea Censi, Emilio Frazzoli

About the Workshop

Building robots is the closest humans have come to creating artificial life. Embodied with sensing, action, and reasoning capabilities, robots hold the immense promise of surpassing the abilities of the animal kingdom. However, it is unclear that human designers alone can emulate or exceed life forms that have evolved over billions of years, filling various ecological niches and diverse physical forms. 

This tutorial explores the emerging field of computational robot design—computer-aided or computer-driven workflows that co-design robots by integrating geometry, topology, actuation, sensing, materiality, sensorimotor control, proprioception, and task-planning with higher-level reasoning. 

The tutorial provides participants with an introduction to robot co-design and aims to connect multiple communities to enable the development of composable models, algorithms, fabrication processes, and hardware for embodied intelligence. Accessible to all backgrounds and seniority levels, the tutorial covers various topics of interest to the robotics community, including soft robotics, robot learning, future mobility systems, and more.

This tutorial is intended to be accessible from any background and seniority level and will present applications to a wide array of topics of interest to the robotics community.

This tutorial combines its common themes into a cohesive theory that will be put into practice during an interactive session. Participants will have the opportunity to explore dedicated demos and "learn by doing" through guided exercises.