Over the past decade, soft material robotics has established itself as an important research topic, as evidenced by the surge of publications in journals, such as “Soft Robotics” and dedicated sessions at major robotics conferences, i.e., ICRA/IROS. Applications of soft robotics have included areas in industry and agriculture and have expanded into healthcare, education, and exploration. One key advantage of soft robots over traditional rigid robots is the inherently safe characteristics, resulting from the inherently soft materials they are made of, in particular when collaborating closely with humans. Applications of soft robots are thus often in areas beyond classical automation, cycle time reduction and profit maximization through their rigid counterparts. This IROS 2022 workshop will identify current applications of soft robotic systems and highlight opportunities of soft robots shaping a symbiotic society and a better world of tomorrow. Exciting presentations on the basics of ethics in robotics, the empowerment of young researchers from underrepresented backgrounds in science and the importance of technical education for children will form the basis for the following technical presentations by renowned researchers and their soft robots for humanity with a panel discussion moderated and streamed by the Soft Robotics Debate.

We are calling for contributions to our IROS 2022 workshop. We would like to invite the attendees to submit their extended abstract presenting their soft robotics work. The accepted contributions are asked to prepare a short presentation that will be held during the workshop. The workshop, planned as a hybrid event, will allow submissions and presentations to be made both by people at the conference and remotely. The best contribution will be awarded a certificate.

Paper submission guidelines

• The submitted contributions will go through a single-blind review process.
• The authors of the accepted contributions will have the opportunity to present their work in the contributed paper session at the workshop and online.
• Call for contributions is open to both in-person and online attendees.
• Please submit your extended abstract (min 2 pages, max 4 pages in IEEE paper format) by sending an email to: spp2100@match.uni-hannover.de
• The subject of the email should be: [IROS 2022 – Name and Surname of the Contact Author]
• Deadline for submissions is the 09.09.2022.

Please note that the accepted extended abstracts in this workshop will not be published in the conference proceeding.

Scholarships for young researchers from underrepresented backgrounds

Gender equality, and support for young scientists from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, is of particular importance to us. Therefore, we invite all young researchers worldwide to apply for one of five scholarships covering travel expenses and costs for accommodation for the entire time of the conference. Please send us your CV and a motivation letter outlining your current relationship with soft robotics topics, your experience in the field, and your career goals. Deadline for submissions is the 09th of August 2022.
For questions, please contact the coordination team ( spp2100@match.uni-hannover.de).