Abstract

"ICRA", the flagship conference of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the world’s largest robotics conference, offers a unique window into the ideas and technologies shaping the future of robotics. In this seminar, I will share my personal highlights and reflections from ICRA 2026, focusing on the emerging frontiers that are redefining how robots perceive, learn, reason, collaborate, and act. Beyond presenting technical developments, the seminar will explore the broader questions raised by these advances: How close are we to Bill Gate's Vision "A robot in every home"? What role will foundation models and learning-based methods play? How can robotics address societal challenges while remaining safe, trustworthy, and accessible?

About the Speaker

Dr. Ramy Rashad is an Assistant Professor in the CIE Department and Head of the Autonomous Robotic Manipulation for Logistics (ARM4L) Lab at IRC-SML. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in 2013 and Master’s Degree in 2015 from the German University in Cairo and his Ph.D. from the University of Twente (UTwente), The Netherlands in 2021. He worked for three years as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Robotics and Mechatronics Lab at UTwente and was a finalist for the George Giralt PhD Award (2022). His research interests include geometric modelling, simulation and control of aerial manipulators, and port-Hamiltonian systems theory in general.