Keynotes and special sessions

Cyborg Insects: Developing Biohybrid Robots from Living Insects for Search-and-Rescue Missions

Abstract

Search-and-rescue operations often involve confined, cluttered, and unpredictable environments where conventional robots face challenges in mobility, accessibility, and energy efficiency. Living insects, with their remarkable locomotion capabilities and ability to navigate complex terrain, offer a promising alternative. By integrating miniature electronics with living insects, we can develop biohybrid robots that combine biological mobility with engineered sensing, communication, and control. In this talk, I will present our recent advances in developing cyborg insects for search-and-rescue applications, including electrically controlled beetles and cockroaches capable of navigating challenging terrain. I will also introduce Paraborg, a biohybrid robotic platform that combines camera-equipped and injector-equipped cyborg cockroaches to explore the potential for locating survivors and delivering emergency medical assistance. Beyond these demonstrations, I will discuss the challenges of reliable locomotion control, autonomous navigation, system integration, and real-world deployment. Importantly, cyborg insects also provide experimental platforms for understanding biological locomotion, sensing, and control, generating insights that can accelerate the development of fully artificial robotic systems. Our long-term vision is to develop teams of specialised cyborg insects that can support human rescuers in disaster-response missions while advancing the next generation of small-scale autonomous robots.

Bio

Dr T. Thang Vo-Doan is a Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, where he leads the UQ Biorobotics Lab. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, in 2016. Before joining UQ in 2023, he was a Research Fellow at NTU and a Human Frontier Science Program Cross-Disciplinary Fellow at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He was recently awarded a 2026 Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship for his project, Next-Gen Cyborg Insects: From Neuromechanics to Real-World Navigation. His research spans cyborg insects, biohybrid robotics, insect biomechanics, bioinspired robotics, insect tracking, and smart insect traps. His team develops technologies that combine living insects with miniature electronics for controlled locomotion, sensing, navigation, and physical interaction, alongside advanced insect-tracking systems and intelligent trapping technologies for insect monitoring and research. His recent work includes cyborg beetles capable of on-demand climbing and cyborg cockroaches developed for search-and-rescue and emergency medical assistance. His long-term goal is to advance biohybrid robotic systems for real-world applications while translating insights from insect locomotion, sensing, and behaviour into the development of fully artificial robotic systems. His research has been published in leading journals, including Science Robotics, and featured by international media outlets such as CNN, Reuters, and IEEE Spectrum.

High-performance Soft Pneumatic Actuation

Abstract

Soft robots require actuators that combine compliance with high force, large deformation, and controllability. This talk presents vacuum-based soft actuation strategies that exploit pressure differentials, structural design, and material integration to achieve versatile robotic motion. Vacuum-based artificial muscles provide large contraction and high payload capacity, while hyperbaric designs combine positive and negative pressure to further enhance force, displacement, and control. The talk also explores thermo-pneumatic actuation and its integration with shape-memory alloys, enabling synergistic, multifunctional, and antagonistic actuation modes. This is followed by a presentation on the utilization of the nonlinear properties of buckling and unbuckling inflatable tubes for producing soft robotic systems, and of inflatable soft robotic arms. Together, these approaches illustrate how pneumatic architectures and active materials can be co-designed to expand the performance and functionality of soft robotic systems.

Bio

Hugo Rodrigue was born in Montreal, Canada. He received his B.Eng. degree in mechanical engineering from McGill University in 2008 and his Ph.D. degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Seoul National University in 2015. Since 2016, he has been an Associate Professor with the School of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests include soft robots and actuators, soft optical waveguides, and hybrid soft/rigid structures.

Dr. Rodrigue serves as Vice President of the IEEE RAS Technical Activities Board, as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Soft Robotics, will serve as General Chair of RoboSoft in 2027 and as Program Chair of IROS in 2030. He was previously co-chair of the IEEE RAS technical committee on soft robotics.

How do you know a robot is ready for a disaster? Adam Jacoff has spent his career answering that question. At NIST, he leads the development of standard test methods for response robots. Responders, manufacturers, and researchers use these methods to measure mobility, manipulation, sensing, and operator proficiency on common ground.

This workshop introduces the current suite of test methods for ground and aerial robots. It shows how the methods support procurement decisions, training, and competitions. Attendees will learn how to bring these test methods into their own labs and use them as reproducible benchmarks in their published work.

Come ready to discuss which capabilities responders need measured next.

Rescue robotics began in rubble. Robin Murphy brought robots to the World Trade Center in 2001. Satoshi Tadokoro turned the lessons of the 1995 Kobe earthquake into a national research agenda, and later helped bring robots into the Fukushima Daiichi response. Between them, they have shaped the field from its first deployments to today’s standards, competitions, and programs.

In this conversation, Murphy and Tadokoro look back on what worked in the field, what failed, and what the community still gets wrong. They then turn to what comes next. What will it take for AI-enabled, multi-robot systems to earn the trust of responders?

Bring your questions.

Talk title, abstract and bio coming soon.