Insect-scale Autonomy Workshop

What principles, algorithms, and system designs enable reliable autonomy when resources are tightly constrained?

Full-day Invited talks + posters/demos + panel Best Poster/Demo Award

Quick info

Focus: Bio-inspired, resource-constrained Autonomy across perception, design, control, and edge AI.

Venue: IROS 2026 (Pittsburgh)

Date: Oct 1, 2026 (Full Day Workshop)

Time: 8:30 AM — 5.30 PM

Submission deadline: Aug 24, 2026, 11:59 PM AoE

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Overview

Advances in robotics have made it possible to build increasingly small and agile systems, but true autonomy at insect-scale remains constrained by sensing, computation, power, actuation, and packaging. This workshop focuses on identifying principles, algorithms, and system designs that enable reliable autonomy under tight resource limits.

Focus Area

  • Resource-aware perception and learning A. Resource-aware perception and learning

  • Mechanics, actuation, design, and control B. Mechanics/actuation/design with control

  • On-board compute, edge AI hardware, and deployment C. On-board compute, edge AI hardware, and deployment

Format

The workshop will feature invited keynotes, contributed spotlight presentations, posters, and a panel on evaluation practices, benchmarks, and autonomy targets.

All accepted Paper Track submissions will be presented as posters. A subset of accepted papers will also be selected for short spotlight presentations during the workshop. A Best Paper Award will be presented. A Best Poster Award may also be presented, subject to the number and quality of eligible contributions.

Contact

Correspondence: Chahat Singh and Kaushik Jayaram.