Insect-scale Autonomy IROS 2026 Workshop · Pittsburgh · Oct 1, 2026
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Workshop Sessions

The workshop program is structured around three focus areas:

  • Session A — Perception for Insect-Scale Robots
  • Session B — Robot Design, Actuation, and Sensing at Insect Scale
  • Session C — Edge AI for Insect-Scale Autonomy

Workshop Schedule

October 1, 2026 · Pittsburgh local time (ET)
Room location: Room 334
TimeItemNotes
08:30–08:40IntroductionWelcome and workshop overview
08:40–09:15Keynote 1: Yiannis AloimonosPurposive Memory and Purposive Perception: A key to insect-scale autonomy
09:15–09:50Keynote 2: Frances ChanceThe Computer Bug You Want: Insect-Inspired Neuromorphic Primitives for Energy-Efficient Computation
09:50–10:20Contributed Talks — 1
5 papers · 5 minutes each · Q&A during poster session
  1. #11: Rethinking Warping for Optical Flow on Edge Accelerators
  2. #12: Hold, Don't Hallucinate: Structured Visual Heading
  3. #7: Five Bits of Direction: Event-Based Course Sensing for Trajectory Recovery
  4. #14: How Many Bits Does a Swarm Need? Adaptive-Precision Task Allocation for Resource-Constrained Robots
  5. #15: How Much Route Fits in 3.2 kB? Capacity Limits of Quantized Kenyon-Cell Familiarity
10:20–10:50Coffee Break + Poster SessionAccepted papers/posters outside the conference room
10:50–11:40Rising Star Talks
20 minutes per speaker, including Q&A
  1. Elia Cereda: Closing the Loop at Insect Scale: Lessons from Performance-optimized Software Architectures for Nano-UAVs
  2. Gabriel Gattaux: How Insect Brains Inspire Frugal Autonomous Navigation
11:40–12:15Keynote 3: Sawyer FullerEmbodied Intelligence in Insect Robotics
12:15–13:30Lunch + Early-Career Research and Career DiscussionResearch ideas, career guidance, and networking
13:30–14:05Keynote 4: Sarah BergbreiterEvent-based mechanosensing for insect-scale autonomy
14:05–14:30Industry Talk 1: Geoffrey Barrows (Centeye)What can you do with a few thousand pixels?
14:30–15:05Keynote 5: Sean HumbertSensing What Matters: Embodied Control for Agile Autonomous Systems
15:05–15:40Contributed Talks — 2
6 papers · 5 minutes each · Q&A during poster session
  1. #4: Let it Cook: Learning to Wait in Sequential Decision Making
  2. #3: Design, Modeling and Control of Quad-thopter with Thrust Vectoring Mechanism for Omnidirectional Flapping Flight
  3. #10: Fold-to-Fit: Propeller Interaction and Control of a Coaxial-Bicopter Quadrotor
  4. #9: New SemiDefinite Programs for the Mode Sensing Hypothesis
  5. #5: Distributed Strain Sensing for Disturbance Rejection in Quadrotor Attitude Control
  6. #8: Bio-Inspired Direct Jerk Measurement and Feedback for Quadrotor Roll Control
15:40–16:20Coffee Break + Poster SessionAccepted papers/posters outside the conference room
16:20–16:30Break
16:30–17:15Panel Discussion: Enabling Autonomy at Insect ScalePanelists: Frances Chance, Yiannis Aloimonos, Geoffrey Barrows, and Sean Humbert.
Roadmap discussion and audience Q&A.
17:15–17:25Awards and Community Perspective PaperOne Best Paper Award, one Best Poster Award, and post-workshop next steps
17:25–17:35Closing remarksSummary and acknowledgments
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