Call for Papers is open — Deadline: March 21 April 4, 2026 (AoE)
ICRA 2026 · Vienna

Act to Sense to Act Better

1st Workshop on Learning and Representations for Active Perception in Manipulation

Full-day workshop · Monday, 1st of June 2026 · Hall C4 · 8:45 - 17:30

About

Manipulation in unstructured environments demands more than accurate sensing—it requires purposeful interaction to acquire the right information at the right time. Active perception integrates sensing actions into manipulation: reorienting objects to expose features, sweeping a wrist to disambiguate geometry, or applying controlled forces to infer material properties. These strategies are essential for dexterity, enabling robots to adapt grasps, refine motion plans, and cope with uncertainty during execution.

This workshop focuses on three themes:

Invited Speakers

Jeannette Bohg

Jeannette Bohg

Interactive Perception & Robot Learning Lab, Stanford University

Website

Oliver Brock

Oliver Brock

Robotics & Biology Lab, TU Berlin

Website

Katja Dörschner-Boyaci

Katja Dörschner-Boyaci

PACE Lab, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen

Website

Nathan Lepora

Nathan Lepora

University of Bristol / BRL

Website

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay

CSIRO Data61

Website

Mohsen Kaboli

Mohsen Kaboli

RoboTac Lab, TU Eindhoven & BMW Group

Website

Early-Career Speakers

Marina Aoyama

Marina Aoyama

University of Edinburgh

Website

Adrian Röfer

Adrian Röfer

University of Freiburg

Website

Irmak Guzey

Irmak Guzey

New York University

Website

Important Info

  • 📍
    Venue
    ICRA 2026 · Vienna, Austria · Monday, 1st of June, 8:45 - 17:30
  • 🖥️
    Format
    Hybrid: in-person + livestream; talks, spotlights, posters, demos, panel
  • 🏆
    Awards
    Best Paper
  • 📅
    Call for Papers Opens
    February 6, 2026
  • Submission Deadline
    March 21 April 4, 2026 (AoE)
  • 📢
    Notification of Acceptance
    May 1, 2026

Contact

Email the organisers: cristiana.farias@tu-darmstadt.de,

Workshop website: active-perception-workshop.github.io

Workshop Schedule

All sessions will take place on June 1st, 2026. Times are tentative and subject to minor adjustments.

Time Type Session & Speakers
08:45 – 09:00 Intro
Welcome & Introduction
Workshop Organizers
09:00 – 09:15 Early-Career Talk
Marina Aoyama
University of Edinburgh
09:15 – 09:30 Early-Career Talk
Jun Yang
Epson Canada
09:30 – 09:45 Spotlight
Abstracts Spotlight
1-minute presentation per accepted poster (1 slide each)
09:45 – 10:15 Break
Coffee Break & Poster Session
Opportunity to discuss spotlight papers and network
10:15 – 10:45 Invited Talk
Mohsen Kaboli
Active Visuo-Tactile Intelligence for Robotics
10:45 – 11:15 Invited Talk
Oliver Brock
A Programming Language for Interactive Perception and Robust Behavior in the Real World
11:15 – 11:45 Invited Talk
Katja Dörschner-Boyaci
Exploring & perceiving material properties
11:45 – 13:45 Break
Lunch Break
We start lunch early at 11:45 to give everyone a head start finding food around the venue!
13:45 – 14:15 Invited Talk
Nathan Lepora
From active touch to robot dexterity
14:15 – 14:45 Invited Talk
Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay
Application-Driven Active Perception
14:45 – 15:00 Spotlight
Abstracts Spotlight
1-minute presentation per accepted poster (1 slide each)
15:00 – 15:30 Break
Coffee Break & Poster Session
Opportunity to discuss spotlight papers and network
15:30 – 16:00 Invited Talk
Jeannette Bohg
Learning to Look, Probing to Understand: Active Perception via Intervention
16:00 – 16:15 Early-Career Talk
Adrian Röfer
University of Freiburg
16:15 – 16:30 Early-Career Talk
Irmak Guzey
New York University
16:30 – 17:15 Panel
Panel Discussion: Active Perception in the Real World
17:15 – 17:30 Closing
Closing Remarks & Awards
Best paper awards and wrap-up.

Call for Papers

We invite high-quality submissions on all aspects of active perception in robotics, with a particular focus on manipulation and learning.

Topics of Interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Multi-Modal Perception (Tactile, Vision, Sound, etc.)
  • Learning Representations for (inter)Active Perception
  • Uncertainty-Aware Control and Information Gain
  • Active System Identification and State Estimation
  • Re-grasping strategies
  • Active shape estimation

Submission Guidelines

We invite submissions of extended abstracts (up to 2 pages) excluding references. All papers must be in PDF and follow the ICRA double column format.

Templates are available here.

All submissions will undergo a single-blind peer review process (via OpenReview). Accepted papers will be presented at the workshop as posters.

Deadline: March 21 April 4, 2026 (AoE)

Notification: May 1, 2026

00 Days
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Submit via OpenReview

Organisers

Cristiana de Farias

Cristiana de Farias

Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS), TU Darmstadt

Email · Website

Tim Schneider

Tim Schneider

Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS), TU Darmstadt

Email · Website

Matias Mattamala

Matias Mattamala

Centre for AI in Assistive Autonomy, University of Edinburgh

Email · Website

Russell Buchanan

Russell Buchanan

RIPL Lab, University of Waterloo

Email · Website

Advisory Board

Subramanian Ramamoorthy

Subramanian Ramamoorthy

Centre for AI in Assistive Autonomy, University of Edinburgh

Website

Jan Peters

Jan Peters

Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS), TU Darmstadt

Website

Participation & Venue

Registration

Please register via the main ICRA 2026 registration system. A workshop add-on may be required.

ICRA Registration

Livestream link will be posted here closer to the event.

Venue

Vienna, Austria · VIECON - Vienna Congress & Convention Center (Messe Wien). Hall C4 · Monday, 1st of June, 8:45 - 17:30.

FAQ

Are there archival proceedings?

No. Authors retain the right to submit to journals/conferences later.

Is single-blind review used?

Yes, for contributed abstracts.

Will there be streaming?

Yes. The full event will be live-streamed; remote Q&A moderation provided.

Sponsored By

IEEE RAS TC

Supported By

TU Darmstadt Intelligent Autonomous Systems University of Edinburgh Centre for AI University of Waterloo RIPL Lab LASR Lab TU Dresden