Touch-to-Action — IROS 2026 Workshop

About the Workshop

Touch is fundamental to human interaction with the world, yet in robotics it remains far less developed and standardized than vision, proprioception, or language-based AI. This workshop brings together complementary perspectives from across the tactile sensing and manipulation pipeline: from biological inspiration and sensor design to simulation, perception, learning, control, and real-world applications. It offers a vertical roadmap covering sensor technologies, design and fabrication, simulation for sensor optimization and policy learning, deep learning for tactile perception, multimodal fusion, and tactile feedback for robot control, with applications highlighted in manufacturing and healthcare.

The program features Keynote Talks, an Industry Session, a Panel Discussion, Lightning Talks, and Poster Presentations, creating an interactive forum for the robotics and AI communities to exchange ideas and discuss future directions for tactile intelligence.

Event: Half-day workshop @ IROS 2026
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Dates: October 1, 2026
Submission Types: Short Papers • Live Demos • Reviews & Perspectives

Touch-to-Action Workshop Themes

I. The Sense of Touch --- From Humans to Robots

Functional principles of human and animal touch inspiring artificial tactile systems.

Key question

How does biological touch work, and how does it inspire artificial tactile systems?

II. Development & Integration of Tactile Sensors

Exploring optical and magnetic sensing, design trade-offs, materials, morphology, and system integration.

Key question

How can we design and integrate tactile sensors for real-world robotic applications?

Which transduction method is most appropriate for a given application?

III. Simulation of Tactile Sensors

From high-fidelity FEM modeling to real-time simulators — bridging the sim-to-real gap in tactile sensing and control.

Key question

How can we simulate tactile sensors and their interaction with the environment to enable sim-to-real transfer?

How can we achieve effective yet tactile simulations? What is missing?

IV. Tactile Perception & Processing

Learning from tactile data — domain adaptation, and multimodal fusion with vision and proprioception.

Key question

How should tactile data be processed to extract meaningful information?

How can we fuse tactile data with other modalities?

V. Tactile Sensing in Robot Learning and Manipulation

Enhancing multimodal control policies in imitation learning and reinforcement learning through tactile sensing.

Key question

When is touch not just useful, but essential for learning and manipulation?

Tentative Schedule

All times local (Pittsburgh, USA) • Subject to change

01:30 pm Workshop Opening & Introduction
10 min
01:40 pm TBA Jeremy Fishel
10 min
01:50 pm Towards Generalizable Tactile Sensors and Sensing via Simulation Wenzhen Yuan
20 min
02:10 pm Sim-to-real tactile sensing for robot control Nathan Lepora
20 min
02:30 pm Wearable Pneumatics for Bidirectional Tactile Interaction: From Human Communication to Training Autonomous Policies Allison Okamura
20 min
02:50 pm Industry Session
35 min
03:25 pm Coffee Break & Interactive Poster Session
20 min
03:45 pm Lightning Presentations
10 min
03:55 pm TBA
20 min
04:15 pm Scaling Tactile Perception and Learning: Sim2Real Transfer and Learning from Humans Nima Fazeli
20 min
04:35 pm Best Paper Award (XELA Robotics)
5 min
04:40 pm Interactive Panel Discussion & Closing All Speakers & Mark Cutkosky
35 min

Call for Submissions

Regular Short Papers (1-4 pages)

Original research across the workshop themes. Accepted papers will be selected for Lightning Talks or Poster presentations. XELA Robotics will present a Best Paper Award to an outstanding regular paper.

OpenReview Submission →

Physical Demos

Showcase your tactile sensors, hands, or manipulation systems in live or video demonstrations. Please inform us so we can accommodate your setup and provide any necessary resources (e.g., space, equipment).

Mini-Reviews and Perspectives (1-2 pages)

Critical synthesis of a focused research topic amoung the workshop areas that summarizes recent advances, highlight open challenges, and point to emerging trends. Authors of promising mini-reviews may be invited to collaborate with the organizers on the Touch-to-Action Perspective Initiative.

OpenReview Submission →

Touch-to-Action Perspective Initiative

Selected submissions will serve as the foundation for a community-driven Perspective article on the role of tactile sensing for robot manipulation, coordinated by the workshop organizers after IROS 2026. Participation in the collaborative article is voluntary. Authors of selected submissions will be invited to contribute to the joint manuscript, which will synthesize complementary viewpoints into a coherent perspective on the future of tactile sensing for robotic manipulation. The final perspective will be submitted to an IEEE journal.

Guidelines for Mini-Reviews and Perspectives

Focus on one workshop theme and a specific sub-topic, with a clear connection to robotic manipulation. Please indicate the selected workshop theme (I-V) in the title and list the targeted subtopics as keywords. Prioritize work demonstrated in real-world manipulation; enabling technologies may be discussed to highlight limitations or future opportunities.
Emphasize research published between 2020-2026. Earlier seminal works may be cited when needed for context.
Provide a critical, forward-looking perspective rather than a survey. Synthesize the state of the art, discuss strengths, limitations, and open challenges, and propose future directions, ideally centered on a research question.
Limit the submission length to 1-2 pages (including references). We value original insights over exhaustive coverage. One illustrative figure is encouraged, with preference for original figures over AI-generated artwork.

Important dates (tentative)

Submission deadline: September 7, 2026
Latest Notification: September 22, 2026

Inclusion Sponsorship

To support broader participation, DAIMON Robotics will sponsor the participation of one student who submits a paper to the workshop and self-identifies as belonging to a group or circumstance underrepresented in robotics and AI. Eligible authors can apply via the form after submitting their paper.

Application form

Young Speakers Talks

Ahead of the workshop, we are running a series of online Young Speakers talks (~10-15 min + Q&A) so early-career researchers can present their work, connect with other labs, and spark new collaborations. Interested? Post in the #talks channel of our Slack; sessions are scheduled once enough participants express interest.

Join the Slack →

Touch-to-Action — IROS 2026 workshop flyer

Spread the word

Share our workshop flyer with your group and mailing lists. Click the flyer to open the full-resolution version. To stay in the loop and meet other participants ahead of the workshop, join our community Slack channel.

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