Tokyo College Event: “Harnessing Embodied Intelligence in Robot Bodies”

Abstract

For decades, robotics has relied on rigid, mechanically structured machines designed to avoid physical contact. However, true intelligence arises from the interaction between an agent’s body and its environment. The robot’s body is not just a vessel for intelligence but an active component of it.

This talk explores how smart, soft, and perceptive robot bodies are redefining robotic intelligence. Moving beyond rigid structures, we embrace compliant, adaptable, and mechanically intelligent designs that integrate tactile sensing, soft materials, and advanced manufacturing to make the body an essential part of perception and decision-making.

This shift requires novel approaches to design optimisation, sensor integration, manufacturing, and computational modelling. We will discuss the challenges of this new paradigm and how my team and I are addressing them to achieve safer, more intuitive, and more capable systems.

Program

Lecturer
Perla MAIOLINO (Invited Professor, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo; Associate Professor, University of Oxford)

Commentator
IIDA Fumiya (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo)

Moderator
EMA Arisa (Associate Professor, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo)