CMU Robotics Institute

Robotics Institute Pathways Fellowship Expands Opportunities for Emerging Founders - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University The Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute Pathways Fellowship, an initiative designed to nurture non-traditional entrepreneurial talent in robotics and technology is now accepting applications for it’s 2026-2027 cohort. The Pathways Fellowship provides a launchpad for aspiring founders who want to build or expand ventures that integrate robotics, automation, or related technologies.

The Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute Pathways Fellowship, an initiative designed to nurture non-traditional entrepreneurial talent in robotics and technology is now accepting applications for its 2026-2027 cohort.
 

Helping Robots Think on Their Feet - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Developed by researchers at the RI and Meta, BFM-Zero acts as an all-purpose behavior foundation model (BFM) that lets humanoid robots learn and adapt far more flexibly than previous methods and tradi...

Introducing BFM-Zero! 🦾💃💫

The all-purpose behavior foundation model from the RI LeCAR Lab and Meta helps humanoid robots learn and complete tasks without needing to be retrained for each one!

Read about this incredible work: www.ri.cmu.edu/helping-robo...

The 3rd Annual Extended Reality Technology Center Symposium - Extended Reality Technology Center - Carnegie Mellon University The third annual Extended Reality Technology Center Symposium, a two-day gathering that brought together researchers, industry partners, and community members for an in-depth look at emerging work in ...

The Extended Reality Technology Center (XRTC) hosted their third annual symposium in November! The two-day event brought together faculty, students, industry collaborators, and partners from across the XR community. 📹👀✨

www.cmu.edu/xrtc/news/20...

A man's hand holds black camera in a forest

RI's Matt O’Toole worked with Ph.D. Yingsi Qin & Prof. Aswin Sankaranarayanan from CMU Electrical & Computer Engineering to develop a new kind of lens that can bring an entire scene into sharp focus at once 📸

They received Best Paper Honorable Mention at #ICCV2025!

www.ece.cmu.edu/news-and-eve...

Congratulations to the recipients of the inaugural RI Graduate Student Awards, which celebrate excellence in research, teaching, mentorship, & community engagement! 👏🏆

See the full list of winners and honorable mentions on our Facebook: www.facebook.com/share/p/1KBF...

#TartanProud #CMUrobotics

Robots on the Runway - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Robots took to the runway — strutting, spinning and dancing — in a fashion show that brought art and engineering together to rethink how humans and machines might coexist. Draped in metallic fabric an...

Scenes from the Robot Fashion Show, held at the Humanoids’25 conference & co-hosted by the University of Seoul Startup Support Foundation!

The show’s theme centered on safety and coexistence and challenged static, industrial images of robotics.

Read about the event! 👉 bit.ly/3JJw6QF

First place was awarded to Vivian Shen from the Robotics Institute for her presentation titled, "Body-Aligned Design for Haptic Immersion in Extended Reality."

Are you a Ph.D. student at @cmu.edu? Can you describe your research and its importance in under 3 minutes to a layperson?

In 2025, 🥇 went to a @cmurobotics.bsky.social student. 🥈🥉 to @cmuengineering.bsky.social.

Register to compete in the 2026 #3MTCMU competition by 2/4. cmu.is/2026-3MT-Compete

Team Chiron Advances to Final Phase of DARPA Triage Challenge - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Team Chiron, a group of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, will compete in the third and final phase of the DARPA Triage Challenge (DTC) next November.  The ...

Team Chiron, a group of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, will compete in the third and final phase of the DARPA Triage Challenge (DTC) next November! 👏

Read about their advancement through the challenge: www.ri.cmu.edu/team-chiron-...

New System Brings Human-Like Planning to Robots - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute (RI) have developed a new system that helps robots operate effectively in cluttered, unpredictable environments like kitchens, classrooms...

Researchers at CMU’s Robotics Institute have developed a new system that helps robots operate effectively in cluttered, unpredictable environments like kitchens, classrooms and offices — a huge step toward making robots more capable in everyday settings.

www.ri.cmu.edu/new-system-b...

Popular AI Models Aren’t Ready to Safely Power Robots - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Robots powered by popular AI models may not be ready for real-world use, according to new research from Carnegie Mellon University and King’s College London.For the first time, researchers evaluated h...

New research from Carnegie Mellon University & @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social shows that robots powered by popular AI models are currently unsafe for real-world use 🌎🚨

The paper was recently published in the International Journal of Social Robotics.

Read more:

bit.ly/4hSNlLH

CMU Collaborates on Project To Develop Future Robotic Wheelchair The Robotic Caregiving and Human Interaction Lab inside the School of Computer Science’s Robotics Institute will spearhead the software integration of a robotic arm into the wheelchair design as part ...

Carnegie Mellon will collaborate on a federally funded project to rethink and redesign wheelchairs.

@cmurobotics.bsky.social researchers will spearhead the software integration of a robotic arm into the wheelchair design.

The project is funded up to $41.5 million by @arpa-h.bsky.social.

#Research

New Model Helps Robots See in 3D - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute (RI) and Meta Reality Labs have built a powerful model that reconstructs images, camera data or depth scans into accurate 3D maps wit...

Researchers from the Robotics Institute + Meta Reality Labs have built a model that reconstructs images, camera data or depth scans into 3D maps within a unified system!

MapAnything captures both small details and large spaces with high precision 🌎🗺️📌

Read now:
bit.ly/4haR7Qm

Tracking Pollution Globally Climate TRACE, a first-of-its-kind tool that better tracks pollution worldwide, has research from the Robotics Institute's CREATE Lab at its core.

A new tool that better tracks pollution worldwide has CMU research at its core‼️

Climate TRACE, co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, released an air pollution monitoring tool that relies on visualizations and models developed by CMU's CREATE Lab

Read more:

www.cs.cmu.edu/news/2025/cl...

Dexterous robots are moving from CMU labs to real-world industries with support from the National Science Foundation!

For Altus Dexterity, this means moving beyond prototypes to pilot programs + partnerships where dexterous robots can shine. ☀️🤖

Read more about it below:

bit.ly/4gP9H09

CMU Vision-Language-Autonomy Challenge: "Find the Microwave Oven Near the Refrigerator" This is the third video from the Zhang Lab at the Robotics Institute demonstrating the advancements in their navigation autonomy research. The CMU Vision-Language-Autonomy Challenge leverages computer vision and natural language understanding in navigation autonomy. The challenge aims at pushing the limit of embodied AI in real environments and on real robots - providing a robot platform and a working autonomy system to bring higher-level reasoning and learning models a step closer to real-world deployment Learn more: https://www.ai-meets-autonomy.com/cmu-vla-challenge

‼️CMU Vision-Language-Autonomy Challenge update 3: The third video has been released of their robot "finding the microwave near the refrigerator"

After checking out a few rooms, the system spotted the microwave! 👏 Check it out:

bit.ly/4nsofFu

1/6 Recent discussions (e.g. Rich Sutton on @dwarkesh.bsky.social’s podcast) have highlighted why animals are a better target for intelligence — and why scaling alone isn’t enough.
In my recent @cmurobotics.bsky.social seminar talk, “Using Embodied Agents to Reverse-Engineer Natural Intelligence”,

YouTube video by CMU Robotics Institute CMU Vision-Language-Autonomy Challenge: "Find the Blue Trash Can in the Classroom"

🚀CMU VLA Update 2: The team has released another video showing their system "finding the blue trashcan in the classroom" 👀🗑️

Stay tuned for further updates!

youtu.be/QuIEHK2eAZI?...

🚨CMU Vision-Language-Autonomy update 1: The team released a video to "find the refrigerator in the lounge"–– they are looking for new PhD/Master's to work on long-horizon navigation & instruction!

Contact Ji Zhang for more info: bit.ly/3Kgvm5a

Watch the vid in normal speed on our YouTube channel!

Bajcsy Earns DARPA Young Faculty Award - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Andrea Bajcsy, an assistant professor at the Robotics Institute in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, has earned a DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) for her work to create models a...

Andrea Bajcsy, an assistant professor at the @cmurobotics.bsky.social, has earned a DARPA Young Faculty Award for her work to create models and algorithms that help embodied AI systems make more reliable decisions in diverse environments.

CMU Alumni Launch Koyal for Safe AI Video Creation - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University A new startup launched by Carnegie Mellon University alumni can transform a song, podcast, recording or audio clip from a movie into a fully produced video complete with personalized scenery, costumes...

Koyal, founded by SCS alumni Mehul and Gauri Agarwal, produces cinematic videos from ANY audio clip! 🎵🗣️🔊

The sibling founders are offering their platform to the public for the first time –– giving creators a quick and easy way to bring audio content to life.

www.ri.cmu.edu/cmu-alumni-l...

S2 Episode 11: Farm to Future: How Robotics and AI are Revolutionizing Agriculture What if robots could pick apples without bruising them, detect diseases in tomatoes before farmers can see them, or even help prevent catastrophic wildfires?

Leveraging robotics in agriculture can help build a resilient and sustainable future.

In the latest episode of Where What If Becomes What's Next, Professor George Kantor of @cmurobotics.bsky.social shares his insights from two decades of pioneering work in agricultural robotics.

CMU's Robotic Caregiving and Human Interaction Lab CMU researchers are developing new technology to enable robots to physically interact with people who are not able to care for themselves.These breakthroughs...

What happens in the Robotic Caregiving and Human Interaction Lab? 🤖🤝👤

Led by Zackory Erickson, the lab develops new technology to enable robots to physically interact with people who are not able to care for themselves. Check out the video below:

bit.ly/4mQ4uYh

Eight Carnegie Mellon Students Named SoftBank Group–Arm Fellows Eight Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D. students have received the SoftBank Group–Arm Fellowship to support research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human collaboration.

Eight Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. students have received the SoftBank Group–Arm Fellowship to support research at the intersection of AI and human collaboration. 👏

The program builds on CMU’s relationship with Keio University in Japan, part of a $110 million effort to advance AI research and innovation.

Congratulations to Senior Systems Scientist Matt Travers and his students for winning "Best Academic/Research Institute Technology Demonstration" at the 2025 Ground Vehicles Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS)!🔥

#CMUrobotics

Opening New Doors for Household Robotics - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Robots may one day work alongside us in our homes, helping with chores like unloading the dishwasher. But before they can put the forks where they belong, robots need to learn how to open the drawer.

Robots may one day work in homes, helping with chores like unloading the dishwasher. But before they can put the forks where they belong, they need to learn how to open a drawer.

Enter ArticuBot: a policy that enables a robotics system to open diverse unseen articulated objects!

bit.ly/4lmfP0K

Congrats to Changliu Liu, who received International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Robotics Outstanding Young Researcher Award! 🎉

The award recognizes the critical applications of her work in human-robot collaborations. Read more below! 👇

bit.ly/4f2bGNM

In Flight With NASA: CMU Tests Space Tech in Microgravity - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University faculty and students recently experienced something few ever have: weightlessness. Aboard a plane that follows an unusual flight path – steep climbs followed by dramatic div...

✈️ RI's Mitch Fogelson and Zac Manchester put their research to the test in zero gravity as part of a NASA Flight Opportunities campaign with Zero-G!

They worked to create foldable structures for space deployment 🚀 #CMUrobotics

Read and watch below:
www.ri.cmu.edu/in-flight-wi...

Robots With Moves Like Ronaldo, LeBron and Kobe - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University After scoring a goal, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will run to the sideline, leap into the air, spin 180 degrees, land with arms outstretched and shout “Siu.” When LeBron James hits a clutch sho...

News alert! 🚨

Read about "ASAP: Aligning Simulation and Real-World Physics for Learning Agile Humanoid Whole-Body Skills" -- a novel collaborative project between the RI LeCAR lab and NVIDIA GEAR robotics research lab 👀

www.ri.cmu.edu/robots-with-...

@cmurobotics.bsky.social alum Jeremy Kubica is the engineering director for LINCC Frameworks, a joint initiative by Carnegie Mellon, the University of Washington and the LSST Discovery Alliance. Kubica's team is developing products to help scientists identify which massive stars are exploding.

NCWIT Selects 2025 AiC Collegiate Award Recipients Technology too often has a culture of invisibility, otherness, self-doubt, and closed doors. Aspirations in Computing seeks to turn barriers into possibilities through exclusive awards, scholarships, ...

Congratulations to RI Ph.D. Zulekha Karachiwalla for her honorable mention at the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) Collegiate Awards! 👏

Zulekha presented her work on robot-assisted wound care 🏥 #NCWITAiC

Find more on Zulekha’s research & the award program: www.aspirations.org/news/award-p...