Stanford Robotics

We thank Cynthia Sung for bringing her talk, “Leveraging Environmental Interactions for Robot Design and Control,” to the SRC’s Special Seminar series!

The esteemed MIT professor H. Harry Asada gave a talk titled “Human-Inspired Robotics and Robotics-Informed Human Studies: From SuperLimbs to Koopman Operator Theory.”

We extend a deep thank you to Prof. Asada for his visit, which was recorded and can be viewed here: youtu.be/EuHFHtLbC24

Photo by Techsauce: Oussama Khatib presenting at Techsauce Summit 2025.

Professor Oussama Khatib shares a vision of the future of robotics with “Remote Robotic Avatars,” a technology that could be described as creating a physical presence or “avatar” for a human operator. This innovation is set to overcome physical limitations and assist humanity in numerous ways.

Professor of Computer Science and SRC faculty member, Karen Liu, was a guest on Science Friday. She joined Host Ira Flatow to talk about how AI is driving advances in humanoid robotics.

Listen in on the conversation here:
www.sciencefriday.com/segments/ai-...

Researchers, including Mac Schwager, at Stanford have created an algorithm that can take a design plan for a particular product and figure out the most efficient way to manufacture it with a team of robots. Their work was published recently in the journal Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

Zhenan Bao talks about NeuroString: A hair-thin multichannel biosensor and stimulator with promising potential applications in drug delivery, nerve stimulation, smart fabrics, and more:
news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...

The SRC’s Steve Cousins and Michelle Baldonado gave a talk at The Forum at Rancho San Antonio, engaging with residents about our experiments with robotic walking companions. We extend a thank you to our hosts and audience!

This is the last week you can see Manifold on-site at the San Francisco Exploratorium. As a final event, artist Dr. Catie Cuan and the Manifold team will provide an inside look at the project.
When: 6-10pm, Thursday, September 11, 2025
Where: The San Francisco Exploratorium,

The SRC team visited the Exploratorium’s new exhibit, Adventures in AI, which featured the work of Dr. Catie Cuan: "Manifold," an interactive 9-foot-tall robotic hand. Next, we went to the SFMOMA to see "Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine)," an installation by artist Kara Walker.

Introducing a new demo of GIRAF performing a compelling long-reach task! GIRAF is a bold new concept redefining what mobile robots can achieve and is being developed by students at Stanford’s Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Lab (BDML).

Presentation by 3Laws

The SRC thanks CEO, Dr. Andrew Singletary and COO, Amir Sharif of 3Laws for presenting their company’s latest developments and news about Control Barrier Functions - a means for ensuring that a robotic system stays within a pre-defined safe region without impacting productivity.

“We believe that the best way to help and inspire students to become robotics experts is to have them build a robot from scratch.” - Karen Liu

Students in CS 123: A Hands-On Introduction to Building AI-Enabled Robots are mastering the full spectrum of robotics. See the video:
lnkd.in/gXpMiNc2

Scenes from the SRC public demo day: we opened our doors to lively, curious groups of students! Generating excitement about robotics and nurturing curiosity about science and technology are part of our mission to drive meaningful innovation into the future.

Steven Collins’ lab, the Biomechatronics Laboratory, uses special hardware to quickly and affordably test wearable robotics, ensuring that they quickly adapt to an individual’s specific needs.

One surprising fact about smart glasses Long before computers existed, a sci-fi story imagined virtual reality. Now, nearly a century later, Stanford engineers are making that once-unthinkable vision real with virtual technologies for spect...

Long before computers existed, a sci-fi story imagined virtual reality. Now, Gordon Wetzstein, and his team in the Stanford Computational Imaging Lab, are making that once-unthinkable vision real with virtual technologies for spectacles.

Photo: Andrew Brodhead

Rethinking a new generation of robots, designed for people - not factories. That’s the challenge Enchanted Tools from France is taking on. The SRC welcomed CEO Jérôme Monceaux, the visionary behind Nao and Pepper, two of the most iconic humanoid robots in the world.

Early testing could make risky falls a thing of the past for elderly people As we get older, our bodies stop performing as they once did. We aren't as strong as we once were, we don't see as well as we used to and we start becoming less mobile. These changes inevitably lead t...

One-third of people over the age of 65 fall each year, resulting in injuries and occasionally death. Jiaen Wu of Stanford University partnered with SRC faculty Scott Delp, Karen Liu, and Steven Collins to investigate this problem.

medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05...

Professor Monroe Kennedy III, a SRC faculty member, champions diversity and humanity in Robotics at ICRA 2025

Read the full article by Ric Mathis:
rollingout.com/2025/05/24/r...

Learn more about Black & Robotics:
blackinrobotics.org

The accomplishments of the 2025 Class of Experimental Robotics were celebrated with a lively showcase at the SRC. Students exhibited their skills in various areas, including kinematics, dynamics, perception, control, and human-robot interaction.

The SRC had a strong showing at ICRA 2025. Allison Okamura delivered a plenary talk titled "Rewired: The Interplay of Robots and Society." Shuran Song shared the latest updates in her keynote address, "Manipulation." Iro Armeni organized the "4th Workshop on the Future of Construction."

Drawing inspiration from the robots at the Lucasfilm headquarters, the SRC team tried out a number of robots in San Francisco, including Waymo of course, and Oscar the AI waste sorter at the Ferry Building. Thanks to our friends at Autodesk for giving us a tour and showing us their robots as well.

Image of computer-generated holography using Gaussian Wave Splatting

We're excited to share Gordon Wetzstein's #SIGGRAPH2025 paper! It shows how to combine Gaussian splatting and computer-generated holography using Gaussian Wave Splatting. This enables photorealistic 3D holograms for emerging holographic VR/AR displays. Gordon is a Faculty Team Member of the SRC.

Congratulations to Leo Guibas, a member of the SRC faculty team. He received the Steven Anson Coons Award from SIGGRAPH for “his numerous and broad contributions to computational geometry, geometric learning, and global illumination.” More about SIGGRAPH: www.siggraph.org/award-winner...

Headshot of Mark Mueller

The Stanford Robotics and Autonomous Systems Seminar series welcomed Mark Mueller from the Mechanical Engineering Department at UC Berkeley. His talk was titled “Hardware / Controls Co-Design to Overcome Challenges for Aerial Robots.” See the Seminar series videos: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

ReachBot: a breakthrough in robotic mobility, developed by students at Stanford’s Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Lab (BDML). By leveraging ultra-lightweight, extendable fiberglass booms ReachBot can deploy a manipulator capable of reaching up to 10 feet in any direction.

Jonathan Hurst Tech Talk

Robotics demo

Robotics demo

Robotics demo

Thank you to Jonathan Hurst, who shared his latest advances in useful in-home humanoids at this SRC and Agility Robotics co-sponsored Tech Talk in Stanford’s CoDa building. A lively Q&A session and demo ensued.

Did you know that the SRC, in collaboration with the Graduate School of Business Women in Management, had a screening of the film Rule Breakers? A panel discussion ensued, and among the guests were Dorsa Sadigh and Mykel Kochenderfer. The film is now available on streaming services. 📸 Steve Cousins

SRC team at Windshaper

SRC team at Windshaper

SRC team before the wind at Windshaper

A dozen students and staff from the SRC visited the WindShaper facility in NASA Ames. Can we say we were "blown away"? The WindShaper allows creation of wind patterns that might be found in urban environments, in order to design and test safer urban flying robots and vehicles.

The Stanford Robotics Center is now on Bluesky: Welcome!