RoManSy 2026

26th CISM IFToMM Symposium on Robot Design, Dynamics and Control

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Keynote Speakers

Assoc. Prof. Cosimo Della Santina

Controlling Deformability in Robotics: From Soft Robots to Large Deformable Objects

Date: TBD

Abstract:

Robotic systems are increasingly moving beyond rigid bodies toward embodiments that are intrinsically deformable. Examples include soft robots, continuum manipulators, elastic locomotion systems, and robots interacting with deformable objects such as cables, cloth, or biological tissues. While these systems offer major advantages in adaptability, safety, and functionality, their deformability also introduces substantial challenges for modeling, control, and planning.
 
This talk discusses how control theory and physics-based modeling can address deformability in robotics across different scales. On one side, soft robots and continuum mechanisms exhibit distributed compliance and high-dimensional dynamics that complicate accurate modeling and precise control. On the other side, many robotic tasks require manipulating large deformable objects whose complex dynamics must be handled by the controller during interaction.
The talk will highlight recent results on Lagrangian modeling of deformable systems, control strategies for compliant and continuum robots, and emerging approaches that combine physics-based models with learning to achieve reliable performance in complex deformable environments.

Biography

Cosimo Della Santina received the Ph.D. degree (cum laude) in Robotics from the University of Pisa in 2019. He is currently an Associate Professor at TU Delft (The Netherlands) and a Guest Research Scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Munich. From 2017 to 2019, he was a Visiting Ph.D. student and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Between 2020 and 2021, he served as a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher and Guest Lecturer at the Technical University of Munich. His research focuses on endowing unconventional robotic systems—especially those with elastic and soft components—with motor intelligence grounded in physics-based modeling and control theory. Dr. Della Santina co-directs the Delft AI Lab SELF and is a recipient of the NWO Veni Fellowship. His work has been recognized with the 2020 Georges Giralt Ph.D. Award, the 2023 IEEE RAS Early Career Award, and an ERC Starting Grant in 2024. In 2025, he co-founded the Swiss start-up Embodied AI, which develops safe and capable robots designed to operate in human environments.

Assoc. Prof. Erol Şahin

Date: TBD

Abstract:

TBA

Biography

TBA

Prof. Genliang Chen

Date: TBD

Abstract:

TBA

Biography

TBA