Robotics

Foundations

• Kinematics, dynamics and control; non-linear and adaptive control
• Mechanisms and design; planning and algorithms
• Formal methods; distributed and multi-robot systems

Manipulation and locomotion

• Dexterous manipulation; legged and mobile manipulation; field robotics
• Deformable object manipulation (cables, cloth, food)
• Whole-body control for humanoids and mobile manipulators
• Tactile sensing and contact-rich manipulation

Perception and estimation

• Robot perception, visual servoing, learning and estimation
• Semantic SLAM, 3D scene graphs and spatial reasoning
• Event-based and multimodal sensing

Learning and Embodied AI

• Imitation learning, Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models, foundation models for robotics
• Physical AI / embodied AI; world models; cross-embodiment generalization
• Sim-to-real and real-to-sim; digital twins
• Hybrid architectures combining learned and model-based control
• Reinforcement learning at scale and from human video
• Safe, verifiable and explainable robot learning
• Benchmarking, datasets and reproducibility

Human-centered and application areas

• Human-robot interaction and collaboration; cobots
• Humanoid robots; soft and bio-inspired robotics
• Medical robotics, surgical autonomy and soft/continuum robots for minimally invasive surgery
• Agricultural, construction and space robotics
• Swarm robotics and multi-robot collaboration
• Ethics, regulation and safety standards for robots in human environments

Automation

Intelligent and agentic automation

• Agentic AI and industrial agentic AI; hyperautomation
• Domain-specific industrial foundation models
• LLM and generative AI for PLC code, process engineering and operator assistance
• Human-AI teaming and cognitive automation

Architectures and data

• Software-defined automation and virtual PLC; IT/OT convergence
• Industrial DataOps and AI-ready data; digital twins
• Industrial edge, 5G/6G and time-sensitive networking
• Asset administration shell, OPC UA and interoperability standards

Trust and security

• OT cybersecurity
• Trustworthy, secure and resilient automation
• Fault detection, diagnostics and predictive maintenance
• Functional safety of AI-enabled systems

Systems and sustainability

• Smart manufacturing and Industry 5.0 (human-centric, sustainable, resilient)
• Discrete-event systems, scheduling and supply-chain automation
• Sustainability and green automation: energy-aware production, circular manufacturing
• Automation in agriculture, construction, healthcare, smart buildings and smart cities
• Quantum and neuromorphic computing for automation

Renewable Energy

Generation

• Solar PV
• Next-generation PV: perovskite and tandem cells, bifacial modules, PV reliability
• Agrivoltaics, floating PV and building-integrated PV
• Wind, offshore and floating wind, hydropower, geothermal and bioenergy

Storage

• Battery energy storage systems (BESS) and long-duration storage
• Solid-state, sodium-ion and flow batteries; thermal storage
• Battery safety, second-life use, recycling and reliability

Grids and flexibility

• Grid integration, connection queues and system flexibility
• Hybrid renewable projects (solar + wind + storage)
• Grid-forming inverters and frequency response
• Microgrids, mini-grids and off-grid solutions
• Virtual power plants, vehicle-to-grid and demand response
• Power electronics and smart inverters

Vectors and sector coupling

• Electrification of buildings, transport and industry
• Green hydrogen and e-fuels
• Electrolysers, fuel cells, green ammonia, and hydrogen safety and infrastructure
• Energy hubs and sector coupling

Digital, policy and sustainability

• AI for renewable energy (forecasting, optimization, grid stability)
• Digital twins and cybersecurity of energy systems
• Energy security and renewables; supply chain diversification and domestic manufacturing; emerging markets growth
• Markets, PPAs, auctions and contracts for difference
• Circular economy, life-cycle assessment and panel/blade recycling
• Energy access, just transition and climate adaptation, notably for Africa and the Mediterranean