From September 23 to 26, researcher Oskars Teikmanis attended the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA@40) in Rotterdam, celebrating its 40th anniversary.
ICRA@40 was a uniquely formatted conference that commemorated four decades of existence and evaluated 40 years of achievements in robotics. It aimed to answer the question: what has the robotics community accomplished during this time, and what breakthroughs should we anticipate in the coming decades?
On one hand, comparing robotics demonstrations from 1984 and 2024—such as precise control, grasping of various objects, computer vision, legged locomotion, and teleoperation—revealed many similarities over the past 40 years. However, thanks to rapid advancements in sensor and computer performance, there is reason to look confidently toward the future of robotics in the coming decades.
The conference offered opportunities to listen to thematic talks, debates, and panel discussions, as well as to participate in presentations of submitted papers. Oskars presented a paper titled “Towards Three-Dimensional Fluid-Directed Rigid Body Control on a Physical System,” discussing a device being developed by EDI that could enable objects to be moved using controlled airflows. This technology has potential applications in transporting fragile objects and creating kinetic art. The paper was developed with the support of funds from the VPP MOTE project.
