31 July 2025 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
SIGGRAPH 2025, the world's leading conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, is set to illuminate the rapidly evolving field of robotics with a slate of forward-thinking sessions that span creative expression, simulation, digital twins, and embodied AI. Taking place Sunday, 10 August through Thursday, 14 August 2025, at the Vancouver Convention Centre, the conference will bring together pioneers from academia, industry, and the arts to explore how robotics is shaping our technological future.
Global investment in robotics is surging, with the market projected to exceed $73 billion by 2029, driven by demand for automation across nearly every sector. As automation and artificial intelligence (AI) converge with human-centered design, SIGGRAPH 2025 will explore how robotics is transforming the way people create, communicate, and collaborate with intelligent machines. Robotics sessions will take place across multiple conference programs, including Art Papers, Emerging Technologies, Labs, and Technical Workshops.
Among the highlights, the Art Paper, "Multi Layered Autonomy and AI Ecologies in Robotic Art Installations", examines emergent behavior and multi-agent robotics through an artistic lens, merging AI autonomy with immersive environments to explore authorship, creativity, and responsibility.
The "FluidicSwarm: Embodiment of Swarm Robots Using Fluid Behavior Imitation" presentation showcases a robotic control system inspired by the natural behavior of fluids, enabling users to guide a swarm of small robots as if they were manipulating liquid. Developed to improve spatial intuition and remote collaboration, the system responds to hand gestures to dynamically shift the swarm's shape and movement. As featured in the ACM SIGGRAPH Blog article, "Robotics in Motion", this project highlights how fluid-inspired motion can enhance collective robotic behavior in real-time environments, from search-and-rescue operations to telepresence.
"Public Hand: Proximity-Aware Manipulation of Robotic Hand Shared with Multi-User in Robotic Room" is a presentation that introduces a proximity-aware robotic interface, enabling multiple users to intuitively control a shared robotic hand without the need for wearable devices, thereby unlocking new possibilities for collaborative interaction in intelligent spaces. In the "Spread Your Wings: Demonstrating a Soft Floating Robotic Avatar with Flapping Wings for Novel Physical Interactions" presentation, attendees will experience a floating robotic avatar with flapping wings, enabling users to "swim" or "fly" through space via body motion.
Other sessions focus on simulation-based robotics workflows. In "Learn OpenUSD: Robotics Best Practices", participants explore fundamentals of OpenUSD and asset optimization with NVIDIA's Unified Robot Description Format (URDF) Importer in Isaac Sim. "Digital Twin Robotics: Immersive Software-in-the-Loop Testing with OpenUSD, Isaac Sim, and ROS" provides immersive training on software-in-the-loop testing using OpenUSD, ROS, and NVIDIA Isaac Sim.
In "Generalizing Natural Behavior: Retargeting Human or Animal Motion to Robotic Forms", experts from Disney Research, Meta Reality Labs, and other leading institutions share breakthroughs in retargeting human and animal motion to robotic forms, with insights into reinforcement learning, imitation learning, and physics-based control.
"While AI made headlines with tools like ChatGPT, robotics has been quietly evolving in factories and warehouses, giving AI a physical presence," said Adam Bargteil, SIGGRAPH 2025 Technical Workshops Chair. "As robots begin entering our everyday spaces, it's essential that they move naturally among us. This year's workshops bring together experts to explore how far we've come and what challenges lie ahead in building more human-aware machines."
"These innovations highlight the convergence of immersive interfaces and embodied telepresence that's transforming the future of robotics," added Nathan Matsuda, SIGGRAPH 2025 Emerging Technologies Chair. "From expressive hand avatars to swarming systems that move like water, these projects are both technically groundbreaking and artistically imaginative."
SIGGRAPH 2025 invites researchers, designers, artists, and engineers to explore how robotics is reshaping everything from telepresence and accessibility to simulation workflows and digital art. As these sessions demonstrate, the next generation of robotics won't just be smart, it will be sentient, fluid, and socially aware.
Discover how SIGGRAPH 2025 is shaping the future of robotics through the lens of computer graphics and integrated techniques, advancing embodied intelligence, and spotlighting breakthroughs in simulation, interaction, and design by exploring the full schedule.
