Embodied AI and Robotics for Future Scientific Discovery

-- 1st Workshop on @ IROS2025 will be held on 20th Oct.2025 12:30 GMT+8, Room TBD

The accelerating pace of scientific research demands more efficient, accurate, and comprehensive methodologies that can transcend the limitations of traditional research approaches. Current scientific practices face significant challenges: manual experimentation is time-consuming and resource-intensive, while multidisciplinary research requires integration of knowledge that often exceeds individual researchers' expertise. This workshop explores a transformative vision: the development of embodied AI systems capable of conducting end-to-end scientific research across multiple disciplines. Recent advances in embodied AI and robotics present unprecedented opportunities to evolve from purely virtual AI scientists to embodied robotic researchers that can actively engage in a complete research lifecycle. This workshop brings together experts from robotics, AI, and various scientific domains to discuss the development of systems that can autonomously perform the scientific research lifecycle, literature reviews, generate hypotheses, conduct physical experiments, and synthesize findings into scholarly manuscripts.

Organizers

The 1st Workshop on Embodied AI and robotics for future scientifc discovery at IROS 2025. The workshop will chart a transformative path: from traditional human-led research to collaborative AI scientists and Robot scientists working alongside humans, and ultimately to fully autonomous AI and Robot scientists with capabilities. This developmental roadmap will help identify key technological barriers and research opportunities in creating embodied AI and Robotic systems capable of revolutionary scientific breakthroughs.

What is Embodied AI and Robotic for future scientifc discovery ?

see this table below:

title	publisher
Advancing scientific discovery with the aid of robotics	Science robotics
Scientific discovery in the age of artificial intelligence	Nature
Autonomous mobile robots for exploratory synthetic chemistry	Nature
Amplify scientific discovery with artificial intelligence	Nature

Content

Topics

The workshop aims to address critical challenges and implications, including technological limitations, ethical considerations, and the changing landscape of scientific training. By fostering dialogue between researchers and practitioners, we aim to establish a roadmap for developing truly autonomous generalist scientist that can help address complex global challenges.

Advanced AI agents and algorithms for each stage of autonomous scientific research, including:
Operating system agents with advanced computing capabilities for scientific research automation
Domain-specific robotic systems designed for autonomous experimentation in targeted scientific fields
Embodied AI systems with dexterous manipulation capabilities, incorporating:
- Foundation models for perception and reasoning
- Advanced robotic hardware for precise manipulation
- Multi-modal sensing and interaction
- Real-world adaptation and learning
Comprehensive datasets and benchmarks for:
- AI-driven scientific discovery
- Robotic manipulation in laboratory settings
Performance evaluation frameworks for AI agent and robot-based autonomous scientific systems
Broader impacts and ethical considerations

The workshop will also address critical challenges and implications, including technological limitations, ethical considerations, and the changing landscape of scientific training. By fostering dialogue between researchers and practitioners, we aim to establish a roadmap for developing truly autonomous generalist scientist that can help address complex global challenges.

Schedule [PDF]

Time Zone: GMT+08

Time	Activity	Comments
14:00 - 14:15	Opening remarks and introduction	Overview of workshop themes and objectives
14:15 - 15:00	Keynote: "Embodied AI for Autonomous Scientific Research"	Speaker TBA
15:00 - 15:45	Keynote: "Foundation Models in Scientific Automation"	Speaker TBA
15:45 - 16:00	Coffee break	Networking opportunity
16:00 - 16:45	Interactive poster session and demonstrations	Featuring autonomous scientific systems
16:45 - 17:30	Panel discussion: "Challenges and Opportunities in Robotic Scientific Discovery"	4-5 experts from diverse backgrounds
17:30 - 18:05	Selected paper presentations	3 presentations (10 min + 5 min Q&A each)
18:05 - 18:15	Closing remarks and future research directions	Summary and next steps

Call for papers

We invite participants to submit extended abstracts 3+n pages, with n pages (no page-limit) for the bibliography, in the IEEE conference style.

Submissions will be reviewed by experts of their respective field. The accepted abstracts will be made available on the workshop website but will not appear in the official IEEE conference proceedings. Participants are encouraged to submit their recent work on the topics of interest mentioned above. Contributions are encouraged, but are not required, to be original.

The review process will be single-blind, meaning the submitted paper does not need to be anonymized.

Abstracts can be submitted through xxx: https:.