Category: News

Together with SBRA and the CSIC’s brussles office, we are organizing the presentation of Whitebook on Robot manipulation of Textiles.

The event will bring together policymakers, researchers, technology developers, and industry leaders to explore how advanced robotics can help close the automation gap in textile manufacturing and recycling.

Registration for the event is open – and required to attend.

Closing the Automation Gap:
Robotics for Textile Handling in Europe contributing to competitiveness

Thursday   I   18 June 2026    I    09:30 – 13:00
Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) Brussels Office
CSIC 7th Floor, Rue du Trône 62, 1050 Brussels

The Slovenian Business & Research Association (SBRA) is pleased to the official launch of the White Book on robotic textile manipulation, created within the ROMANDIC project, taking place on 18 June 2026 in Brussels. Under the theme “Closing the Automation Gap: Robotics for Textile Handling in Europe contributing to competitiveness”, this high-level in-person event will bring together policymakers, researchers, technology developers, and industry leaders to explore how advanced robotics can strengthen Europe’s textile industry and accelerate the transition toward sustainable and circular production models.

As Europe’s textile sector faces increasing pressure to innovate and remain globally competitive, robotics for textile handling is emerging as a key strategic enabler. The event will provide first-hand insights into the technical challenges of manipulating deformable materials, while presenting a shared European vision and roadmap for textile automation and recycling.

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Discover the White Book on robotic textile manipulation, developed as part of the ROMANDIC project
• Engage with representatives from the European Commission on the role of robotics in Circular Economy and Industry 5.0 policies
• Explore cutting-edge European research projects including ROMANDIC, SoftEnable, Tornado, and FlexCycle
• Hear industrial perspectives on market needs, barriers, and opportunities for automation
• Attend the launch of the new European Network of Excellence dedicated to long-term coordination in textile robotics
• Participate in a moderated debate on the future of automation and competitiveness in the European textile sector

We would be delighted to welcome you to this important discussion shaping the future of European manufacturing and the circular textile economy!

Discover the full programme here and register here to ensure your place at the event!

           Slovenian Business & Research Association (SBRA)

More information here: https://www.sbra.be/en/content/closing-automation-gap

We participated in the organization of an IROS 2026 WS titled Deformable Objects Manipulation: Research Foundations, Reproducibility and Real-World Challenges.

Our proposal was accepted and the WS will take place at IROS 2026 in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Submission of papers to the WS is open!

We participated in the organization of an RSS workshop on deformable objects titled Beyond Rigidity – Deformable and Articulated Robotic Object Manipulation Workshop. Our proposed WS was accepted.

Submissions of papers to the WS is open!

The event will take place on June 13th in the scope of RSS conference in Sydney, Australia.

We are glad to announce Winter school on robot handling of deformables in the scope of the EU project ROMANDIC (https://project-romandic.eu/winter-school-2026/), which will take place from February 9th till 13th in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

*** Motivation and objectives ***

The purpose of the winter school is to address the underlying topics of robot handling of deformables and get hands-on experience in the specifics of perception, simulation, use of robots, and applications in the field. We have invited the leading European scientists and practitioners in this field to give lectures and we have prepared interactive sessions / mini projects with the use of collaborative robots and simulation packages.

The school is specifically crafted for young and talented Ph.D. students and post-docs.

*** Confirmed lecturers ***

Julia Borras                        CSIC, Barcelona, Spain

Tamim Asfour                   KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany

Arash Ajoudani                 IIT, Genova, Italy

Francis wyffels                  UGent, Ghent, Belgium

Andrej Gams                     JSI, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Renaud Detry                    KUL, Leuven, Belgium

Danijel Skočaj                   FRI, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Noémie Jaquier                KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

Two more, currently still unconfirmed speakers will present.

*** Important Dates ***

Registration is open

Registration deadline:                   November 24th, 2025

Notification of acceptance           December   9th, 2025

*** Registration ***

The program will cost around 550 €, which includes accommodation and half-board.

Potential participants are required to submit a one-page CV and a half-page letter describing their motivation to attend before November 15th, 2025. Registration is limited to 50 applicants.

Participants will be selected based on their motivation letter and CV.

*** Organizers ***

The Winter school is organized in the scope of EU project ROMANDIC (https://project-romandic.eu/), with all project partners participating in the organization:

JSI: Andrej Gams, Aleš Ude, Peter Nimac, Jan Jerićević, Matija Mavsar

CSIC: Julia Borras, Guillem Alenyà

KIT: Tamim Asfour

*** Venue and location ***

The Winter School will take place in Hotel Ramada in Kranjska Gora, with accommodation in Hotel Kompas. Accommodation and half-board are included in the “registration fee”.

The small town of Kranjska Gora lies in the Upper Sava Valley. Kranjska Gora is a 45-minute drive (66 km) from Ljubljana Airport, just 40 minutes from Klagenfurt Airport (Austria) and an hour’s drive from Trieste Airport (Italy). The nearest train station is in Jesenice, from where buses take you to Kranjska Gora, 20 km away, in half an hour.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Kranjska Gora!

https://project-romandic.eu/winter-school-2026/

Entrepeneurship workshop for early-career researchers organized between ROMANDIC and U7 – Office for Substantive Project Support, Technology Transfer and Innovation, organized on September 18th 2025, drew a full house of participants.

We are organizing a strategic foresight workshop titled “Robotika in umetna inteligenca za napredno manipulacijo” on October 15th, 2025, at the Hotel Mons

The event will be in Slovenian language.

More about the event here and (here).

The event is free for all participants, but registration before October 6th is required. Please check the event webpages listed above.

A new ROMANDIC project milestone has been reached with the start of the visit of Mahed Dadgostar from IRI – Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC at Jozef Stefan Institute.

During the month-long secondment, we will work on learning of dynamic handling of textiles.

A workshop on the topic of the organization an help of project offices in order to support researchers was held in Sitges, Barcelona, on June 12th and 13th. In two days of discussions and presentations partners from JSI, CSIC and KIT presented their project offices.

The participation of people from the project offices is what made this event special, as hands-on experience and organizational structures, ideas, gender aspect and outlooks were shared by the people really working in these fields.

Thanks to CSIC for the great organization and an insightful event in a very picturesque location!

During his official visit to Slovenia, the President of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, visited also our Institute, where he toured our department. Our work in projects ROMANDIC was presented.

News about the visit in Algerian media here and here.

We presented our work to a delegation from the German federal state Baden-Württemberg, led by Dr Patric Rapp, its State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism. Besides other demos, we showed the textile handling demo.

Photo credit: Marjan Verč, IJS.