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Presentation of whitebook on Robot manipulation of textiles in Brussels on June 18th

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

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IROS 2026 WS on deformable objects

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!

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RSS Workshop on deformable objects

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.

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ROMANDIC review meeting

On April 10th we held an online review meeting with an external reviewer and the project officer.

All project partners presented our work on the project from the past 17 months.

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WS at ERF 2026

Our euRobotics! ERF workshop WS#53 Advanced Robot Manipulation of Deformable and Fragile Objects took place today at the very start of the ERF. It was a great event with interesting presentations, but most importantly, excellent attendance! Hopefully, we continue collaboration with the attendees, maybe through the Network of Excellence on Deformable Object Manipulation by Robots (https://dom-net.eu/).

The ws was organized between EU projects SoftEnable, Project ROMANDIC, Flexcycle_project and MTC – Manufacturing Technology Centre; by Florian T. Pokorny, Andrej Gams and MAHESH DISSANAYAKE.

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Successful ROMANDIC winter school

The Project ROMANDIC winter school on deformable object manipulation (DOM) by robots, extensively presented on our webpage, was organized to:
* address the underlying topics of robot handling of deformables;
*get hands-on experience in the specifics of perception, simulation, use of robots, and applications in the field; and
* meet and discuss with people working on the topic.

In short, to learn new things and have a good time at it.

The winter school was a great success! Check the winter school webpage!

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Secondments between JSI and CSIC

This autumn in Project ROMANDIC we had three secondments between Jozef Stefan Institute’s Humanoid and Cognitive Robotics Lab and IRI – Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC. We started with Mahed Dadgostar and Franco Coltraro’s visit in Ljubljana and ended with Andrej Gams’s visit in Barcelona, hosted by Júlia Borràs Sol and Guillem Alenya. Great things are ahead!

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Senior Researcher Seminar held at KIT

One of the key events of Project ROMANDIC, the Senior Researcher Seminar, took place at the High Performance Humanoid Technologies (H2T), Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics (IAR) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

In three days of lively discussions and interesting presentations of leading researchers in the field, we learned a lot about deformable object manipulation by robots.

We also initialized the Network of Excellence on Deformable Object Manipulation by Robots DOM-net.eu

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Workshop ROMADO: 5th workshop on robotic manipulation of deformable objects: holistic approaches and challenges forward gathered considerable interest

The workshop, organized in the scope of IROS 2025 in Hagzhou, China, on October 20th, 2025, focused on the dynamic relationship between perception, decision-making, and execution in the robotic manipulation of deformable objects.

Project ROMANDIC was one of co-organisers of the WS.

In the photo there are some of the present organizers and presenters.

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Well attended “Strategic foresight workshop”

On October 15th we held the strategic foresight workshop titled “Izzivi slovenske robotike – Robotike in umetna inteligenca za napredno manipulacijo”.

The event was well attended with over 85 atendees. Topics such as robotics, AI and manipulation with a special focus and invited lectures on handling of deformable objects.

More about the event here and here.