The Robotics Society

In the last few years robotics activities in India has moved well beyond the traditional areas of industrial applications, atomic energy, etc. and entered newer domains of education, rehabilitation, entertainment, and even into our homes. Indian robotics researchers have similarly grown from a handful to over a hundred engaged in research labs, education, industry, atomic energy, etc. Many of us feel that it is about time to form an academic society to further augment our robotics activities and for better interaction among ourselves. With this objective, researchers got together to form a society on 10th July 2011. Officially, The Robotics Society was registered on June 21, 2017.

Note that in some of the earlier documents, Robotics Society of India (RSI) might be mentioned, which needs to be read as “The Robotics Society”, the registered name of the society.

Activities:

The Robotics Society organizes a main event every year around the month of July. The events are Advances in Robotics (AIR) and Workshop on Robotics, held alternatively.

Advances in Robotics (AIR) is an international conference of The Robotics Society, held every two years. The details are below:

• AIR2013 at R&DE, DRDO, Pune during July 4-6, 2013
• AIR2015 at BITS Pilani Goa Campus, Goa during July 2-4, 2015
• AIR2017 at IIT Delhi, New Delhi, during June 28 – July, 2017
• AIR2019 at IIT Madras, Chennai, during July 2-6, 2019
• AIR2021 conducted by IIT Kanpur, Kanpur in Fully Online Mode during June 30 – July 4, 2021
• AIR2023 at IIT Ropar, Ropar, during July 5-8, 2023

Workshops on Robotics and its Applications are held every alternate years, focusing on a specific thrust area of robotics. The details are below:

• Workshop on Haptics and Virtual Reality in Robotics Applications at IIT Delhi, New Delhi during July 9-10, 2011 [RSI was inaugurated during this workshop]
• Workshop on Advances in Robotics at IIT Delhi, New Delhi during July 5-7, 2012
• International Workshop on Autonomous Vehicles and Mobile Robotics at IIT Delhi, New Delhi during July 6-8, 2014
• National Workshop on Advances in Robotics (NWAR) at IIT Madras, Chennai during July 18-19, 2016
• National Workshop on Human-Centered Robotics (NWHCR) at IIT Jodhpur during March 17-18, 2018
• IIT Kanpur and The Robotics Society Winter School on ‘Robotics and Autonomous Systems’ at IIT Kanpur, Kanpur, India during April 2-5, 2019.
• AICTE Sponsored Faculty Development Program on “Robotics System Design: Fundamentals, Challenges and Applications”, jointly organized by IIT Ropar and The Robotics Society, during November 2-6, 2020. (Online Mode)