{"id":9,"date":"2026-02-18T14:27:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ieeesmc.org\/telepresence\/?page_id=9"},"modified":"2026-07-13T20:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:57:24","slug":"summerschool","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ieeesmc.org\/telepresence\/summerschool\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Summer School on Telerobotics and Cyborg Technologies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Welcome to the website of the 2026 IEEE Summer School on Telerobotics and Cyborg Technologies! This is a joint effort between the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society, the Future Directions Initiative on Telepresence, and the Robotics and Automation Society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Summer School Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Where:<\/strong> Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT, Rochester, NY, USA
(please note that this will be an in-person<\/em><\/strong> event)
When:<\/strong> July 13-17, 2026
What:<\/strong> (1) A series of lectures by world experts in telerobotics, cyborg, user experience, and telepresence technologies. (2) Face-to-face with numerous telerobotics and cyborg technology companies from around the world. (3) Chance to win prizes in a multi-robot teleoperation user interface design challenge. <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Application Form<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The summer school will be open to 40 graduate students (Master’s and PhD) and postdoctoral fellows. To apply, please fill out the form in the link below. You will need to upload (1) your latest CV, (2) a motivation letter as to why you wish to join the summer school, and (3) a reference letter from your supervisor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evaluations will start on May 1st and will continue until all 40 slots are filled.<\/strong> Results will start to be announced after May 13, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Registration Details<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The summer school will cover meals and accommodations for the 40 selected students during the week. There will be a nominal registration fee of $250 and students are to cover travel expenses themselves. We will seek corporate sponsorship and, if successful, travel awards will be made available to the students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The link to the registration portal is available in your acceptance letter<\/strong>. Registration Deadline for accepted students:<\/strong> June 15, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Multi-Robot Teleoperation Unified User Interface (UUI) Design Challenge<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Summer school students will be placed in teams of four to work together on developing a unified user interface (UUI) to control 2+ teleoperated robots. Rovers and humanoid robots will be available. Students will be required to bring their own laptops with the required software (to be defined at a later date). The UUIs will be evaluated by expert teleoperators on the last day of the summer school and the winning teams will take home prizes (and bragging rights!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Available Land Robots<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Available Humanoids<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Design<\/a> Challenge evaluation criteria<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Challenge Official Rules<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Schedule<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Draft Schedule, subject to change<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Confirmed Speakers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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Daniel I. Goldman<\/strong>
Georgia Tech, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu<\/strong>
NASA\/JPL, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jessie YC Chen<\/strong>
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecture: Human-Robot Interaction, Human-Machine Teaming, and Agent Transparency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jamison Heard<\/strong>
Rochester Institute of Technology, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Levi J. Hargrove<\/strong>
Northwestern University, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Maria Kyrarini<\/strong>
Santa Clara University, USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecture: Cognitive fatigue assessment in voice-based human-robot interactions<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Neal Lii<\/strong>
DLR, German Space Agency, Germany<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Corey Du Val<\/strong>
Booster Robotics, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Chris Kudla<\/strong>
Mind Children, USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecture: Rethinking the Cyborg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Edward Tunstel<\/strong>
Southwest Research Institute, USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lecture: Practical Matters<\/em> in Real-World Telepresence Applications<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Selma \u0160abanovi\u0107<\/strong>
Indiana University Bloomington, USA

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Organizers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Tiago H. Falk
INRS-EMT, Canada<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ferat Sahin
RIT, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Adrian Stoica
JPL, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

UUI Challenge Organizers and Support Team<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Daniel Soto,
Ground Control Robotics, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mohamad Shaaban
IIT, Italy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Yonas Tefera
IIT, Italy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Rob Mueller
NASA, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Olmo Moreno
IIT, Italy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Sponsors<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Industry partners<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Welcome to the website of the 2026 IEEE Summer School on Telerobotics and Cyborg Technologies! This is a joint effort between the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society, the Future Directions Initiative on Telepresence, and the Robotics and Automation Society. Summer School Details Where: Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT, Rochester, NY, USA (please note that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2632,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n2026 Summer School on Telerobotics and Cyborg Technologies - IEEE Telepresence Initiative<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ieeesmc.org\/telepresence\/summerschool\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2026 Summer School on Telerobotics and Cyborg Technologies - IEEE Telepresence Initiative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to the website of the 2026 IEEE Summer School on Telerobotics and Cyborg Technologies! 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