NEWS MERL researchers present 9 papers at IEEE ICRA 2026

Date released: June 24, 2026

NEWS MERL researchers present 9 papers at IEEE ICRA 2026
Date:

June 1, 2026 - June 5, 2026
Where:

Vienna, Austria
Description:

MERL researchers presented nine papers at the recently concluded IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2026 in Vienna, Austria. The papers covered a broad set of topics in robotics, including robot perception, visuo-tactile sensing, contact and pose estimation, manipulation, reinforcement learning, diffusion policies, loco-manipulation, contact-implicit trajectory optimization, legged locomotion, localization, and perception-aware planning.

IEEE ICRA is the flagship conference of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the world’s largest and most comprehensive technical conference focused on research advances and the latest technological developments in robotics. The event attracts nearly 8,000 participants and receives more than 5,000 paper submissions.
External Link:

https://2026.ieee-icra.org/
MERL Contacts:
Research Areas:

Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Control, Dynamical Systems, Machine Learning, Optimization, Robotics
- Related Publications
  Yao, S., Xing, C., Jha, D.K., Romeres, D., "Dexterous Non-prehensile Manipulation using Environment Guided Diffusion Models", ICRA Workshop on Dexterity with Multifingered Hands: Hardware, Sensing, and Skills, June 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-073 PDF
  @inproceedings{Yao2026jun,
  author = {{Yao, Shaoxiong and Xing, Chengy and Jha, Devesh K. and Romeres, Diego}},
  title = {{Dexterous Non-prehensile Manipulation using Environment Guided Diffusion Models}},
  booktitle = {ICRA Workshop on Dexterity with Multifingered Hands: Hardware, Sensing, and Skills},
  year = 2026,
  month = jun,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-073}
  }
  Schperberg, A., Wang, Y., Di Cairano, S., "Safe Whole-Body Loco-Manipulation via Combined Model and Learning-based Control", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), June 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-072 PDF Video
  @inproceedings{Schperberg2026jun,
  author = {Schperberg, Alexander and Wang, Yeping and {Di Cairano}, Stefano},
  title = {{Safe Whole-Body Loco-Manipulation via Combined Model and Learning-based Control}},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
  year = 2026,
  month = jun,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-072}
  }
  Velentzas, I.G., Tomita, K., "LIDIA: Localizing In the Dark with Illumination-Awareness toward Perception-Aware Planning", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), June 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-071 PDF
  @inproceedings{Velentzas2026jun,
  author = {{Velentzas, I.G. and Tomita, K.}},
  title = {{LIDIA: Localizing In the Dark with Illumination-Awareness toward Perception-Aware Planning}},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
  year = 2026,
  month = jun,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-071}
  }
  Oller, M., Qian, Q., Corcodel, R., Jain, S., "M-VTOP: Modular Visuo-Tactile Object Pose Estimation for High-Precision Robotic Manipulation", 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), June 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-070 PDF
  @inproceedings{Oller2026jun,
  author = {Oller, Miquel and Qian, Qiyang and Corcodel, Radu and Jain, Siddarth},
  title = {{M-VTOP: Modular Visuo-Tactile Object Pose Estimation for High-Precision Robotic Manipulation}},
  booktitle = {2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics \& Automation (ICRA)},
  year = 2026,
  month = jun,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-070}
  }
  Jain, S., Choi, H.J., "SplatCtrl: Perception–Action Coupling via Gaussian Scene Representations and Reactive Robot Control", 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), June 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-069 PDF
  @inproceedings{Jain2026jun,
  author = {{Jain, Siddarth and Choi, Ho Jin}},
  title = {{SplatCtrl: Perception–Action Coupling via Gaussian Scene Representations and Reactive Robot Control}},
  booktitle = {2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics \& Automation (ICRA)},
  year = 2026,
  month = jun,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-069}
  }
  Buckner, S., Elango, P., "GPU-Accelerated Continuous-Time Successive Convexification for Contact-Implicit Legged Locomotion", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), June 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-068 PDF
  @inproceedings{Buckner2026jun,
  author = {Buckner, Samuel and Elango, Purnanand},
  title = {{GPU-Accelerated Continuous-Time Successive Convexification for Contact-Implicit Legged Locomotion}},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
  year = 2026,
  month = jun,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-068}
  }
  Wang, Z., Jha, D.K., Qureshi, A.H., Romeres, D., "PPGuide: Steering Diffusion Policies with Performance Predictive Guidance", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-066 PDF
  @inproceedings{Wang2026may2,
  author = {{Wang, Zixing and Jha, Devesh K. and Qureshi , Ahmed H. and Romeres, Diego}},
  title = {{PPGuide: Steering Diffusion Policies with Performance Predictive Guidance}},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
  year = 2026,
  month = may,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-066}
  }
  Xu, Z., Shirai, Y., "UNIC: Learning Unified Multimodal Extrinsic Contact Estimation", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-065 PDF Video Data Software
  @inproceedings{Xu2026may,
  author = {{Xu, Zhengtong and Shirai, Yuki}},
  title = {{UNIC: Learning Unified Multimodal Extrinsic Contact Estimation}},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)},
  year = 2026,
  month = may,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-065}
  }
  Queeney, J., Cai, X., Schperberg, A., Corcodel, R., Benosman, M., How, J., "GRAM: Generalization in Deep RL with a Robust Adaptation Module", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), May 2026.
  BibTeX TR2026-057 PDF
  @article{Queeney2026may,
  author = {Queeney, James and Cai, Xiaoyi and Schperberg, Alexander and Corcodel, Radu and Benosman, Mouhacine and How, Jonathan},
  title = {{GRAM: Generalization in Deep RL with a Robust Adaptation Module}},
  journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)},
  year = 2026,
  month = may,
  url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2026-057}
  }