Calandra, who holds the professorship for Explainable Artificial Intelligence at TU Dresden and is a researcher at the Cluster of Excellence Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI), received the award during the annual IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA 2024) in Yokohama. The $1,000 prize is sponsored by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) and the IEEE Foundation.

Calandra accepts the award for his "contributions to touch sensing, processing and its application to manipulation". The award recognizes the work he and his team have done in the field of touch sensing - from hardware design and software development to applications in the field of grasping. Calandra has been researching and teaching robotics at TU Dresden since 2023. He is particularly interested in the question of how robots can become helpful companions in everyday life. Understanding the processing of tactile signals in robots is particularly important here, as this is one way to improve the interaction between humans and machines. One of his research focuses, in collaboration with Metrics (Stanford University) and the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT/UCC) Dresden, is on how the use of touch sensors can help in the early detection of cancer. The scientists are developing robotic hands that can use vision-based tactile sensors to sense perceptions such as material type, shape, density and surface texture and achieve the strength and spatial resolution of human fingertips.

The IEEE Early Academic Career Award

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) has been awarding the prize since 1999 to recognize young academics who have made influential and impactful contributions to the field of robotics and automation. It recognizes outstanding professional achievements and service as well as educational contributions to robotics and automation. Any current member of the RAS who is in the early stages of their career in robotics and/or automation - i.e. less than seven years after the award of their doctorate - is eligible. In addition to Roberto Calandra, four other award winners were honored.