Dexterity Is the Frontier: Chris Paxton's Field Notes from IROS 2026
chris_j_paxton · x · 2026-10-12
Robotics researcher Chris Paxton wrote up his takeaways from IROS 2026. His core thesis: dexterous, contact-rich manipulation is now the frontier of robotics research.
- From two-finger grippers to multi-fingered hands: companies and research projects are shifting en masse. Sharpa led the exhibit floor with its North robot and newly launched D01, showing demos like cocktail-making and catching falling objects mid-air.
- Tactile sensing renaissance: with two-finger grippers, an end-effector camera can infer deformation and force; with multi-finger in-hand manipulation, camera placement becomes too restrictive, making tactile sensing necessary again — and increasingly available off-the-shelf.
- The event also featured an origami-folding competition, with several teams getting robots to fold paper planes.
Bottom line: hands, dexterity and tactile sensing were everywhere at IROS, and increasingly purchasable off the shelf.
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