Haddadin was the founding and executive director of Europe’s largest center of robotics and machine intelligence, TUM’s Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI). MIRMI became one of the world’s leading centers, ranked number one in robotics according to csrankings.org and number two by airankings.org.

Haddadin established himself as a foremost expert in robotics worldwide as professor and chair of robotics and systems intelligence at TUM. He is widely recognized for his pioneering work in tactile mechatronics, contact-aware robots, safety methodologies in human-robot interaction, and autonomous manipulation learning. His innovations range from manipulators and unmanned aerial vehicles to mobile systems, humanoids, intelligent prosthetics, and exoskeletons.

He holds degrees in electrical engineering, computer science, and technology management (TUM/LMU), earned his doctorate with high distinction from RWTH Aachen and became an IEEE fellow in 2024.

In-So Kweon received the BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Design and Production Engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1981 and 1983, respectively, and the PhD degree in Robotics from the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1990. He worked for the Toshiba R&D Center, Japan, and joined the Department of Automation and Design Engineering, KAIST, Seoul, Korea, in 1992, where he is now a professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering. His research interests are sensor fusion, color modeling and analysis, visual tracking, and visual SLAM. He was the general chair for the Asian Conference on Computer Vision 2012 and he is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Computer Vision. He has been serving as a director for P3 DigiCar Center which is one of the National Core Research Center since 2010.

Chiara Bartolozzi is Senior Tenured Researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology. She earned a degree in Engineering at University of Genova (Italy) and a Ph.D. in Neuroinformatics at ETH Zurich, developing analog subthreshold circuits for emulating biophysical neuronal properties onto silicon and modelling selective attention on hierarchical multi-chip systems.

She is currently leading the Event-Driven Perception for Robotics group, with the aim of applying the "neuromorphic" engineering approach to the design of robotic platforms as enabling technology towards the design of autonomous machines.

Chiara has participated to a number of EU funded projects, she coordinated the European Training Network "NeuTouch", where 15 PhD students studied how touch perception works in humans and animals, in order to develop artificial touch perception systems for robots and hand prosthesis. As leader of the educational activities of the coordination and support action NEUROTECH, she co-organised the Neuromorphic Colloquium, a series of online events to build up educational material for the next generation of neuromorphic researchers.

She is in the scientific board of the Capocaccia Workshop on Neuromorphic Intelligence. She is Senior Editor for NPJ Robotics, IOP Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering, IEEE JETCAS and editor in Frontiers in Neuroscience and IEEE TCASI.

She is an IEEE member, actively supporting the CAS and RAS societies, previous chair of WiCAS committee, and NSA Technical Committee. In 2020, she was general chair of "AICAS2020", on Circuits and systems for efficient embedded AI.

Hae-Won Park is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) and serves as the director of its humanoid robot research center. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2012, following master's and bachelor's degrees from Yonsei University. Prior to his tenure at KAIST, Park held roles as an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and as a research scientist and postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, where he contributed to social robotics projects aimed at children's language education. At KAIST, he leads the Dynamic Robot Control and Design Laboratory, concentrating his research on the control and design of dynamic robot systems, particularly legged locomotion, bio-inspired robots, model predictive control, reinforcement learning, and innovative robot mechanisms. His work has led to the development of agile climbing robots designed for navigating challenging environments. Professor Park's contributions to the field have been acknowledged with honors such as an Early Career Spotlight award at the 2021 Robotics Science & Systems conference, an editorial board membership for the IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, and the ICRA DARwIn-OP Humanoids Application Challenge Winner award in 2013.

Dr. Shuran Song is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and, by courtesy, Computer Science at Stanford University, where she directs the Robotics and Embodied Artificial Intelligence Lab (REALab@Stanford). A leading researcher in the intersection of computer vision and robotics, Dr. Song's academic journey began with a BEng from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, followed by a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University. Before her tenure at Stanford, which started in 2023, she served as an assistant professor at Columbia University and held visiting research roles at institutions like Google Brain Robotics and Microsoft Research. Her research is dedicated to developing machine learning algorithms that enable robots to acquire complex manipulation skills from various data sources. Dr. Song is particularly interested in changing computer vision's role from passive observation to active exploration, allowing robots to leverage physical dynamics like gravity and momentum—a concept she terms "Learning Meets Gravity"—to perform tasks such as throwing or unfolding objects efficiently. Her innovative work, including pioneering "diffusion policy" methods and creating low-cost robotic hearing systems, has earned her significant recognition, including an NSF Career Award, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the 2024 Samsung AI Researcher of the Year Award, and multiple best paper awards at top robotics conferences.

Lorenzo Masia is the Executive Director of the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) and a Professor of Intelligent Bio-Robotic Systems at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He holds a PhD from the University of Padua and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), following an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome. Masia's career trajectory includes roles as a Team Leader at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and professorships at the University of Twente and Heidelberg University before joining TUM in 2024. His research primarily focuses on soft, lightweight exosuits designed to augment human muscle activity and facilitate rehabilitation for individuals with neurological conditions, emphasizing intuitive control strategies for human-robot interaction in these mechatronic devices.

Hang Su is a Professor at the University of Paris-Saclay, specifically affiliated with the IBISC Lab in Gif-sur-Yvette, France. His extensive research portfolio is centered on the intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, and human interaction, with particular expertise in areas such as human-robot interaction, exoskeletons, surgical robotics, and fuzzy/adaptive control systems. Dr. Su is a highly recognized figure in his field, evidenced by his consistent inclusion in Stanford's list of the world's Top 2% Scientists since 2021 and numerous accolades, including the prestigious Andrew P. Sage Best Transactions Paper Award in 2021. In addition to his research and teaching roles, he actively contributes to the academic community through editorial positions for several leading IEEE Transactions and major robotics conferences.

Steve Collins is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, where he teaches courses on design and robotics and directs the Stanford Biomechatronics Laboratory. His primary focus is to speed and systematize the design and prescription of prostheses and exoskeletons using versatile device emulator hardware and human-in-the-loop optimization algorithms (Zhang et al. 2017, Science). Another interest is efficient autonomous devices, such as highly energy-efficient walking robots (Collins et al. 2005, Science) and exoskeletons that use no energy yet reduce the metabolic energy cost of human walking (Collins et al. 2015, Nature).
Prof. Collins received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 from Cornell University, where he performed undergraduate research on passive dynamic walking robots. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2008 from the University of Michigan, where he performed research on the dynamics and control of human walking. He performed postdoctoral research on humanoid robots at T. U. Delft in the Netherlands. He was a professor of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University for seven years. In 2017, he joined the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University.
Prof. Collins is a member of the Scientific Board of Dynamic Walking and the Editorial Board of Science Robotics. He has received the Young Scientist Award from the American Society of Biomechanics, the Best Medical Devices Paper from the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, and the student-voted Professor of the Year in his department.

Michael Milford, FTSE, conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of robotics, neuroscience, and computer vision. He currently holds appointments as Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics, QUT Professor, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. He has led or co-led projects totalling more than 56 million dollars in research and industry funding, receiving over 17,000 citations, and his work has culminated in numerous accolades, including six best paper awards (and ten finalists), the ATSE Batterham Medal, a joint outright Queensland Young Tall Poppy award, and was made a Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow, one of only three Australians ever to receive this recognition. From 2022 – 2027 he is leading a large research team combining bio-inspired and computer science-based approaches to provide a ubiquitous alternative to GPS that does not rely on satellites. Michael is also an educational entrepreneur: as founder of Math Thrills, he has produced engaging STEM education materials distributed to over 35 countries for more than 20 years. As a keen mentor, Michael works with individuals and groups, both locally at the individual, institute or university level across Australia, but also globally through his Hacking Academia initiative, and won the 2025 Outstanding Mentor of Researchers Eureka Prize.