INESC TEC took part in ICRA (IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation), the world’s largest robotics conference, which this year was held in Vienna, Austria, during the first week of June. The Institute brought two awards back to Porto.
On the very first day of the conference, INESC TEC received the Best Poster Award at the circular robotics workshop entitled “Circular Robotics: Designing Sustainable Autonomy for a Finite World.” This workshop brought robotics and sustainability together to address a series of questions, namely: what kinds of robots are we producing, and how are we producing them? Several posters and presentations were featured throughout the workshop, with the poster presented by Pedro Dias, an INESC TEC researcher, being singled out for the Best Poster Award at ICRA 2026.
The poster, entitled “A Multi-Modal Framework for E-Waste Disassembly: From AI Classification to Optimized Screw Removal,” illustrates the pipeline of the current stage of a robotic cell designed to dismantle End-of-Life (EoL) devices, highlighting its advanced capabilities in fastener removal.
According to researcher Pedro Dias, “the developed system integrates detection, segmentation, and automated tool selection, using Image-Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) via the Jacobian matrix to achieve the high precision required for reliable unscrewing operations.”
Pedro Dias also expressed his gratitude to the paper’s co-authors – Artur Cordeiro, Marcelo Petry, Vítor Filipe, Luis Freitas Rocha, João Pedro Souza, and Manuel Silva, all of them fellow INESC TEC researchers (as well as Hyatullah Nory, from Volt WEG Group, a partner in the iBot4CRMs project) – “without whom winning this award would not have been possible,” and to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for the financial support provided through a doctoral scholarship.
“The research I presented was developed within the scope of the European project iBot4CRMs, of which INESC TEC is a partner, and whose main objective concerns the development of robotic solutions to enable the recovery of Critical Raw Materials,” concluded Pedro Dias.
Closing the event, the iBot4CRMs project was once again in the spotlight, receiving the Most Popular Project award at the NeuroDesign in Human–Robot Interaction Competition. INESC TEC researchers Marcelo Petry, Daniel Subtil, João Martins, and Guilherme Costa, together with Atle Aalerud, a researcher from NORCE, were the authors of the work, which was presented by Daniel Subtil.
Marcelo Petry, the INESC TEC researcher leading the project, noted that “these recognitions mean a great deal to us and reflect the hard work, creativity, and dedication of everyone involved in the iBot4CRMs consortium. We are grateful to our partners for their collaboration, and to the organisers, jury, workshop participants, and the robotics community for the inspiring discussions and support throughout the conference.”
ICRA 2026 took place from 1 to 5 June 2026 and brought together the world’s leading researchers and industry figures to exchange ideas and knowledge, with the aim of advancing the field of robotics for the benefit of humanity.
Disclaimer: this news piece was translated by Claude.ai
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