About the Workshop
Robotics has entered an era of foundation models and data-driven policies, yet many benchmarks still emphasize utilitarian goals with binary outcomes. Embodied artistic creation offers a complementary frontier: robots must convert high-level intent into action while balancing hard constraints (contact, tool use, safety, deformable dynamics) with soft objectives (style, expressivity, aesthetics, human preference). Small modeling errors leave visible traces—“good” behavior is not only correct but also expressive, controllable, and interpretable.
Embodied4Arts reframes creative tasks as a driver for next-generation embodied intelligence: from generative models to generative motor programs. We aim to bring together robot learning, manipulation/control, world models, HRI, and creative AI/graphics to develop shared formulations and evaluation protocols.
Topics of Interest
(1) Painting & Drawing as Programs
Transform intent (text/image/sketch) into stroke programs under tool/material constraints. Focus: hierarchical action representations, verification/constraints, and metrics beyond pixel similarity.
- Stroke planning and macro-actions
- Verification-aware decoding and constraint checking
- Evaluation: efficiency, robustness, style/expressivity
(2) Embodied Music & Expressive Control
Beyond note correctness: timing, dynamics, articulation, and interaction. Focus: contact/compliance, tempo/phrasing representations, and expressivity metrics.
- Expressive performance and co-performance
- Audio-visual perception for control
- Evaluation aligned with human perception
(3) Deformables & Computational Craft
Folding, weaving, sewing, knotting, draping: partial observability and complex state spaces. Focus: structured planning, learned/hybrid simulators, and standardized benchmarks.
- World models for deformable dynamics
- Long-horizon planning under constraints
- Benchmarking and reproducible evaluation
Cross-cutting questions
- What makes an artistic/expressive task a useful benchmark for embodied intelligence?
- How should we evaluate creativity and expressivity beyond success/failure?
- How can world models enable imagination while maintaining physical validity (verification/constraints)?
- How do we incorporate human feedback without collapsing authorship/agency?
Embodied4Arts Challenge (Two Painting Tracks)
Track 1: Simulation Painting (Best Quality)
Generate executable stroke trajectories in simulation to reproduce target sketches/paintings under a constrained budget (stroke count, motion cost, time).
- Visual quality: perceptual similarity proxies (LPIPS/CLIP-like)
- Embodied efficiency: path length, pen-up travel, strokes, time
- Robustness (optional): performance under perturbations
Track 2: Real-Robot Painting (Equal Time)
Remote submission with organizer execution on a single standardized platform (same robot, tool mount, surface, and time budget). Teams submit executable programs/trajectories; organizers run all submissions under identical safety constraints and record outputs.
- Final artwork: perceptual metrics + optional human rating
- Reliability/safety: stable execution, constraint adherence
- Timing: strict equal time cap for all teams
Sponsorship & Prizes
Sponsored by Axis.ai. Sponsorship funds will be used solely for prizes and workshop/community materials; it will not influence selection, review, or awards decisions, and no commercial promotion will be part of the technical program.
- Total prize pool: $1,500
- Grand Prize: $800 • 2nd: $300 • 3rd: $200 • Best Simulation: $100 • Best Real-Robot: $100
Timeline (relative)
- T-8 weeks: starter kit release + opening of submissions
- T-3 weeks: submission deadline (challenge + optional abstract/video)
- T-1 week: final leaderboard + winner notification; spotlight schedule finalized
Invited Speakers & Panelists
Status legend: Confirmed = speaker has explicitly agreed; Invited = pending response. We will verify that speakers/panelists accept a speaking/panel slot at at most one RSS workshop.
Panel format: invited speakers + organizers; we will add 1–2 panelists from RSS core communities to ensure strong alignment with planning/control/manipulation and evaluation.
Organizers
Organizing Roles (summary)
- Primary contact: Yanjia Huang
- Program/review: Peihao Li; Ying Jiang; Yining Hong
- Challenge (simulation): Mingyang Wu; Ying Jiang
- Challenge (real robot): Yanjia Huang; Yunuo Chen; Xiangbo Gao
- Website/publicity: Yining Hong; Peihao Li
- Poster/lightning logistics: Ying Jiang; Xiangbo Gao
Tentative Schedule (4 hours)
Half-day (morning or afternoon). Includes a 30-minute coffee break that may overlap with a poster session.
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 00:00–00:10 | Opening remarks: scope, goals, format, and challenge overview |
| 00:10–01:00 | Two invited talks (20–25 min + Q&A each): painting as programs; expressive music control |
| 01:00–01:30 | Coffee break + Poster session (posters remain up throughout) |
| 01:30–02:05 | Invited talk: deformables/craft |
| 02:05–02:30 | Contributed lightning talks (8–10 talks, 2–3 min each) |
| 02:30–02:50 | Challenge report + winner spotlights |
| 02:50–03:25 | Panel discussion + audience Q&A (moderated) |
| 03:25–03:55 | Breakout discussions + report-back (structured prompts) |
| 03:55–04:00 | Closing: outcomes, next steps, community actions |
Logistics (Resources and Attendance)
Resources: standard A/V (projector, mics) and 20–40 poster boards; optional small tabletop demo area if space permits.
In-person: at least three organizers (including the primary contact) will attend.
Online (subject to RSS policy): we will post materials on the website and host an online Q&A channel.
Submission
Call for Contributions (non-archival)
- Extended abstract: 1–2 pages (PDF), OR
- Video demo: 2–3 minutes + 1-page summary
- Optional: challenge participation (sim/real tracks) + short method description
Lightning talks will be selected from submissions (students/first-time presenters prioritized). Posters for accepted contributions.
Important Dates (TBD)
- Submissions open: TBD
- Submission deadline: TBD
- Notification: TBD
We will publish the submission portal and detailed instructions on this page once the RSS workshop schedule is finalized.
Contacts
Lead contact: Yanjia Huang — yanjia_0812@tamu.edu
Website: embodied4arts.github.io