At IROS, Mishu with colleagues from Tufts (Markus Nemitz & William Liu), Brown (Miguel Bessa) and the Vector Institute (Ang Li) organized a workshop on “Robotics and Automation on Self Driving Labs”. The event brought together experts from industry, academia and national labs to talk about this rapidly growing topic. 

Mishu and Alberto Quattrini Li from Dartmouth organized a workshop at the annual meeting of the National Science Foundation’s Foundational Research in Robotics. The topic was “Robots in Harsh and Extreme Environments”, showcasing both experienced principle investigators and aspiring researchers.

In late summer 2026, the Robot Incubator and friends visited an orchard to pick some apples, continuing an annual lab tradition.

Eddie, Anatol, and Mishu traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, to attend the SmallSat 2026 conference. In the Advanced Technologies session, Eddie presented “Passive Thermal Imaging and Failure Detection of Large-Area Space Structures Using Spin Crossover Composite Skins,” and in Flash Talk Session 2, Anatol presented “A Soft Robot in the Stratosphere.”

Members of the Robot Incubator visit an apple orchard to investigate the feasibility of soft robotic apple-picking through hands-on experimentation.