Human-to-Robot Handovers is one of the four competition tracks within the 11th Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition (RGMC) that will be held during the IEEE/RAS International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2026 in Vienna, Austria.
This is a unique opportunity to benchmark your work with the state-of-the-art and advance this robotic task in real-world conditions.
Beyond the chance of winning the competition track, you will also have the opportunity to:
- Test your algorithms on your own robot, or UR5 and Franka Emika Panda robots (based on availability) at the competition site
- Win cash prizes (top-performing team) and earn recognition at ICRA 2026
- Contribute a research article on your solution, findings, and results to the Topical Collection on "Advancing Robotic Grasping and Manipulation for the Real-World" within Autonomous Robots
- Showcase a demo video on the RGMC YouTube channel, reaching the research community worldwide
- Receive a free MATLAB license provided by Mathworks to support your solution development
- Network and collaborate with other researchers and practitioners in the field
The real-time estimation through vision perception of the physical properties of objects manipulated by humans is important to inform the control of robots and perform accurate and safe grasps of objects handed over by humans. However, estimating the physical properties of previously unseen objects using only inexpensive cameras is challenging due to illumination variations, transparencies, reflective surfaces, and occlusions caused both by the human and the robot.
Our dynamic human-to-robot handovers track is based on an affordable experimental setup that does not use a motion capture system, markers, or prior knowledge of specific object models. The track focuses on food containers and drinking glasses that vary in shape and size, and may be empty or filled with an unknown amount of unknown content.
Goal: Assess the generalisation capabilities of the robotic control when handing over previously unseen objects filled (or not) with unknown content, hence with a different and unknown mass and stiffness. No object properties are initially known to the robot (or the team) that must infer these properties on-the-fly, during the execution of the dynamic handover, through perception of the scene.
The track will involve a qualification phase in which teams can perform the handover configurations of the CORSMAL Benchmark protocol remotely in their laboratory. Please see also the starting kit and documentation for preparing your solution.
The primary application deadline has passed, but we will still consider applications based on participant spot availability and solution readiness.
- End of qualification phase: 16 April 2026
- Announcement of qualified teams for competition in Vienna: 30 April 2026
- Submission of demo video (optional): 26 May 2026
- Competition dates: 2-4 June 2026 (schedule to be confirmed)
- Announcement of the winners and award ceremony: 4 June 2026
- Deadline for submitting demo video for RGMC YouTube channel: 30 June 2026
Number of available robots at the competition site has not been confirmed yet. Tentative schedule for the handover track at the competition site will be shared with the teams in due course.
Qualified teams will have the opportunity to share a demo video of their solution before the competition. Shared videos will be showcased in Vienna during the competition and on the RGMC YouTube channel after the competition. All teams are encouraged to share a demo video to show their solution and results on the RGMC YouTube channel by the end of June.
Teams accepted to the Human-to-Robot Handover track. Select a team to see the details. Team leader highlighted in bold.
Changjae Oh, Queen Mary University of London (UK)
Andrea Cavallaro, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland)
Alessio Xompero, Queen Mary University of London (UK)
If you have any questions or enquiries related to the competition track, please contact Dr. Changjae Oh or Prof. Andrea Cavallaro.
If you have any general questions or other enquiries related to the Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition, please visit the RGMC webpage.