AIRO IDLab Ghent University - imec

AIRO is a research team part of the research group IDLab. Our team is led by Prof. Joni Dambre, Prof. Francis wyffels, and Prof. Tony Belpaeme. Together with our team of researchers and students, we work on interdisciplinary research in the fields of AI and Robotics, ranging from social robotics to fringe machine learning. The lab has vast experience with neural networks and ended up several times as a winning team in international Kaggle competitions on image recognition. Get a full overview of the fundamental and applied research problems we tackle on the research page.


news
May 19, 2025 |
Robotic bartenders in human-driven environments
The imec ITF World event is a conference that brings more than 2000 technology experts together. This year, we are present with not one but two booths. We show our intelligent tactile fingertips, which use infrared technology to trace objects with complex shapes. Our robot butler, previously featured by Flanders News (VRT NWS), will serve drinks to attendees. It will do this fully autonomously, from grabbing bottles from the fridge, to detecting glasses and estimating their volume, pouring drinks, and discarding empty bottles. If you are a visitor at ITF World, do come and grab a drink! |
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May 7, 2025 |
Unveiling the Mechanics of the Seahorse Tail - A Cross-Disciplinary Study in J. R. Soc. Interface
Our latest research has just been published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface! In this interdisciplinary study, we uncover the biomechanical and evolutionary advantages of the seahorse’s unique tail musculature—work that bridges biological insight and bio-inspired robotics. |
Nov 13, 2024 |
Dag van de Wetenschap 2024
AIRO is presenting at the Dag van de Wetenschap 2024 (Day of Science), an annual event organised across Flanders during which science and technology is celebrated with hands-on activities, demonstration, lab visits and lectures. |
Oct 25, 2024 |
Best paper award at ICSR2024
Qiaoqiao Ren wins best paper award at the International Conference on Social Robotics |
Oct 6, 2024 |
Introducing MOBI - A Mobile Butler for Improved Elderly Care
Healthcare personnel spend significant time and effort on repetitive tasks that imply physical labor. This leaves them with less time for social interaction with residents of, for example, elderly care homes. |