Khalifa University to Organize Eight Global-Level Competitions and Challenges during IROS 2024 in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University of Science and Technology in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today announced eight global-level competitions and challenges that inspire creativity will form an essential part of the 36^th edition of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2024).

 Themed ‘Robotics for Sustainable Development’, the eight challenges and competitions at the Middle East and Africa (MENA) region’s first-ever IROS 2024 will focus on robots’ physical or athletic intelligence, remote robot navigation, robot manipulation, underwater robotics, and perception and sensing, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC) from 14-18 October 2024.

Additionally, the Falcon Monitoring Challenge is aimed at advancing the field of wildlife tracking and conservation through the development of sophisticated, noninvasive monitoring systems. Moreover, shortlisted finalists from the Pan-African Robotics Competition (PARC) will demonstrate their project concepts, further intensifying interest in Africa. There will also be an IROS Expo and an exclusive Career Fair at the world’s biggest gathering of researchers, academics, and industry professionals from around the globe for IROS 2024.

Dr. Jorge Dias, General Chair, IROS 2024, and Director, Khalifa University – Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems, said: “These eight competitions and various challenges reflect Khalifa University’s commitment to engage the stakeholders at IROS 2024 and inspire them to seek solutions that involve robotics and drones. The diverse nature of these competitions also demonstrates the overarching range of new technologies in robotics and drones that could be exploited for the benefit of the global community. We look forward to intense participation from global researchers and academic institutions and believe the resulting solutions will justify humanity’s commitment to adopting rapidly evolving technologies in robotics for all occasions.”

 The eight challenges include AI Olympics With RealAIGym: Is AI Ready for Athletic Intelligence in the Real World? assesses the physical or athletic intelligence of robots, The Earth Rovers Challenge that focuses on remote robot navigation, Robotic Construction Challenge that focuses on that focuses on robot manipulation, the euROBIN Manipulation Skill Versatility Challenge ‘MSVC’ Competition also targets robot manipulation.

 The Underwater Robotics Challenges also introduces innovation and problem-solving in the fields of underwater robotics and artificial intelligence, the Automatic Data Annotation Challenge for ROAD Dataset building on breakthroughs in perception and sensing, as well as the F1Tenth Autonomous Racing Competition, and the IEEE RAS Quadruped Robot Challenge (QRC), all concentrating on navigation.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) of Abu Dhabi is a strategic sponsor for IROS 2024 while Astribot, and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) are Platinum sponsors. The Dubai Future Foundation and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence are gold sponsors, while NOKOV Motion Capture Company and Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) are silver sponsors. The Beijing Institute of Technology is the University partner.

DEEP Robotics and ITT Project Management Services will join the 11 startups that will showcase their robotics innovations.

For more information, visit IROS 2024.