Quantifying the Ecological Costs and Benefits of Robotics and Physical Intelligence

Robotics and physical intelligence are rapidly progressing toward systems capable of increasingly complex interaction with the physical world. Advances in robotics and physical intelligence, including embodied AI, promise major applications in industry, healthcare, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring. Yet the environmental impact of these systems remains largely unexplored: hardware production, energy consumption, data infrastructure, large-scale deployment, and end-of-life management.

This workshop, featuring French and Finnish researchers and experts, aims to initiate a discussion on how to quantify both the ecological costs and the potential environmental benefits of robotic and physically intelligent systems.

At low technology readiness levels, discussions about robotics and physical intelligence are often speculative and shaped by science-fiction narratives, making realistic evaluation difficult. At higher TRLs, other challenges emerge, including lifecycle impacts, energy use, data traceability, and the sustainability of large-scale deployment.

The objective of the workshop is to bring together perspectives from robotics and physical intelligence, life-cycle analysis and eco-design, human-computer interaction, circular economy, and sustainable innovation, to explore how these systems can be developed and deployed in ways that are both technically meaningful and environmentally responsible.

Preliminary list of speakers features:

• Maxime Pelcat (INSA Rennes, France)
• Ulla Saari (Tampere University)
• Nicolas Mansard (CNRS, France)
• Ulla Thomas Olsson (Tampere University).

The full programme will be announced HERE.

Join this unique discussion bringing together researchers and experts from Finland and France to explore how robotics and physical intelligence can help address tomorrow’s challenges while quantifying their ecological costs and benefits in view.

The language of the event is English. The event is designed for researchers and experts specialized in the workshop’s themes. Participation is free upon registration.