SIGGRAPH 2026 will feature research and demonstrations examining how computer graphics, simulation and artificial intelligence are being applied to robotics. The conference is scheduled for 19–23 July at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Robotics-related work will appear across the conference’s technical papers, emerging technologies, courses, workshops, art programmes and spatial storytelling sessions. The programme will cover the use of virtual environments to design, train and test robots before deployment in physical settings, as well as new approaches to human-robot interaction and robotic fabrication.
Several Nvidia-led courses will address the development of physical AI systems, GPU-accelerated robot training and the preparation of simulation-ready robotic assets using OpenUSD. Technical papers will include research on converting static 3D meshes into articulated assets, generating real-time motion, retargeting human movement to humanoid and quadruped robots, and jointly designing robot bodies and control systems for locomotion.
A technical workshop on differentiable physics will examine the use of simulation in graphics, robotics and design. A separate workshop on digital twins will consider applications in healthcare, energy and scientific visualisation.
Emerging Technologies projects will focus on interaction between people and robotic systems. “Katakko: Embodiment of Modular Robots through Automatic Motion Mapping” will allow participants to assemble modular social robots and control them through mapped body movements. “Shall We Dance? Resonance of Intentions with an Embodied Agent based on the Free Energy Principle” will demonstrate an agent designed to coordinate its movements with a human partner in real time.
Other projects will explore robot control through small preparatory body movements, wearable robotic limbs intended to support social expression and CNC systems combining pre-programmed operations with real-time control.
Robotics will also be presented as a tool for artistic production. One art paper describes a robotic workflow for creating lightweight three-dimensional membranes from biocompatible polymers. Another installation uses machine vision and generative language models to examine how automated systems make judgments in public settings.
The Spatial Storytelling programme will include work involving companion robot dogs, robotic artworks developed in the Amazon rainforest and an interactive fulldome installation combining generative AI with a multisensory robotic sculpture.
“The lines between computer graphics, physics, and AI are blurring,” SIGGRAPH 2026 Conference Chair Chris Redmann said. He added that the overlap was creating new areas of research and interaction between digital systems and the physical world.
Additional workshops will examine the use of miniature drone swarms as components of spatial displays and the application of extended reality, digital twins, simulation and robotics in clinical environments.
Foto credit Takeru Hashimoto
