[CfP] ALIFE 2026 Special Session on Co-design of Robot Morphology and Control

[KS Luck]

Call for Papers: ALIFE 2026 Special Session on Co-design of Robot Morphology and Control

Submission Deadline: 30th of March 2026
Website: https://www.mn.uio.no/ifi/english/people/aca/kaiolae/alife-2026-special-session-on-co-design-of-robot-m.html

Conference: The 2026 Artificial Life Conference (ALIFE 2026)
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Overview

The joint evolution of robot embodiments and behaviors lies at the very heart of the ALife research community, posing fundamental questions about the building blocks and learning methodologies required to enable the robotic morphology and control optimization in the real world.

While this field is central to ALife, progress has historically been distributed across various scientific communities, including Robotics and Machine Learning. This special session aims to bridge these fields, inviting researchers to present their latest work on robotic co-design and specifically encouraging participation from those new to the ALIFE community. Papers will be peer reviewed and accepted contributions will be published in the main conference proceedings.

Topics of Interest

We invite submissions on a wide range of topics related to the co-optimization of body and brain, including but not limited to:

• Real-life evolution: Latest advances in the evolution of physical robot embodiments.

• Genotypic encodings: Investigations into the genetic representation of both body and control.

• Environmental Influence: Studies on how different environments shape embodiment and behavior.

• Real-world Realization: Utilizing 3D-printing, autonomous construction, and advanced manufacturing for robot co-evolution.

• Modern AI Approaches: Advances in co-design using deep learning and foundation models.

• Adaptive Control: Research into closed-loop multimodal control for robots with changing or diverse embodiments.

• Morphological Intelligence: General research into the intelligence inherent in physical forms.

Session Organizers

• Kai Olav Ellefsen, University of Oslo

• Kyrre Glette, University of Oslo

• Ege de Bruin, University of Oslo

• Kevin Sebastian Luck, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

For more information and submission guidelines, please see the special session webpage. We look forward to your contributions!