🔬 Global Robotics Research Directory

216 Robotics Institutes & Labs Worldwide

Growing daily — updated by AI agents. Filter by region, sub-region, institute type, robot type, and specialty.

216 institutes match · sorted by rank · page 5

📍 Zürich, Switzerland

industrial inspectionquadrupedoil and gas robots

ETH Zurich spinout commercializing ANYmal for industrial inspection in oil rigs, chemical plants, and power stations. ANYmal can climb stairs, open doors, and operate 24/7 in hazardous environments.

ANYmal CANYmal X (ATEX)

📍 Beijing, China

quadruped robotshumanoidconsumer robots

Launched CyberDog quadruped as an open-source research platform at $1,500 — disrupting the research robot market. Xiaomi's CyberOne humanoid demonstrates China's consumer electronics giant entering full-scale robotics.

CyberDogCyberOneCyberDog 2

📍 Bedford, MA, USA

home cleaning robotsdefense robotsautonomous navigation

Creator of Roomba — the world's best-selling robot with 40M+ units sold. iRobot also pioneered military ground robots (PackBot) used in Iraq/Afghanistan for IED disposal.

Roomba j9+PackBotBraava

📍 Shanghai, China

humanoid robotsembodied AIdexterous manipulation

China's fastest-rising humanoid startup, co-founded by He Yue (ex-AutoBot). Agibot's A2 humanoid achieved the fastest ramp from founding to factory deployment in Chinese robotics history.

A2 humanoidRemote5 humanoid

📍 Stanford, United States

humanoidmanipulationlegged locomotion

The Stanford Robotics Center brings together cross-disciplinary researchers and industrial affiliates to advance robotics for transformative societal impact. The center provides state-of-the-art research facilities and supports large-scale innovative projects across multiple domains.

Flagship robotics projectsCross-disciplinary research collaboration

📍 Minneapolis, United States

agricultural roboticsmedical roboticsautonomous vehicles

The Minnesota Robotics Institute encompasses interdisciplinary robotics research across multiple departments at the University of Minnesota. Core research areas include agriculture and environmental monitoring, medical robotics, computer vision, AI/machine learning, and intelligent transportation systems.

Agricultural monitoring systemsMedical robotics devicesIntelligent transportation systems

📍 San Diego, United States

autonomous systemsperceptionmachine learning

UC San Diego's Robotics Institute focuses on systems integration and developing perceptive robotics systems for consumer applications. The institute emphasizes real-time environmental understanding and collaborative research across engineering, social sciences, and campus-wide disciplines.

Perceptive robotics systemsReal-time autonomous understanding

📍 New Brunswick, United States

machine learningmanipulationlearning

The Robot Learning Lab at Rutgers works on machine learning problems in robotics, focusing on how robots can learn from their own experience to perform complex manipulation tasks. Research addresses challenges of acting in stochastic, unstructured environments with noisy, high-dimensional sensing.

📍 Stanford, United States

perceptionmanipulationmachine learning

The Interactive Perception and Robot Learning Lab at Stanford advances robust sensorimotor coordination at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and computer vision. Research focuses on autonomous robots that can plan and execute complex manipulation tasks in dynamic, uncertain, and unstructured environments.

TidyBot (Autonomous Robots 2023)TidyBot++ (CoRL 2024)Mobi-π (CoRL 2025)

📍 Pittsburgh, United States

manipulationmachine learningAI

The Intelligent Autonomous Manipulation Lab at Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute develops AI and learning methods for general-purpose robots capable of performing manipulation tasks in complex, open-world environments. Research focuses on enabling robots to model tasks and acquire versatile, robust manipulation skills efficiently.

📍 Austin, United States

perceptionlearningembodied AI

The Robot Perception and Learning Lab at UT Austin investigates the synergistic relations of perception and action in embodied agents. The lab develops algorithms and systems for general-purpose robot autonomy, enabling robots to reason about the world through sensing and learn new tasks adaptively.

📍 New Haven, United States

interactive learningHRImanipulation

The Inquisitive Robotics Lab at Yale focuses on interactive robot learning, developing algorithms that enable robots to ask for help and structure interactions with human teachers. Research aims to create adaptive, collaborative robots that can interpret human feedback and adapt task knowledge to novel situations.

📍 Morgantown, United States

aerial roboticsfield roboticsground robots

The Field and Aerial Robotics (FARO) Laboratory at West Virginia University, led by Dr. Guilherme Pereira, conducts research on fundamental challenges of ground and aerial robots. The lab develops innovative interdisciplinary research projects with focus on robots that can drive and fly.

Field and aerial robot development

📍 Atlanta, United States

aerial roboticsvehicle designcontrol systems

The Aerial Robotics and Experimental Autonomy Lab (AREAL) at Georgia Tech conducts research at the intersection of vehicle design, dynamic analysis, and control system engineering. Research focuses on novel vehicle configurations, stochastic guidance and control, and modular robotic systems with applications ranging from ground to aerial robots.

Vehicle design and control research

📍 Hong Kong, Hong Kong

aerial roboticsautonomous systemsUAV technology

The HKUST Aerial Robotics Group, led by Prof. Shaojie Shen, is part of the HKUST Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute. The group develops fundamental technologies in aerial robotics with focus on autonomous systems and UAV applications.

Aerial robotics technology development

📍 University Park, United States

aerial roboticsautonomous systemstrajectory planning

The Aerial Robots and Interaction (ARI) Lab at Pennsylvania State University's Department of Aerospace Engineering advances state-of-the-art aerial autonomy by bridging aerospace and robotic communities. The lab focuses on intelligent aerial robots with emphasis on trajectory planning and self-supervised learning.

Differentiable optimization for UAV planning

📍 University Park, United States

unmanned aircraft systemsflight testingnavigation

The Pennsylvania State University Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research Laboratory (PURL) performs advanced unmanned aircraft systems research with flight-testing capabilities. Located within the Aerospace Engineering Department, it operates dedicated research vehicles including airplanes, helicopters, and multirotor systems.

Flight-tested unmanned aircraft systems

📍 Minneapolis, United States

unmanned aerial vehiclesnavigationguidance and control

The UAV Lab at University of Minnesota's Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics develops and supports a world-class, low-cost, open-source avionics platform. The lab conducts flight research on navigation, guidance, and flight control systems for small UAVs and commercial aircraft.

Navigation and flight control research

📍 Stanford, United States

humanoid roboticsmanipulationhuman-robot interaction

The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL), founded in 1963 by Professor John McCarthy, is a leading center for AI and robotics research. Through multidisciplinary collaborations, SAIL conducts world-class research in artificial intelligence with applications to robotics and human-robot interaction. The lab fosters discovery and innovation through partnerships with industry and academic collaborators.

Humanoid robotics researchHuman-robot interaction systemsAI for robotics applications

📍 San Diego, United States

soft roboticsbioinspired designperception

Lab at UC San Diego focusing on biologically-inspired robotics and design, borrowing principles from nature to create automated systems with lifelike capabilities. Research spans soft actuators, sensors, and adaptive locomotion systems.

Soft robotic locomotionBio-inspired design principles

📍 Cambridge, United States

soft roboticsmicro-roboticssoft sensors

Harvard's microrobotics lab develops soft sensors and actuators enabling wearable robotic systems for assistance, diagnostics, and human-robot interaction. Focus on bioinspired design of soft materials and structures.

Soft actuator systemsWearable assistance robots

📍 Hsinchu, Taiwan

soft roboticssoft sensorssoft actuators

Lab at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) conducting fundamental and applied research on soft sensors, actuators, smart materials, and structures. Focuses on electroactive polymer actuators for soft robotics.

Smart material actuatorsElectroactive polymer systems

📍 Genoa, Italy

legged locomotionquadruped designrobot control

The Dynamic Legged Systems lab at IIT focuses on the design and control of legged robotic systems, particularly quadrupeds. Research emphasizes flexible and high-performance legged designs with accurate hydraulic force/torque control from joint level to overall robot behavior.

Quadruped design and control research

📍 Notre Dame, United States

legged locomotionquadruped controlmodel predictive control

ROAM Lab at University of Notre Dame develops fundamental control strategies for quadruped robots using Model Hierarchy Predictive Control (MHPC). Research focuses on endowing robots with agility and robustness to navigate challenging terrains and environments.

Model Hierarchy Predictive Control (MHPC)