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What is NEMS?
What is NEMS?
The New England Manipulation Symposium (NEMS) is an annual research symposium in the Northeast focused on robot manipulation research of all kinds, including mechanics, mechanisms, control, learning, perception, and planning. NEMS has two main goals. First, to provide an opportunity for members of the Northeast robot manipulation research community to meet and talk in person, share ideas, and become familiar with each other’s work. Second, to provide students and early-career researchers a platform from which to present their latest work. NEMS 2026 will be hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Registration is free and includes lunch, coffee breaks, and an evening reception. All attendees are encouraged to register in advance so we can plan accordingly.
Call for Submissions
Call for Submissions
The New England Manipulation Symposium (NEMS) invites submissions of abstracts for poster and oral presentations at our 2026 symposium, to be held on June 16-17, 2026, at UMass Amherst. This non-archival symposium welcomes submissions of both published and unpublished work. We are particularly interested in research related to robot manipulation, including mechanisms, control, learning, perception, planning, evaluation, and benchmarking. Submissions connected to all types of robot systems [soft, traditional/jointed, underactuated, hybrid, etc.] are encouraged. Submissions will be reviewed for relevance and quality, and we aim to accept all valid submissions for poster presentation. A subset of submissions will be selected for short oral presentations as well.
A brief 1-2 page abstract (excluding references) is required for submission and may include published or unpublished work. Anonymization is not required.
For consideration for a short talk in addition to a poster: Submissions are due on May 10, 2026 by 11:59pm AoE. Notifications will be sent no later than May 15, 2026.
For poster consideration only: Submissions are due on May 25, 2026 by 11:59pm AoE. Notifications will be sent no later than May 29, 2026.
This year at NEMS, we aim to encourage and highlight work that includes contributions to open-source and/or benchmarking. A subset of submissions will be highlighted throughout the symposium for serving as excellent examples of (a) leveraging existing open-source software or hardware, (b) contributing their work as open-source with sufficient documentation, (c) benchmarking the performance of their work by comparing to others, and/or (d) contributing a new benchmarking resource such as an evaluation protocol, artifact, or dataset.
Keynote Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Heather Culbertson
Heather Culbertson
University of Southern California
Ed Colgate
Ed Colgate
Northwestern University, HAND ERC
Rob Platt
Rob Platt
Northeastern University
Day 1
Day 1
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
9:00 Registration and breakfast
10:00 Introduction
10:15 Keynote
11:15 Submitted talks
12:00 Sponsor talk
12:15 Lunch break and poster session
1:15 Keynote
2:15 Submitted talks
3:15 Sponsor talks
3:30 Coffee break and poster session
4:00 Submitted talks
5:00 Reception and poster session
7:00 End of Day 1
Day 2
Day 2
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
8:30 Registration and breakfast
9:00 Submitted talks
9:45 Sponsor talk
10:00 Keynote
11:00 Lab tours
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Workshops
2:30 Coffee break
3:00 Workshops (continued)
5:00 End of Day 2
Workshops
Workshops
In the afternoon of day 2 of NEMS 2026, we will hold two workshop sessions: (1) Workshop on Integration, Reproducibility, and Benchmarking of Robot Manipulation, and (2) Workshop on Soft Robotics for Manipulation. More information on these workshop sessions will be available soon!
Location
Location
NEMS 2026 will be held at UMass Amherst in the Computer Sciences Laboratories (CSL) Building, located at 130 Governors Drive, Amherst, MA 01003.
Sponsors
Sponsors
Coming soon!
Contact
Contact
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