2026 Foundational Research in Robotics (FRR) - National Robotics Initiative (NRI) Annual Meeting; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 25-26 September 2026

This grant provides funding to organize and execute the 2026 National Science Foundation (NSF) Foundational Research in Robotics (FRR) - National Robotics Initiative (NRI) Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 25-26 September 2026. This meeting will convene investigators of active awards of the NSF FRR and NRI Programs for the eleventh time since the NRI Program began in 2011 and the FRR program began in 2020. This meeting serves as a conference bringing together a community of robotics researchers whose work is specifically relevant to the FRR and NRI programs. The agenda includes talks from selected projects, poster sessions, workshops, panel discussions, multiple keynote talks, an outreach event, and Federal agency program updates from leaders in the research community. This meeting will also support activities to help aspiring robotics researchers write successful proposals to the FRR program. The annual FRR/NRI Program Meeting is a national event for the NSF FRR and NRI research communities, and serves as an annual forum for investigators to meet and share their research and best practices, discuss new research opportunities, explore new ideas and partnerships, and interact with Federal agency representatives, industry, and other stakeholders interested in NSF robotics research. This award will support organization of the FRR-NRI Annual Meeting, to promote dissemination of ideas, and to encourage collaboration between robotics researchers. NSF program meetings have played a major role in community-building across a broad range of robotics topics, sectors, and technologies, and services to bring together researchers with an interest in learning about the program and participating as future investigators, transition partners, or sponsors. Invitees to the meeting will include, among others, all PIs with active NRI/FRR grants. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2625113 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Reid Simmons | Institution: Carnegie Mellon University, PITTSBURGH, PA | Award Amount: $356,000 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2625113 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2625113.html