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.
Submission instructions
The submission instructions and submission link are available here
Please note that contributions to our special session have to be submitted through the main conference's submission system.
There are three options for submission:
- Full papers have an 8-page maximum length (not including references or acknowledgements) and should report on new, unpublished work;
- Summaries have a 2-page maximum length (not including references or acknowledgements) and must report on a prevously peer reviewed and published work. Summaries will not be included in the proceedings. They will be made publicly available but will not receive DOIs;
- Late breaking abstracts are limited to a 2-page length (not including references) and can report on new ideas and work in progress. Late breaking abstracts will not be included in the proceedings.
Special Sessions are part of the conference main program. Contributions to special sessions undergo the same peer review process as other submissions to the conference. Accepted full papers will be included in the ALIFE 2026 conference proceedings.
Important dates
Submission: April 12th, 2026
Organizers
Kai Olav Ellefsen, University of Oslo
Kyrre Glette, University of Oslo
Ege de Bruin, University of Oslo
Kevin Sebastian Luck, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam