Adam Spiers
Associate Professor in Robotics and Machine Learning
Leads the Manipulation and Touch Lab, developing robot hands, tactile sensing and haptic interfaces inspired by biology.
Adam Spiers's lab at Imperial works on manipulation & robot learning, robot perception & SLAM and interfaces & interaction techniques. 20 papers since 2023, 8 at top venues, mostly ICRA and IROS. 3 PhD students. Applications close .
At a glance
- papers, 2023–2026
- 5/ year
- at T1 venues
- 40%
- PhD students
- 3
- MS students
- 0
- alumni listed
- —
Papers by yearfrom the lab homepage, 2023–2026
- 3 papers2026 · T1 0 · collecting
- 6 papers2025 · T1 5
- 3 papers2024 · T1 0
- 8 papers2023 · T1 3
T1 venuesOtherVenues: ICRA, IROS, Nature Communications, RA-L, T-RO
Research focuspaper titles that use each topic's words
- Manipulation & robot learning7 papers
- Robot perception & SLAM5 papers
- Interfaces & interaction techniques3 papers
- haptic interfaces3 papers
- touch0 papers
Paper list
From the lab homepage.
20263 papers
- ToHInvestigating the Perception of Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces (opens in a new tab)
- Advanced Intelligent SystemsReinforcement Learning With a Low-Cost Parallel Linkage Gripper for Static and Dynamic Planar In-Hand Manipulation (opens in a new tab)
- RA-LUniTac-VAE: A Depth-Aligned Latent Space for Sensor-Agnostic Tactile Representation (opens in a new tab)
20256 papers
- WHCInvestigating the Perception of Translational Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces (opens in a new tab)
- T-RO (T1)Location and Orientation Super-Resolution Sensing With a Cost-Efficient and Repairable Barometric Tactile Sensor (opens in a new tab)
- ICRA (T1)Proprioceptive Object Shape and Size Extraction via In-Hand-Manipulation with a Variable Friction Robot Gripper (opens in a new tab)
- Nature Communications (T1)Sensing multi-directional forces at superresolution using taxel value isoline theory (opens in a new tab)
- IROS (T1)UniTac-NV: A Unified Tactile Representation For Non-Vision-Based Tactile Sensors (opens in a new tab)
- ICRA (T1)Variable-Friction In-Hand Manipulation for Arbitrary Diffusion-Based Imitation Learning (opens in a new tab)
20243 papers
- et alA shape-changing haptic navigation interface for vision impairment (opens in a new tab)
- BioRobMulti-Feature Compensatory Motion Analysis for Reaching Motions Over a Discretely Sampled Workspace (opens in a new tab)
- IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and BionicsTransradial Amputee Reaching: Compensatory Motion Quantification Versus Unaffected Individuals Including Bracing (opens in a new tab)
20238 papers
- (Work-in-Progress Paper)Comparing Skin-Stretch and Shape-Changing 2D Haptic Feedback (opens in a new tab)
- IROS (T1)D-PALI: A Low-Cost Open Source Robotic Gripper Platform for Planar In-Hand-Manipulation (opens in a new tab)
- (Work-in-Progress Paper)Deshi: A Shape-Changing Haptic Interface that Provides Cursor Feedback for Low-Vision Computer Users (opens in a new tab)
- IROS (T1)InstaGrasp: An Entirely 3D Printed Adaptive Gripper with TPU Soft Elements and Minimal Assembly Time (opens in a new tab)
- —Naturalistic Robot Arm Trajectory Generation via Representation Learning (opens in a new tab)
- —Object Feature Reconstruction via Robotic In-Hand-Manipulation and Haptic Proprioception (opens in a new tab)
- ICRA (T1)Tactile Identification of Object Shapes via In-Hand Manipulation with A Minimalistic Barometric Tactile Sensor Array (opens in a new tab)
- 30, 1, Article 11 (FebruaryThe S-BAN: Insights into the Perception of Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces via Virtual Pedestrian Navigation (opens in a new tab)
Where alumni went
Alumni are not listed on the lab homepage.
Apply to Imperial2027 (Apr/Oct)
Computing PhD
- Round
- Round 2 (1 Dec 2026)
- Opens
- —
- GRE
- See program page
- English
- See program page
- Fee
- none
Confirmed on the program page.
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Data
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- The alumni list could not be found on the lab site.
- Collected
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- Members
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- Alumni
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