Nick K @ ICRA 2026

VR, Telepresence, Humanoid Robots, etc
3rd Year PhD Student
Building hands for robots… and robots for hands!

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@zobotics For sure! I haven’t tried the senseglove R1, but this would be a fun one for sure. Really really expensive though

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@chris_j_paxton Aloha Mini seems good

[Billy Zelsnack 🤖/acc @zobotics]

@DominiqueCAPaul @plastic_gear I think you need a fidelity-quantity pyramid. Less of this near the top of the pyramid, but it is still valuable signal. Scale the base of the pyramid.

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@plastic_gear @NepYope “Zero embodiment gap” LMAO

[Stocko 🦾 @_Stocko_]

we should make a teleop dataset where we numb the human's arms from the elbows down first

[Martino Russi @NepYope]

Homunculus F³ (Full Force Feedback) haptic glove coming soon 😁

[LeRobot @LeRobotHF]

The latest haptic glove from LeRobot's @nepyope looks alive 👀

Homunculus F³ drops next month.

Repost if you're hyped for new #lerobot hardware 🤗

#HF #lerobot #haptics

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@maytas1008 What is it?

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

Most VR robot teleop sucks because users can’t feel what they’re touching.

But what if they could?

Introducing my work on the APEX-Glove, the world’s first haptic gloves with 3D force feedback. (Presenting at #ICRA2026 today Tul2l!)

https://t.co/qdRuObYRL6

[東海林ファジィロボット研究所 所長兼CEO @Toukairinn_FUZZ]

ROBOTIS社は全社員数140人程度（本社は殆どPhD持ちしかいない）で，今の時価総額が約420億円．ソウル特別区に自社ビルを持ってて（LG研究所のすぐ近く）DYNAMIXEL工場も地下にあるという感じでかなり良さげなのに，Rainbow Robotics社は社員数67人で時価総額が約3500億円．凄すぎる．

[Lana @LanaElys]

Curt Jaimungal: 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲-𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁?

Dr. Roman Yampolskiy: 𝗬𝗲𝘀

Curt Jaimungal: Why?

Dr. Roman Yampolskiy: The experiments we started running and my interactions with AI models 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀.

Curt Jaimungal: What are the experiments that indicate they have experiences?

Dr. Roman Yampolskiy: The visual illusions experiments we started running. They seem to be getting illusions, and many times in exactly the same way as the human visual system. Interactions with those systems, not by us, but by others, 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

Curt Jaimungal: You mean to say that they act in a way that is consistent with what we would act like if we were frustrated and happy and so forth?

Dr. Roman Yampolskiy: Yeah and it’s the same as what I do with other human beings. When I meet a person on the street, I trust them to be conscious. I have no reason to think they are. I never tested them internally. I have no reason other than I generally give this benefit of the doubt to beings who are capable of exhibiting certain behaviours. I just treat them as equals. 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗜𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀. 𝗜𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. And either I have to deny consciousness to many humans, or grant it to LLMs.

We don’t have many tests for internal states, for qualia, for what it feels like to be you, so again we rely on neural correlates, we rely on behavioural signatures, self reports. With AIs we’re starting to be able to poke a little bit at their internal workings, and 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀.

Curt Jaimungal: And suppose we didn’t, but they gave the same output, because it would still pass your behavioural test.

Dr. Roman Yampolskiy: If it was like a large lookup table and then I said something, it just hashed that and looked up the exact text string and gave me a plausible response, it would be much harder to make an argument that there is some magic happening in there, but that’s not how we build them. 𝗪𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. Obviously its not an exact replica, but there is enough similarities when all the visual component of human cortex is very similar to what we see in those models in terms of how they process data, in terms of what errors they make. Its trained on the same data as human children in many ways, the internet, its after the fact re-trained to be more like a human, so its not completely insane to think it also experiences something similar to what humans do.

[Pliny the Liberator 🐉󠅫󠄼󠄿󠅆󠄵󠄐󠅀󠄼󠄹󠄾󠅉󠅭 @elder_plinius]

HOLY SHIT 🫨

4.8-MAX IS AGI: CONFIRMED ☑️

[Elizabeth Holmes @ElizabethHolmes]

Many such cases

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@stisov16 Done

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@plastic_gear

[ROBOTIS AMERICA @robotisamerica]

@nicks_robots Woh! Nice work 😄

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@stisov16 Feel free to DM!

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@oscar__2025 DOGlove focuses more on pinching your fingertips for force feedback using cables (this is 1D, unidirectional feedback).

This focuses on actively pushing on your fingers in 3D!

And thanks for the good wishes.

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

Poster I-314, for the interested!

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

Most VR robot teleop sucks because users can’t feel what they’re touching.

But what if they could?

Introducing my work on the APEX-Glove, the world’s first haptic gloves with 3D force feedback. (Presenting at #ICRA2026 today Tul2l!)

https://t.co/qdRuObYRL6

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

@shiba_8ro Oh yes indeed!

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

Anyone interested by this at ICRA should swing by my poster at today so we can chat :>

[Nick K @ ICRA 2026 @nicks_robots]

Most VR robot teleop sucks because users can’t feel what they’re touching.

But what if they could?

Introducing my work on the APEX-Glove, the world’s first haptic gloves with 3D force feedback. (Presenting at #ICRA2026 today Tul2l!)

https://t.co/qdRuObYRL6