ScentDia finalist in Grand Challenge of International Conference on Social Robotics 2026

The ScentDia project, developed by IULM University professor Luisa Damiano (co-director of IULM's CRiSiCo Complex Systems Research Center ) with Mari Velonaki and Manos Gerakinis, has been selected as a finalist in the Grand Challenge of the International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) 2026 (London, July 1-4, 2026).the Grand Challenge represents one of the most competitive and visible moments of the conference, dedicated to the most innovative projects in the field of social robotics internationally.

ScentDia introduces a new paradigm of human-robot interaction, based on a principle of diversity rather than imitation. The project, which interweaves robotics, art and philosophy of science, explores the role of the sense of smell as a perceptual marker of robotic identity and proposes forms of robotic presence that do not imitate the human, but build complementary and sustainable relational modes.

For CRiSiCo and IULM, the selection represents a significant recognition of transdisciplinary research in the field of emerging technologies. In this context, human-machine communication emerges as one of the strategic directions of development for the CRiSiCo center and our University.