Exo-biote : image représentant un robot mou en forme de spirale copyright Jonathan Pêpe

Research programme

Organic robotics

Managed by

Financed by

Operated by

PEPR O2R


7 challenges on major societal issues

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Building a research ecosystem to tackle the 7 basic research challenges of the PEPR O2R

As part of the France 2030 national strategy, the exploratory research programme aims to strengthen French research and consolidate its leadership. It is in this context that the Organic robotics exploratory research programme has been funded to support exploration of these emerging research topics.

Robotics has been a source of innovation for production, logistics, intervention, exploration, and healthcare systems. However, despite immense technological progress, questions and problems remain regarding the integration of robots into our lives and society. Their design and development, based on engineering techniques that emerged during the industrial revolution, no longer always meet the needs raised by ever-changing uses. They remain essentially disconnected from new societal challenges related to humans and the environment.

The Organic robotics research programme aims to develop robotics that is socially adapted in terms of its principles, behavior, performance, and uses, and open to the complexity of societal challenges. This exploratory research programme will be based on a multidisciplinary approach integrating the social sciences and humanities, digital sciences, and engineering sciences.

Key figures

34 M€

Budget

7

projects funded

70

PhD students

50

post-docs and engineers

3

demonstrators

2

call for projects
of 4M €

100

researchers, research professor permanent staff involved

News & Events


Keep up with latest news and events

 “Do robots have a race problem?”
  • News
  • Project
“Do robots have a race problem?”
Lionel Obadia, member of AS3 “Decision, learning and social interaction”, as well as international scholars in robotics have been interviewed about new studies suggesting that people project human racial biases onto the humanoid robots.
26 May 2026
 The manifesto of “deep materiology”
  • News
  • Project
The manifesto of “deep materiology”
Emmanuel Ducourneau, AS1 member, Emmanuel Grimaud, co-director of PEPR O2R et coordinator of the House for potential humanities, with the contribution of Yann Philippe Tastevin, published in the journal Les Temps Qui Restent the manifesto of “deep materiology”, which lays the foundations for a field that is both theoretical and operational, dedicated to the exploration of technical systems in all their depth.
18 May 2026
 The role of tensegrity in the diversity of avian postural stability
  • News
  • Project
The role of tensegrity in the diversity of avian postural stability
Christine Chevallereau, a member of the AS1 project, with the help of Roxane Vimbert, Idriss Pelletan, Mathieu Porez, and Anick Abourachid, is working on a tensegrity system for bipedalism in robotics. Their research has been published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
6 May 2026

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