Asimov's First Law states that "a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." This principle serves as the foundation of trust and safety in human–robot interaction. Soft robotics—with its compliant materials, deformable structures, and adaptive control—provides a tangible path to realizing this ideal. This workshop will highlight recent advances in soft robotics for wearable technologies, assistive systems, and human–robot collaboration, and will discuss how to define, verify, and balance safety with performance.

For decades, the vision of robots as helpful companions in our homes, schools, and hospitals has been a driving force in technological innovation. However, this vision is fundamentally constrained by a single, critical challenge: safety. Traditionally, robots have been rigid, powerful, and fast—traits that make them highly effective in structured industrial settings but inherently dangerous in the chaotic, unpredictable environments of human daily life.

The First Law of Robotics, as proposed in Isaac Asimov's seminal works, holds the highest priority among his Three Laws. It states: "a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." This principle has long served as the guiding ethical ideal for robotics. Historically, attempts to uphold this law have focused almost exclusively on software: complex sensors, redundant control systems, and sophisticated algorithms designed to prevent a rigid robot from making a harmful mistake. This paradigm, however, is incomplete. A 100 kg steel robot, even when perfectly controlled, remains a significant hazard by its very presence. A system failure or an unexpected interaction could still lead to catastrophic injury.

This workshop addresses this fundamental gap by focusing on "Embodied Safety," which is the principle that a robot's physical design, not just its programming, must be the first line of defense. Soft robotics represents a paradigm shift in this pursuit. By utilizing compliant materials, deformable structures, and bio-inspired designs, soft robots are inherently safe. Their bodies can absorb impacts, conform to unexpected contact, and interact with humans with a gentleness that rigid robots cannot replicate. This technology provides a physical, tangible pathway to fulfilling the true spirit of Asimov's First Law, expanding the notion of safety from a purely computational concern to an integrated design challenge that encompasses material, structural, and control dimensions.