AIR (Advances in Robotics) is a biennially held international conference organized by The Robotics Society in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). It brings together researchers, developers, and industry representatives from around the world to present and discuss the latest developments and applications in robotics. This year’s edition took place from July 2 to 5, 2025, at IIT Jodhpur and included plenary talks, poster presentations, and workshops.

The MIRO Innovation Lab of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was also represented: on the first day of the conference, Julian Klodmann gave a tutorial titled “Surgical Robotics – Ingredients of Clinically Driven Robotics Research.” In his presentation, he provided insights into the research activities at DLR and demonstrated how clinical requirements serve as a central starting point for the development of robotic solutions.

It became clear that successful innovation in surgical robotics is primarily driven by the close integration of research and clinical practice. Using concrete project examples, Klodmann illustrated how application-oriented prototypes can be developed step by step from clinically motivated research questions—an approach that also characterizes the work at the MIRO Innovation Lab.