ACM India Summer School 2026
Edge AI and Robotics
July 6 - 13, 2026
Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru
About the School
Edge AI & Robotic Systems
The ACM India Summer School 2026 on Edge AI and Robotics will provide a focused overview of intelligent edge systems that integrate AI with modern robotic platforms. The program will cover edge computing architectures, hardware accelerators, real-time perception and control, and co-optimization of machine learning models for performance, power, and accuracy on resource-constrained devices. Participants will also explore federated learning, generative AI/LLMs, and autonomous agents deployed on edge and robotic systems across applications such as smart mobility, drones, industrial automation, and smart agriculture. Through lectures, hands-on labs, and expert talks, the school will equip participants with practical skills to design and deploy intelligent edge-robotic systems for real-world applications.
Recommended Background
- Foundational knowledge in Data Science, Machine Learning, or AI basics.
- Understanding of Computer Systems architecture.
- Familiarity with Embedded Systems and IoT programming concepts.
Software Ecosystem
Key Topics
Foundations
IoT/CPS, Accelerated Edge Computing, and Edge AI architectures.
TinyML
Embedded Machine Learning for resource-constrained microcontrollers.
Optimization
Compression, Quantization, and Hardware Acceleration techniques for Edge AI.
Deployment
Edge AI Platforms, Frameworks, and End-to-End deployment pipelines.
Federated Learning
Distributed Learning and privacy-preserving training at the edge.
Generative AI
LLMs, On-device Generative AI, and Agentic AI systems.
Evaluation
Benchmarking, Profiling, and Performance Evaluation of Edge systems.
Perception
Localization, SLAM, and Sensor Fusion for advanced robotics.
Autonomous Edge
Edge AI for Robots, Drones, and Mobile Autonomous systems.
Control & Planning
Real-Time Control, Planning, and Learning in Robotic Systems.
Applications
Smart Cities, Industrial Automation, and Smart Agriculture.
Our Speakers
TV Prabhakar
IISc
Sumit Kumar Mandal
IISc
Pandarasamy Arjunan
IISc
Adithya Krishna
IISc
Varun Ojha
Newcastle University
Ajay Pratap
IIT (BHU), Varanasi
Adithya Thonse
Texas Instruments
Kumar Desappan
Qualcomm
Souvick Chatterjee
MathWorks
Yogesh Simmhan
IISc
Sujit PB
IISER Bhopal
Pushpak Jagtap
IISc
Ravi Prakash
IISc
Suresh Sundaram
IISc
Program
⏰ School Timing
The school timing is 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM on all days.
Breakfast: 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM | Dinner: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Tea/coffee/snacks and lunch will be provided daily to all attendees.
📚 Session Legend
- 🎉 Opening/Closing
- 👨🏫 Lecture
- 🧪 Lab/Tutorial
- 🏢 Industry talk/tutorial
- † Online Talk
Day 1: July 6th - Hardware Systems
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–10:00 AM | Yogesh Simmhan & Suresh Sundaram (IISc) | Welcome |
| 10:00–11:00 AM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Edge AI Overview |
| 11:00–11:30 AM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Prabhakar T V (IISc) | Digital Twins for Remote Robotic Operation |
| 1:00–2:00 PM | Lunch and networking | |
| 2:00–4:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | MicroPython |
| 4:00–4:30 PM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 4:30–6:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Tiny ML lab |
| 6:00–7:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Tiny ML lab |
Day 2: July 7th - Hardware Systems
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–11:00 AM | Viveka Konandur Rajanna (IISc) | Building the Brain Inside Your Phone: A VLSI Journey Through Edge AI |
| 11:00–11:30 AM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Sumit K. Mandal (IISc) | System Optimizations for LLMs |
| 1:00–2:00 PM | Lunch and networking | |
| 2:00–4:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Embedded Computer Vision |
| 4:00–4:30 PM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 4:30–6:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Embedded Computer Vision |
| 6:00–7:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Quantization |
Day 3: July 8th - Edge AI in Industry
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–11:00 AM | Adithya Thonse (Texas Instruments) | TinyML: Microcontroller AI on the Edge |
| 11:00–11:30 AM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Kumar Desappan (Qualcomm) | Scaling Physical AI |
| 1:00–2:00 PM | Lunch and networking | |
| 2:00–4:00 PM | Varun Ojha (Newcastle University) † | Resource-Constrained AI |
| 4:00–4:30 PM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 4:30–6:00 PM | Souvick Chatterjee (MathWorks) | Efficient Implementation of Embedded AI Models Using MathWorks Tools |
| 6:00–7:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Pruning |
Day 4: July 9th - Federated Learning and Agentic AI
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–11:00 AM | Yogesh Simmhan (IISc) | ML on Edge Accelerators |
| 11:00–11:30 AM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Yogesh Simmhan (IISc) | Federated Learning and LLM Inference Characterization at the Edge |
| 1:00–2:00 PM | Lunch and networking | |
| 2:00–4:00 PM | Yogesh Simmhan (IISc) | Federated Learning and LLM Inference Characterization at the Edge |
| 4:00–4:30 PM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 4:30–6:00 PM | Yogesh Simmhan (IISc) | Federated Learning and LLM Inference Characterization at the Edge |
| 6:00–7:00 PM | Yogesh Simmhan (IISc) | Agentic AI for Drones |
Day 5: July 10th - Gen AI and LLMs at Edge
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–11:00 AM | Adithya Krishna (IISc) | RAMAN: A Reconfigurable and Sparse TinyML Accelerator for Inference on the Edge |
| Tea/coffee break | ||
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Ajay Pratap (IIT-BHU) | EdgeFL-Migrate: EdgeAI-enabled Loss-aware Federated Learning for Seamless Multimodal e-Health Services |
| Lunch and networking | ||
| 2:00–4:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Gen AI at Edge |
| Tea/coffee break | ||
| 4:30–6:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Gen AI at Edge |
| 6:00–7:00 PM | Pandarasamy Arjunan (IISc) | Gen AI at Edge |
Day 6: July 11th - Control and Ground Robots
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–11:00 AM | Sujit PB (IISER) | Mobile Robot Navigation Algorithms |
| 11:00–11:30 AM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Pushpak Jagtap (IISc) | Modelling and Control of Robotic Systems |
| 1:00–2:00 PM | Lunch and networking | |
| 2:00–4:00 PM | Pushpak Jagtap (IISc) | Modelling and Control of Robotic Systems |
| 4:00–4:30 PM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 4:30–6:00 PM | Pushpak Jagtap (IISc) | Modelling and Control of Robotic Systems |
| 6:00–7:00 PM | Pushpak Jagtap (IISc) | Modelling and Control of Robotic Systems |
Day 7: July 12th - Human Robot Interaction
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–11:00 AM | Ravi Prakash (IISc) | Generative AI for Human–Robot Interaction |
| 11:00–11:30 AM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Ravi Prakash (IISc) | Generative AI for Human–Robot Interaction |
| 1:00–2:00 PM | Lunch and networking | |
| 2:00–4:00 PM | Ravi Prakash (IISc) | Generative AI for Human–Robot Interaction |
| 4:00–4:30 PM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 4:30–6:00 PM | Ravi Prakash (IISc) | Generative AI for Human–Robot Interaction |
Day 8: July 13th - Multi-agent Systems and RL
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30–10:00 AM | Vaibhav (IISc) | Dept. Overview |
| 10:00–11:00 AM | Pavankumar Tallapragada (IISc) | Multi-Agent Systems |
| 11:00–11:30 AM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 11:30–1:00 PM | Pavankumar Tallapragada (IISc) | Multi-Agent Systems |
| 1:00–2:00 PM | Lunch and networking | |
| 2:00–4:00 PM | CPS Team | Joint Demos |
| 4:00–4:30 PM | Tea/coffee break | |
| 4:30–6:00 PM | All | Visit to ARTPARK |
| 6:00–7:00 PM | Certificate distribution & Closing | |
Venue & Logistics
Host Location
IDR Building, Indian Institute of Science (IISc),
C V Raman Avenue, Bangalore - 560012
Nearest Metro: Yeshwanthpur
Getting to IISc: Click here for detailed travel information.
Contact Us
If you have any logistical or academic questions regarding the Winter School, please reach out to the program coordinators below.
Pandarasamy Arjunan
Yogesh Simmhan
Suresh Sundaram
Sponsored By
