Reconnecting the Diverse Community [From the Guest Editors]

After two years of virtual conferences, the annual flagship conference of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), has returned in person. When I attended ICRA in Philadelphia in May, I felt excitement in the air when people greeted each other and friends shook hands and hugged each other. It was not easy for professors, students, industry practitioners, and other attendees traveling from all around the world to be under one roof, while the COVID-19 pandemic has not fully settled into its endemic stage. With more than 4,700 in-person participants, nearly half of whom were students, this year’s conference was the largest and youngest one ever in ICRA history.