From dlefeber at vub.ac.be Wed Oct 1 04:20:04 2008 From: dlefeber at vub.ac.be (Dirk Lefeber) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:20:04 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] PhD position for a researcher with background in Mechanical Engineering. Message-ID: <004301c923b7$a8e99f00$fabcdd00$@ac.be> Dear all, Within the context of the ALTACRO-project (Automated locomotion training using a compliant robotic orthosis; see : http://altacro.vub.ac.be/ ) we have a 4 year research grant for a Ph-D researcher with a background in Mechanical Engineering (or bio-mechanical engineering). ALTACRO is a multidisciplinary research project aiming at the development and clinical testing of a step rehabilitation robot powered by compliant actuators with high force output. The ALTACRO project is a contribution to the synergy between robotics and rehabilitation. Our primary goals are to improve the quality of step rehabilitation therapy both for patients and therapists and increasing the availability of automated step rehabilitation training. The researcher will work in a team of 6 researchers, 3 which have an engineering background and 3 researchers with a background in physiotherapy. Candidates should send their Curriculum Vitae to : dlefeber at vub.ac.be Prof. dr. ir. Dirk LEFEBER 'Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think, and suspicious of men who try to' (H. Mumford Jones) Robotics & Multibody Mechanics Group Department of Mechanical Engineering Vrije Universiteit Brussel Faculty of Applied Sciences Pleinlaan , 2 B-1050 Brussels Belgium Phone : 32 2 6292864 Fax : 32 2 6292865 email : dlefeber at vub.ac.be www-adresses : http://mech.vub.ac.be/multibody_mechanics.htm http://lucy.vub.ac.be/ From Thomas.Roefer at dfki.de Wed Oct 1 06:28:34 2008 From: Thomas.Roefer at dfki.de (=?utf-8?Q?Thomas_R=C3=B6fer?=) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:28:34 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] RoboCup 2009 Standard Platform League: Call for Applications for Participation Message-ID: <00a901c923c9$9ace9bc0$d06bd340$%Roefer@dfki.de> You can also find the text of this e-mail at http://www.tzi.de/spl/bin/view/Website/Call2009. Apologies for duplicates. Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2009 Standard Platform League http://www.tzi.de/spl June 29 - July 5, 2009 Graz, Austria RoboCup is an international initiative that fosters research and education in robotics and artificial intelligence, on multi-robot systems in particular, through competitions of RoboCup Robot Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup at Home, and RoboCupJunior. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. The RoboCup Standard Platform League is a RoboCup robot soccer league, in which all teams compete with identical robots. The robots operate fully autonomously, i.e. there is no external control, neither by humans nor by computers. RoboCup 2008 included the Four-Legged Standard Platform League with the SONY AIBO robots, and the Two-Legged Standard Platform League with the Aldebaran Robotics humanoid NAO robots. Due to the unfortunate discontinuation of the SONY AIBO robots, RoboCup 2009 will NOT include the Four-Legged Competition. Instead we invite teams to provide AIBO exhibition games. No team registration fee will be charged for participation in the exhibition games. The games will be played on the shared Standard Platform League fields of the new standard small field dimension (slightly smaller than the past AIBO playing field.) Please see the RoboCup'2009 SPL website for further details. RoboCup 2009 will then include ONLY the Two-Legged Competition with the Aldebaran humanoid NAO robots. We will be able to host up to 24 teams, which we will select from the interested parties. Submission of Applications for Participation -------------------------------------------- By November 1st, 2008, interested teams need to submit the following to spl_tech at tzi.de: 1. A 2-5 page qualification document that includes: 1. the leader(s) and planned elements of the proposed team; 2. a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup'2009 Standard Platform League - check the dates at http://www.robocup2009.org; 3. a statement of the research interests related to the participation; and 4. a summary of past relevant work and publications. See the NAO costs below. 2. A statement whether you would like to participate in the Four-Legged Exhibition Games. NOTE: Teams can participate in both. We encourage teams to consider joint teams. Joint teams will be judged on combined merit. Pre-qualification ----------------- The teams that competed in the Two-Legged Competition in 2008 will be pre-qualified for 2009 if: 1. they state their intention of participation (include team constitution for 2009); 2. and submit the team research report by November 1st, 2008, describing the work they have done for their participation in RoboCup 2008. If a team splits, only one of them can be pre-qualified. Please state which one you would like us to pre-qualify. NAO Robots ---------- The NAO robots will come as a special RoboCup package in the following conditions: 1. For new teams, a package of FOUR new 2009 version Nao Robocup Edition robots inluding 4 batteries and 2 chargers costs 12,000 Euros excl. VAT. The price includes hardware and software support for these robots through the calendar year of 2009. An extra similar robot unit costs ?3,600 excl. VAT with one battery and one charger. Shipping costs will be additional. 2. The 2008 RoboCup edition NAO robots will be upgraded to the 2009 version for the 2009 qualified teams at a price of 500 Euros excl. VAT for each robot. The price includes hardware and software support for these robots. Shipping costs will be additional. 3. A 2-day NAO workshop at Aldebaran in Paris is planned for January 2009, exact dates TBD. All qualified teams with up to 2 members per team will be invited to participate at their expense. Some travel support may be available. RoboCup 2009 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees _______________________________________________________________________ Dr. Thomas R?fer DFKI Bremen Safe and Secure Cognitive Systems Cartesium 0.55 Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 5 28359 Bremen, Germany http://www.dfki.de www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~roefer Phone: +49 (421) 218-64200 Fax: +49 (421) 218-9864200 eMail: Thomas.Roefer at dfki.de _______________________________________________________________ Deutsches Forschungszentrum f?r K?nstliche Intelligenz GmbH Firmensitz: Trippstadter Stra?e 122, D-67663 Kaiserslautern Gesch?ftsf?hrung: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster (Vorsitzender) Dr. Walter Olthoff Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Prof. Dr. h.c. Hans A. Aukes Amtsgericht Kaiserslautern, HRB 2313 From gaurav at usc.edu Wed Oct 1 11:33:51 2008 From: gaurav at usc.edu (Gaurav Sukhatme) Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:33:51 -0700 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Autonomous Robots 25(3) TOC Message-ID: A new issue of Autonomous Robots is now available. The table of contents is appended. Gaurav Sukhatme Editor, Autonomous Robots ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Autonomous Robots. Volume 25 Number 3 http://springerlink.com/content/100243/ Design and control of a heavy material handling manipulator for agricultural robots Satoru Sakai, Michihisa Iida, Koichi Osuka and Mikio Umeda RoadCompass: following rural roads with vision + ladar using vanishing point tracking Christopher Rasmussen Modeling dynamic scenarios for local sensor-based motion planning Luis Montesano, Javier Minguez and Luis Montano Indoor navigation of a non-holonomic mobile robot using a visual memory Jonathan Courbon, Youcef Mezouar and Philippe Martinet Visual-model-based, real-time 3D pose tracking for autonomous navigation: methodology and experiments Hans de Ruiter and Beno Benhabib Geodesic Gaussian kernels for value function approximation Masashi Sugiyama, Hirotaka Hachiya, Christopher Towell and Sethu Vijayakumar Fast and accurate map merging for multi-robot systems Stefano Carpin From samge at nus.edu.sg Thu Oct 2 00:21:35 2008 From: samge at nus.edu.sg (Ge, Shuzhi Sam) Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:21:35 +0800 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] 2nd CFP for International Journal of Social Robotics In-Reply-To: <539FE728-72B6-4E27-91F2-BDFB70F27C66@usc.edu> Message-ID: <2E4AC16A5332964ABC35AE3FD2CC998E0916D668@MBX03.stf.nus.edu.sg> Important Dates: Submission of Manuscripts (latest by): 1 October 2008: (If you need more time, please let us know) Notification of Acceptance: 1 December 2008 Submission of Final Paper: 1 January 2009 Final Publication: 1 April 2009 ________________________________ From: Michael Mistry [mailto:mmistry at usc.edu] Sent: 2008?8?8? 16:42 To: robotics-worldwide at usc.edu Cc: Ge, Shuzhi Sam; Maja Mataric; Social Robotics Lab Subject: 2nd CFP for International Journal of Social Robotics Call For Paper: Second Issue for International Journal of Social Robotics, Springer http://www.editorialmanager.com/soro/ Dear Authors, With the great response for the Inaugural Issue for International Journal of Social Robotics, we are pleased to announce the Call for Papers in the Second Issue for International Journal of Social Robotics which is scheduled for publication on 1 April 2009. You are cordially invited to submit your original research and discoveries on scientific, technological and philosophical advances in social robots, and their interactions and communications with humans, especially innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, as well as novel applications on the latest fundamental advances in the core technologies that form the backbone of Social Robotics, distinguished developmental projects, as well as seminal works in aesthetic design, ethics and philosophy, studies on social impact and influence pertaining to, and its interaction and communication with human beings and its social impact on our society. Topics of interest for the scientific papers and letters include but are not limited to: ? Affective and cognitive sciences for socially interactive robots ? Context awareness, expectation and intention understanding ? Design philosophies and socially appealing design methodologies ? Biomechatronics, neuro-robotics, and biomedical robotics ? Human factors and ergonomics in human-robot interactions ? Intelligent control and artificial intelligence for Social Robotics ? Knowledge representation, information acquisition, and decision making ? Learning, adaptation and evolution of intelligence ? Interaction and collaboration between robots, humans and environments ? Multimodal sensor fusion and communication ? Robot-ethics in human society ? Interactive robotic arts ? Social acceptance and impact in the society ? Compliance, safety and compatibility in the design of social robots "living" with humans ? Software architecture and development tools ? Human-robot interaction and robot-robot interaction ? Models of human and animal social behaviour as applied to robots ? Applications in education, entertainment, gaming, and healthcare. The Editorial Board is committed to speedy review, fast publication, and high scientific impact. For more information, please visit: Submission On-Line: http://www.editorialmanager.com/soro/ Description of the Journal: http://www.springer.com/engineering/journal/12369 Aims and Scope: http://www.springer.com/engineering/journal/12369?detailsPage=aimsAndScopes Important Dates: Submission of Manuscripts (latest by): 1 October 2008 Notification of Acceptance: 1 December 2008 Submission of Final Paper: 1 January 2009 Final Publication: 1 April 2009 Yours sincerely, Shuzhi Sam Ge, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Social Robotics, Springer Maja Mataric, Co-Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Social Robotics, Springer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Shuzhi Sam GE, FIEEE, PhD, DIC, BSc, PEng Director, Social Robotics Lab, Interactive Digital Media Institute, and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering The National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576 Tel: +65 6516 6821, Fax: +65 6779 1103, e-mail: samge at nus.edu.sg ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Maja Mataric, FAAAS, PhD, S.M., B.S. Director, Centre for Robotics and Embedded Systems (CRES), and Computer Science Department & Neuroscience Program University of Southern California Tel: +1 213 740-1169, Fax: +1 213 821-5696, e-mail: mataric at usc.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From faconti_davide at yahoo.it Thu Oct 2 05:52:23 2008 From: faconti_davide at yahoo.it (Davide Faconti) Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:52:23 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] 9 position avialable in Humanoid Robot research Message-ID: <774892.97816.qm@web27007.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Pal Technology is a company involved in high level research in humanoid and service robots. Our goal is to develop humanoids that can perform useful tasks in the real world. We are a young and multidisciplinary team of highly motivated engineers, that have successfully developed several prototypes. For more informations on our project visit: www.pal-robotics.com The development team is located in Barcelona, Spain. There are several open positions in different field of research such as mechanical design, research in redundant manipulation, biped dynamic walking algorithms, electronic design, computer vision etc. Job starting in October - December 2008 Location: Barcelona, Spain for more informations visit http://www.pal-robotics.com/contact.html Davide Faconti ----------------------------------------------------- C. Paris 175, 4o 1a, 08036, Barcelona Spain tel. +34 934145347 fax: +34 932091109 Mobile: +34 666722156 ----------------------------------------------------- From juergen at idsia.ch Thu Oct 2 13:13:33 2008 From: juergen at idsia.ch (Juergen Schmidhuber) Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:13:33 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] The Swiss AI Lab IDSIA: Jobs in Robotics & 20th Anniversary Message-ID: The 20 year anniversary celebration of the Swiss AI Lab IDSIA will take place on 24 October 14:00-18:00 in the Palazzo dei Congressi in the center of Lugano, Switzerland: http://www.idsia.ch/Files/idsia20/Program.html Distinguished keynote speakers: 1. Mauro Dell'Ambrogio, Swiss State Secretary for Education and Research 2. Prof. Marco Dorigo, Pioneer of Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence 3. Prof. Helge Ritter, A pioneer of Self-Organizing Maps; Leibniz Laureate Panel discussion: The Future of AI Registration is free - please register here: http://www.idsia.ch/Files/idsia20/Register.html? Current robotics-oriented jobs at IDSIA (all hired researchers will closely interact): 1 Postdoc and 1 PhD student in biologically plausible reinforcement learning, to be tested on physical robots: http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/sinergia2008.html 1 related Postdoc in medical image analysis for robotic incubators and in vitro fertilization: http://www.idsia.ch/~luca/PostDoc_2008_IDSIA_IN3.html 1 PhD fellowship in evolutionary computation / reinforcement learning, with applications to robot control: http://www.idsia.ch/~tino/evo2008.html Also available: 1 Postdoc and 1 Developer in handwriting recognition: http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/kti2008.html More jobs on curious, learning robots to be announced soon: http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/interest.html http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/learningrobots.html Juergen Schmidhuber From jmh at cs.utah.edu Thu Oct 2 15:11:20 2008 From: jmh at cs.utah.edu (John Hollerbach) Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:11:20 -0600 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] IJRR October 2008 issue Message-ID: <48E54708.9090708@cs.utah.edu> A new issue of The International Journal of Robotics Research is available online: 1 October 2008; Vol. 27, No. 10 The below Table of Contents is available online at: http://ijr.sagepub.com/content/vol27/issue10/?etoc Feature Depth Observation for Image-based Visual Servoing: Theory and Experiments Alessandro De Luca, Giuseppe Oriolo, and Paolo Robuffo Giordano The International Journal of Robotics Research 2008;27 1093-1116 http://ijr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/10/1093 3D Perception and Environment Map Generation for Humanoid Robot Navigation Jens-Steffen Gutmann, Masaki Fukuchi, and Masahiro Fujita The International Journal of Robotics Research 2008;27 1117-1134 http://ijr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/10/1117 Thrust Control, Stabilization and Energetics of a Quadruped Running Robot Joaquin Estremera and Kenneth J Waldron The International Journal of Robotics Research 2008;27 1135-1151 http://ijr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/10/1135 Task-space PD Control of Robot Manipulators: Unified Analysis and Duality Property C.C. Cheah The International Journal of Robotics Research 2008;27 1152-1170 http://ijr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/10/1152 From howe at deas.harvard.edu Thu Oct 2 15:13:21 2008 From: howe at deas.harvard.edu (Robert Howe) Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:13:21 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Post Doc opening - Robot Hands - Harvard University Message-ID: <48E54781.7030308@deas.harvard.edu> Postdoctoral Fellowship - Robotic Grasping Harvard University The BioRobotics Lab at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences seeks a postdoctoral fellow for a research project on robotic grasping. The project will build on recent success in the use of passive mechanics to accommodate uncertainties in the grasping process. Our current prototype hand has the ability to grasp a wide variety of objects in unstructured environments using only limited and noisy visual information. The next phase will involve development of a minimalist contact sensing system for the hand, integration of grasping and vision, and deployment of the hand system on a mobile humanoid robot. This project will be conducted in collaboration with the Honda Research Institute, and will involve the ASIMO robot. For more information, see http://biorobotics.harvard.edu/ Requirements include a Ph.D. in computer science or mechanical or electrical engineering. Knowledge of robot kinematics and experience with robot programming and MATLAB simulation are essential. Good experimental skills and familiarity with C++ are helpful. Applicants should send a cover letter briefly describing their background and career plans, a CV, and the names and contact information for at least three references. These documents should be submitted as pdf attachments to Prof. Robert Howe: howeseas.harvard.edu Harvard University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and applications from women and underrepresented minorities are strongly encouraged. From wenhui.wang at utoronto.ca Sun Oct 5 14:03:12 2008 From: wenhui.wang at utoronto.ca (Wenhui Wang) Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:03:12 +1300 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Final CFP: IJBBR Special Issue on BiomedicalRobotics In-Reply-To: <000001c8f5ce$486f2210$ab3eb584@canterbury.ac.nz> References: <014801c86780$70ef87c0$a23eb584@canterbury.ac.nz> <01a901c8b4dd$33a7b4a0$04000100@canterbury.ac.nz> <000001c8f5ce$486f2210$ab3eb584@canterbury.ac.nz> Message-ID: <006901c9272d$c73ac960$ab3eb584@canterbury.ac.nz> Final Call for Papers Special Issue: Biomedical Robotics International Journal of Biomechatronics and Robotics Important Dates Paper submission deadline: 30 October, 2008 Decision: 31 January, 2009 Revised manuscripts: 28 February, 2009 [Apologies for possible multiple copies] We greatly appreciate it if you can help circulate the CFP to your colleagues. Abstract Recent decades have witnessed the significant development in biomedical robotics from fundamental research to commercialisation development, evaluation and feasibility studies. Robotics, initially brought in as computer-integrated systems for surgical interventions, has been emerging into a wider range of areas including image-guided therapy and rehabilitation robotics in the macro world. More recently, as biology digs into molecular level studies, robotics has also entered a new era in the micro world. Capable of manipulating from meter-sized humans to micrometer-sized cells, robotics plays a unique role in biomedicine, along with the advances in computer science, electrical engineering, transducers, materials, imaging, and MEMS, etc. The objective of this special issue is to bring together a variety of exciting research projects in the cutting edge of applying robotics technology in the broadest sense to biomedical applications. By sharing state-of-the-art research with the robotics community, it is hoped that innovative research ideas and opportunities will be inspired for the existing and emerging biomedical robotic areas. High quality research papers dealing with fundamental issues as well as applied problems are solicited. Due to the milti-disciplinary nature of biomedical robotics, papers presenting information across several disciplines are particularly welcome. Coverage Appropriate topics for submission include, but are not limited to: - Robot-assisted procedures - Smart instrumented tools for surgery - Sensors and actuators in biomedical robotics - Cell/organism micromanipulation - Microrobotics design, modelling and applications in biomedicine - Bionanorobotics conceptualisation, modelling, simulation, and manipulation - Microobjects assembly - Soft-tissue modelling and manipulation - Rehabilitation robotics - Image-guided surgery - Medical imaging and machine vision - Interventional therapy - Tele-surgery - Surgical simulation Guest Editors Dr. Wenhui Wang University of Canterbury Email: wenhui.wang at canterbury.ac.nz Dr. Shane Xie The University of Auckland Email: s.xie at auckland.ac.nz From i.sardellitti at gmail.com Sun Oct 5 02:14:35 2008 From: i.sardellitti at gmail.com (irene sardellitti) Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:14:35 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] October 2008 - Workshop on Human-friendly robotics Message-ID: <4a3c59f10810050214h7a7f5d3ai871c7e13e403029d@mail.gmail.com> October 2008 - Workshop on Human-friendly robotics First workshop for young researchers on Human-friendly robotics Napoli, 24 October 2008. The workshop is focused on design, modelling and control issues for the introduction of robot manipulators in everyday environments, with emphasis on safety, dependability, and real-world applications of service robots. It is meant to promote scientific exchange and foster cooperation among young European researchers in advanced robotics. http://wpage.unina.it/agodesa/ftp/preliminary_schedule.pdf Organizers Agostino De Santis, University of Naples Federico II Irene Sardellitti, Italian Institute of Techonology From raj.madhavan at nist.gov Fri Oct 3 12:04:09 2008 From: raj.madhavan at nist.gov (Raj Madhavan) Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:04:09 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Autonomous Robots Special Issue CfP: Characterizing Mobile Robot Localization and Mapping Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20081002154603.01f11fc0@mailhub.mel.nist.gov> Please forward this submission to subscribers of the list. Thanks. Raj Madhavan. ---------------------------------- Autonomous Robots Special Issue Call for Papers Characterizing Mobile Robot Localization and Mapping Editors: Raj Madhavan, Chris Scrapper, and Alexander Kleiner [Additional information available from the journal website at http://www.springer.com/10514] Stable navigation solutions are critical for mobile robots intended to operate in dynamic and unstructured environments. In the context of this special issue, stable navigation solution is taken to mean the ability of a robotic system ?to sense and create internal representations of its environment and estimate pose (where pose consists of position and orientation) with respect to a fixed coordinate frame?. Such competency, usually termed localization and mapping, will enable mobile robots to identify obstacles and hazards present in the environment, and maintain an estimate of where they are and where they have been. A myriad of approaches have been proposed and implemented, some with greater success than others. Since the capabilities and limitations of these approaches vary significantly depending on the requirements of the end user, the operational domain, and onboard sensor suite limitations, it is essential for developers of robotic systems to understand the performance characteristics of methodologies employed to produce a stable navigation solution. Currently, there is no way to quantitatively measure the performance of a robot or a team of robots against user?defined requirements. Additionally, there exists no consensus on what objective evaluation procedures need to be followed to deduce the performance of various robots operating in a variety of domains. Lack of reproducible and repeatable test methods have precluded researchers working towards a common goal from exchanging and communicating results, inter?comparing robot performance, and leveraging previous work that could otherwise avoid duplication and expedite technology transfer from the ?drawing board? to the field. For instance, currently, the evaluation of robotic maps is based on qualitative analysis (i.e. visual inspection). This approach does not allow for better understanding of what errors specific systems are prone to and what systems meet the needs. It has become common practice in the literature to compare newly developed mapping algorithms with former methods by presenting images of generated maps. This procedure turns out to be suboptimal, particularly when applied to large?scale maps. The absence of standardized methods for evaluating emerging robotic technologies has caused segmentation in the research and development communities. This lack of cohesion hinders the attainment of robust mobile robot navigation, in turn slowing progress in many domains, such as manufacturing, service, health care, and security. Providing the research community access to standardized tools, reference data sets, and an open?source library of navigation solutions, researchers and consumers of mobile robot technologies will be able to evaluate the cost and benefits associated with various navigation solutions. The primary focus of this special issue is to bring together what is so far an amorphous research community to define standardized methods for the quantitative evaluation of robot localization algorithms and/or robot?generated maps. The performance characteristics of several approaches will be documented towards developing a stable navigation solution by detailing the capabilities and limitations of each approach and by the inter?comparison of experimental results, as well as the underlying mechanisms used to formulate these solutions. Through this effort, we seek to start the process, which will compile the results of these evaluations into a reference guide that documents lessons learned and the performance characteristics of various navigation solutions. This will enable end users to select the ?best? possible method that meets their needs and will also lead to the development of the adaptive systems that are more technically capable and at the same time are safe thus permitting collaborative operations of man and machine. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): ? Characterizing navigation in complex unstructured domains & requirements imposed by dynamic nature of operating domains ? Evaluation frameworks and adaptive approaches to developing stable navigation solutions ? Probabilistic methodologies with particular attention to uncertainty in assessing robot-generated maps ? Visualization tools for assessing localization and mapping ? Methods for ground truth generation from public map sources ? Multi-robot localization and mapping ? Testing in various domains of interest ranging from manufacturing floors to urban search and rescue ? Applications with demonstrated success or lessons learnt from failures The above topics are by no means exhaustive but are only meant to be a representative list. We particularly encourage submissions related to mobile robot field deployments, challenges encountered, and lessons learnt during such implementations. Theoretical investigations into assessing performance of robot localization and mapping algorithms are also welcome. Please contact the guest editors if you are not sure if a particular topic fits the special issue. Important Dates ? Paper submission deadline: February 1, 2009 ? Notification to authors: May 1, 2009 ? Camera ready papers: August 1, 2009 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Raj Madhavan, Ph.D. Intelligent Systems Division National Institute of Standards and Technology 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8230 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230. Tel: (301) 975-2865 Fax: (301) 990-9688 URL: http://aser.ornl.gov/madhavan/ From simon.miles at kcl.ac.uk Fri Oct 3 02:43:08 2008 From: simon.miles at kcl.ac.uk (Miles, Simon) Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:43:08 +0100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] AAMAS-09 Final Call for Papers Message-ID: (apologies if you receive multiple copies of this call) CALL FOR PAPERS The Eighth International Joint Conference on AUTONOMOUS AGENTS AND MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS (AAMAS-09) Budapest, Hungary May 10--15, 2009 http://www.conferences.hu/AAMAS2009/ INTRODUCTION AAMAS is the leading scientific conference for research in autonomous agents and multiagent systems. The AAMAS conference series was initiated in 2002 by merging highly respected individual conferences: - the International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS); - the International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages (ATAL); - the International Conference on Autonomous Agents (AA). The aim of the joint conference is to provide a single, high-profile, internationally respected archival forum for scientific research in the theory and practice of autonomous agents and multiagent systems. See http://www.ifaamas.org for more information. AAMAS-09 is the Eighth conference in the AAMAS series, following enormously successful previous conferences at Bologna, Italy (2002), Melbourne, Australia (2003), New York, USA (2004), Utrecht, The Netherlands (2005), Hakodate, Japan (2006), Honolulu, USA (2007) and Estoril, Portugal (2008). AAMAS-09 will be held at the Europa Congress Center, Budapest, Hungary. INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS AAMAS-09 encourages the submission of *original* papers covering theoretical, experimental, methodological, and application issues in autonomous agents and multiagent systems. Authors are discouraged to submit papers describing work that has already been published in previous AAMAS workshops with post-proceedings publications and/or published as short papers in previous AAMAS proceedings, unless that the authors *clearly* demonstrate significant new content with respect to the previous publication. The main theme of AAMAS-09, based on feedback from previous conferences, will be reinforcing the rich panorama of *interconnections* in the field. We encourage the community, and the authors in particular, to reflect about their work not as belonging to just a niche in a long list of topics, but rather as a point in an abstract topological space defined by three complementary axes: (i) the *focus* of the work, i.e., what is the AAMAS topic or contribution of the work (ii) the *description level*, i.e., whether this contribution is mostly in the theoretical, experimental, method/language, or application level (iii) the intellectual *inspiration source*, i.e., what scientific domain has given the main ideas for the contribution Every paper will be evaluated appropriately with respect to each of these three axes. Moreover, the use of this topological space will help this year and future AAMAS conference organizers to better stress some particular points in this space to be highlighted in the program, as it was the case of the special tracks presented in AAMAS-08 and will be the case of the special area tracks in AAMAS-09. DESCRIPTION LEVEL AXIS AAMAS-09 encourages the submission of papers in several descriptive styles: (i) theoretical, (ii) experimental/empirical (architectures/systems/simulations/data), (iii) methodologies/languages (design/software engineering/programming-oriented), and (iv) applications. Every paper should make clear its contribution to the AAMAS field, place itself in the context of relevant related work, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of its approach. Theoretical papers should make clear the significance and application-relevance of the results to the AAMAS community. Experimental papers should address issues clearly in the context of autonomous agents or multi-agent systems architectures, simulations, or performance. Methodological and language papers should propose advances in MAS analysis/design methodologies, process and process models for agent-oriented software development, frameworks for MAS specific properties (like cooperation, coordination etc...), agent verification and validation techniques/tools, and multi-agent programming languages, deployment platforms and development tools. Application papers should provide a motivation for why an agent- or multi-agent approach was used, a clear description of the design and implementation of the system, and a thorough evaluation of the system. INSPIRATION SOURCE AXIS AAMAS-09 welcomes papers from many intellectual approaches, including artificial intelligence, distributed systems, economics, social/management sciences, (multi-)robotics, and biologically-inspired approaches. FOCUS AXIS Broadly speaking, the AAMAS community-specific topics of interest are focused in individual agents, their environment, their interactions, and their social/organizational structure. Agent Focus: contributions are focussed on the elements for structuring/defining/analyzing individual processing entities: - agent architectures - agent reasoning/deliberation/decision mechanisms - agent perception and action - believable agents - agents models of emotion, motivation, personality, etc. Environment Focus: contributions are focused on the elements for structuring/defining/analyzing the the external world (including humans) and its information exchange with the processing entities: - environmmental entities - agent-human interaction - interface agents - architectures Interaction Focus: contributions are focused on the elements for structuring/defining/analyzing the information and control exchange between the processing entities - agent communication languages - interaction protocols - ontological / semantic interactions - conflict resolution and negotiation - argumentation theories - mechanism design - multi-agent learning - multi-agent planning - auctions and related structures - coordination mechanisms - reputation and trust - privacy and security Social/Organizational Structure Focus: costributions are focused on elements for structuring/defining/analyzing the identity and properties of multiple processing entities - groups and teams - norms and normative behavior - commitments - autonomy - organizations and institutions - organizational learning - organizational planning - organizational reputation and trust - coalition formation - open systems - collective decision making - emergent behavior Comprehensive/Cross-cutting Focus: contributions dealing with all or more than one of the previous focus - complete applications demonstrating several different significant foci - agent-oriented software engineering (multiple foci) - agent and multi-agent programming languages (multiple foci) - multi-agent based simulation (multiple foci) - evaluation techniques - ethical and legal issues - standardization efforts in industry and commerce - meta-papers (on the state of agent research, on the conference, etc.) SPECIAL AREA TRACKS Particularly this year, we are strongly encouraging papers that focus on some of the issues located in the topological space described above: Inspiration source axis: - (Multi-)Robotics - Social Sciences Description level axis: - Methodologies/languages - Applications Focus axis: - (Virtual) Agents - Social/Organizational Structure In addition to conventional conference papers, AAMAS-09 will also include a demonstration track for work focusing on implemented systems, software, or robot prototypes; and an industry track for descriptions of industrial applications of agents. The submission processes for the demonstration and industry tracks will be separate from the main paper submission process. SUBMISSION DETAILS This year the conference is soliciting regular papers (8 pages) and extended abstracts (2 pages). Extended abstracts are encouraged as a mechanism for the timely reporting of interesting but preliminary work, that may not as yet have the level of evaluation or detail that would be expected for a regular paper. The program chairs may, at their discretion, accept papers that were submitted as regular papers as extended abstracts, if the authors have explicitly agreed to this when registering their papers. Accepted regular papers will receive a slot for oral presentation in the conference. In addition, both regular and extended abstracts will be presented in poster sessions and appear in the conference proceedings. Reviews will be double blind, therefore authors are requested to avoid including anything that can be used to reveal their identity. Submissions will be peer reviewed rigorously and evaluated on the basis of adherence, originality, soundness, significance, presentation, understanding of the state of the art, and overall quality of their technical contribution. More details about the review process can be found in the conference page. Authors should refer to the conference page to download the adequate paper style files and access the detailed instructions to access the Confmaster system. http://www.conferences.hu/AAMAS2009/submission.html ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chairs: Carles Sierra, Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of the Spanish Research Council (Spain) Cristiano Castelfranchi, ISTC-CNR (Italy) Program Chairs: Jaime Sim?o Sichman, Politecnic School, University of S?o Paulo (Brazil) Keith S. Decker, Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware (USA) A more complete list of other members of the AAMAS-09 Organizing Committee may be found in http://www.conferences.hu/AAMAS2009/. IMPORTANT DATES Oct 10, 2008 EDT (GMT-4): electronic abstract submission deadline Oct 14, 2008 EDT (GMT-4): electronic paper submission deadline Dec 19, 2008: paper notification Feb 06, 2009: camera-ready copy submission deadline -- Dr Simon Miles Agents and Intelligent Systems Group Department of Computer Science Kings College London, UK From sbaker at microsoft.com Fri Oct 3 09:09:31 2008 From: sbaker at microsoft.com (Simon Baker) Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:09:31 -0700 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] ICCV 2009 - Dates Message-ID: On behalf of the organizers, here is an early reminder of the dates for ICCV 2009. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The 12th IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV2009) September 27 - October 4, 2009 (Main Conference: September 29 - October 2, 2009) Kyoto International Conference Center, Kyoto, Japan http://www.iccv2009.org/ Important Dates: Deadline for full paper submission: March 10, 2009. Notification of acceptance: June 15, 2009. Submission of camera-ready papers: July 15, 2009. Deadline for workshop proposals: February 2, 2009. Deadline for tutorial proposals: April 20, 2009. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From shettiar at eou.edu Sun Oct 5 21:36:44 2008 From: shettiar at eou.edu (Suranga Hettiarachchi) Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:36:44 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CALL FOR PAPERS - Special Journal Issue on Swarm Robotics Message-ID: <327875833.3391223267804533.OPEN-XCHANGE.WebMail.tomcat@groupware.eou.edu> CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue on ?Swarm Robotics? International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics This special issue on ?Swarm Robotics? will be published in the ?International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics? (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ijicc.htm). Guest Editors: Prof. S. Hettiarachchi, Eastern Oregon University, USA????????????????????????? Prof. William M. Spears, University of Wyoming, USA Scope The focus of Swarm Robotics is to study how a swarm of relatively simple physically embodied robots can be controlled to collectively accomplish tasks that are beyond the capabilities of a single robot.? The advantages of swarm robotics are that (1) complex control is achievable through simple local interactions of the swarm members, (2) the results scale well with larger numbers of robots, and (3) the swarm is robust to failure of individual members. Algorithms, techniques and methods based on swarm robotics principles have been successfully applied to a wide range of complex problems. This special issue aims at exhibiting the latest research achievement, findings and ideas in the area of Swarm Robotics. Possible topics for the issue include but are not limited to: Modeling and analysis Coordination and control Formation configuration and stabilization Self-organization and self-assembly Simulation tools and hardware Optimization Emergent behavior Evolutionary swarms Adaptive swarm architectures Swarm communication Distributed swarm applications Important Dates: Submission of Manuscripts: January 10, 2009 Notification of Acceptance: April 20, 2009 Submission of Final Papers: June 10, 2009 Please see the link for further information on submission. http://info.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=387 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Suranga Hettiarachchi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Computer Science and Multimedia Eastern Oregon University Badgley Hall 107a Phone: 541-962-3093 Fax: 541-962-3873 email: suranga.hettiarachchi at eou.edu http://cs.eou.edu/CSMM/surangah ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue on ?Swarm Robotics? International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics This special issue on ?Swarm Robotics? will be published in the ?International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics? (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ijicc.htm). Guest Editors: Prof. S. Hettiarachchi, Eastern Oregon University, USA Prof. William M. Spears, University of Wyoming, USA Scope The focus of Swarm Robotics is to study how a swarm of relatively simple physically embodied robots can be controlled to collectively accomplish tasks that are beyond the capabilities of a single robot. The advantages of swarm robotics are that (1) complex control is achievable through simple local interactions of the swarm members, (2) the results scale well with larger numbers of robots, and (3) the swarm is robust to failure of individual members. Algorithms, techniques and methods based on swarm robotics principles have been successfully applied to a wide range of complex problems. This special issue aims at exhibiting the latest research achievement, findings and ideas in the area of Swarm Robotics. Possible topics for the issue include but are not limited to: Modeling and analysis Coordination and control Formation configuration and stabilization Self-organization and self-assembly Simulation tools and hardware Optimization Emergent behavior Evolutionary swarms Adaptive swarm architectures Swarm communication Distributed swarm applications Important Dates: Submission of Manuscripts: January 10, 2009 Notification of Acceptance: April 20, 2009 Submission of Final Papers: June 10, 2009 Please see the link for further information on submission. http://info.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=387 From shettiar at eou.edu Sun Oct 5 21:46:11 2008 From: shettiar at eou.edu (Suranga Hettiarachchi) Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:46:11 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CALL FOR PAPERS - Special Journal Issue on Swarm Robotics Message-ID: <1318075610.3431223268371604.OPEN-XCHANGE.WebMail.tomcat@groupware.eou.edu> CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue on ?Swarm Robotics? International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics This special issue on ?Swarm Robotics? will be published in the ?International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics? (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ijicc.htm). Guest Editors: Prof. S. Hettiarachchi, Eastern Oregon University, USA????????????????????????? Prof. William M. Spears, University of Wyoming, USA Scope The focus of Swarm Robotics is to study how a swarm of relatively simple physically embodied robots can be controlled to collectively accomplish tasks that are beyond the capabilities of a single robot.? The advantages of swarm robotics are that (1) complex control is achievable through simple local interactions of the swarm members, (2) the results scale well with larger numbers of robots, and (3) the swarm is robust to failure of individual members. Algorithms, techniques and methods based on swarm robotics principles have been successfully applied to a wide range of complex problems. This special issue aims at exhibiting the latest research achievement, findings and ideas in the area of Swarm Robotics. Possible topics for the issue include but are not limited to: Modeling and analysis Coordination and control Formation configuration and stabilization Self-organization and self-assembly Simulation tools and hardware Optimization Emergent behavior Evolutionary swarms Adaptive swarm architectures Swarm communication Distributed swarm applications Important Dates: Submission of Manuscripts: January 10, 2009 Notification of Acceptance: April 20, 2009 Submission of Final Papers: June 10, 2009 Please see the link for further information on submission. http://info.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=387 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Suranga Hettiarachchi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Computer Science and Multimedia Eastern Oregon University Badgley Hall 107a Phone: 541-962-3093 Fax: 541-962-3873 email: suranga.hettiarachchi at eou.edu http://cs.eou.edu/CSMM/surangah ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From mail at jan-peters.net Mon Oct 6 10:42:07 2008 From: mail at jan-peters.net (Jan Peters) Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:42:07 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CfP: Autonomous Robots - Special Issue on Robot Learning Message-ID: <198745AE-25CE-4631-BB2D-B7B19CEC8D94@jan-peters.net> Please do not forget: there are only FOUR WEEKS left until the deadline for the Autonomous Robots - Special Issue on Robot Learning. Early submission will get an expedited treatment! Best wishes, Jan Peters & Andrew Ng = = = ======================================================================== Call For Papers: Autonomous Robots - Special Issue on Robot Learning = = = ======================================================================== Quick Facts ========= Editors: Jan Peters, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Andrew Y. Ng, Stanford University Journal: Autonomous Robots Submission Deadline: November 8, 2008 Author Notification: March 1, 2009 Revised Manuscripts: June 1, 2009 Approximate Publication Date: 4th Quarter, 2009 Abstract ====== Creating autonomous robots that can learn to act in unpredictable environments has been a long standing goal of robotics, artificial intelligence, and the cognitive sciences. In contrast, current commercially available industrial and service robots mostly execute fixed tasks and exhibit little adaptability. To bridge this gap, machine learning offers a myriad set of methods some of which have already been applied with great success to robotics problems. Machine learning is also likely play an increasingly important role in robotics as we take robots out of research labs and factory floors, into the unstructured environments inhabited by humans and into other natural environments. To carry out increasingly difficult and diverse sets of tasks, future robots will need to make proper use of perceptual stimuli such as vision, lidar, proprioceptive sensing and tactile feedback, and translate these into appropriate motor commands. In order to close this complex loop from perception to action, machine learning will be needed in various stages such as scene understanding, sensory-based action generation, high-level plan generation, and torque level motor control. Among the important problems hidden in these steps are robotic perception, perceptuo-action coupling, imitation learning, movement decomposition, probabilistic planning, motor primitive learning, reinforcement learning, model learning, motor control, and many others. Driven by high-profile competitions such as RoboCup and the DARPA Challenges, as well as the growing number of robot learning research programs funded by governments around the world (e.g., FP7-ICT, the euCognition initiative, DARPA Legged Locomotion and LAGR programs), interest in robot learning has reached an unprecedented high point. The interest in machine learning and statistics within robotics has increased substantially; and, robot applications have also become important for motivating new algorithms and formalisms in the machine learning community. In this Autonomous Robots Special Issue on Robot Learning, we intend to outline recent successes in the application of domain-driven machine learning methods to robotics. Examples of topics of interest include, but are not limited to: ? learning models of robots, task or environments ? learning deep hierarchies or levels of representations from sensor & motor representations to task abstractions ? learning plans and control policies by imitation, apprenticeship and reinforcement learning ? finding low-dimensional embeddings of movement as implicit generative models ? integrating learning with control architectures ? methods for probabilistic inference from multi-modal sensory information (e.g., proprioceptive, tactile, vision) ? structured spatio-temporal representations designed for robot learning ? probabilistic inference in non-linear, non-Gaussian stochastic systems (e.g., for planning as well as for optimal or adaptive control) From several recent workshops, it has become apparent that there is a significant body of novel work on these topics. The special issue will only focus on high quality articles based on sound theoretical development as well as evaluations on real robot systems. Time Line ======== Submission Deadline: November 8, 2008 Author Notification: March 1, 2009 Revised Manuscripts: June 1, 2009 Approximate Publication Date: 4th Quarter, 2009 Editors ====== Inquiries on this special issue should be send to one of the editors listed below. Jan Peters (http://www.jan-peters.net/) Senior Research Scientist, Head of the Robot Learning Laboratory Department for Machine Learning and Empirical Inference, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany Andrew Y. Ng (http://ai.stanford.edu/~ang/) Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA From iqsocial at gmail.com Tue Oct 7 11:50:34 2008 From: iqsocial at gmail.com (Ashley Gross) Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:50:34 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] call for participation IEEE Technologies for Practical Robot Applications Message-ID: <25fede460810071150x73aef158m4d35d99f89d9775@mail.gmail.com> -What is TePRA? TePRA is a new conference aimed at catalyzing the development of enabling technologies and encouraging their adoption by robot designers. -How does it differ compared to other robotics conferences? TePRA is positioned mid-way between an academic conference and a trade show. More so than academic conferences, TePRA emphasizes practical applications and industrial participation. More so than trade shows, TePRA has a serious review process, and is targeted at future applications. -Keynote Speaker: Barry L. Shoop, Ph.D., Colonel, U.S. Army, Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, West Point: Robotics in Military and Educational Applications -Plenary Session: Helen Greiner, iRobot; William Townsend Barrett, Technology; Andrew Goldenberg, Univ. of Toronto: Joe Jones, Harvest Automation -Seven Technical Sessions with 39 papers on robot technology and applications -Panel Session Discussion -Robot Demonstrations Participants: Way-2C US Military Academy Univ. of Albany, Autonomous Explorations, Inc. -Student Robot Competition students, register on the conference website now! http://www.ieeerobot-tepra.org/ From jleonard at mit.edu Wed Oct 8 07:34:21 2008 From: jleonard at mit.edu (John Leonard) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:34:21 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Research Scientist Position in Robotics at MIT CSAIL Message-ID: ************************************************************ Research Scientist Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Massachusetts Institute of Technology RESEARCH SCIENTIST, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), to perform research in the development of perception, planning, control, and human interface software and algorithms for autonomous robots; manage research in autonomous vehicles, including development and testing of techniques for vision, lidar, and radar data processing for mapping, localization, and autonomous path control; and development and field deployment of novel robotic systems for land, air, and sea environments. REQUIREMENTS: a Ph.D. in robotics or computer vision; and five or more years' experience in perception algorithm and human-computer interface and robotic system programming for autonomous vehicles. Seek motivated, enthusiastic roboticist who demonstrates exceptional programming skills and the ability to perform independent research and manage complex research projects. Must be able to help mentor graduate students and postdocs. Position requires expert knowledge of Bayesian state estimation and computer vision algorithms such as Kalman filters, particle filters, and SIFT feature detection; and general experience in robot system integration, C/C++ network programming in Linux and Windows, CVS, SVN, openGL, perl, and HTML. Must have experience with configuration and management of Linux computer systems using Ubuntu/Debian distributions; deployment and operation of mobile ad-hoc wireless networks; and code development for public-domain robot control software packages such as CARMEN and LCM. Should also have experience creating real-time interfaces to vision, laser, and radar sensors using serial, USB, CANbus, and tcp/ip connections; and in the configuration and operation of SICK laser range scanners. Applicants may apply online at http://hrweb.mit.edu/staffing/ (Search for position mit-00005935) John Leonard (jleonard at mit.edu) ************************************************************ From garybradski at gmail.com Tue Oct 7 14:52:31 2008 From: garybradski at gmail.com (Gary Bradski) Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:52:31 -0700 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] New book on computer vision from O'Reilly: Learning OpenCV Message-ID: <169241ae0810071452o222ae9c1y6c99feb1a6127a0c@mail.gmail.com> The book on computer vision using the Open Source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV) is now out: Learning OpenCV: Computer Vision with the OpenCV Library by Gary Bradski and Adrian Kaehler Published by O'Reilly Press. http://www.amazon.com/Learning-OpenCV-Computer-Vision-Library/dp/0596516134 or: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596516130/ The book is: * A general tutorial on computer vision * A user's guide to OpenCV OpenCV is: * A free for commercial or for research use computer vision library - Does not require that your code become open * Is now supported by a Robotics research institute/incubator: Willow Garage www.willowgarage.com - Expect to see regular OpenCV releases going forward - Expect to see more robot-centric contributions starting with a full real time stereo vision pipeline Gary From jmh at cs.utah.edu Wed Oct 8 09:05:05 2008 From: jmh at cs.utah.edu (John Hollerbach) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:05:05 -0600 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Deadline for World Haptics 2009 submissions is in one week Message-ID: <48ECDA31.5070906@cs.utah.edu> Dear colleague, The deadline for submissions to World Haptics 2009 is in one week: October 15 at midnight Pacific Daylight Time. World Haptics 2009 is the 3rd Joint Eurohaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, to be held March 18-20, 2009, in Salt Lake City. For submissions information, please visit: http://www.worldhaptics2009.org/ I invite you to submit your haptics-related research to World Haptics 2009. Sincerely yours, John Hollerbach, General Chair From jiang at gradschool.uni-luebeck.de Wed Oct 8 02:14:32 2008 From: jiang at gradschool.uni-luebeck.de (Chaoqun Jiang) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:14:32 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] PhD scholarships in Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences at Graduate School Luebeck, Germany Message-ID: <48EC79F8.4060507@gradschool.uni-luebeck.de> The Graduate School of Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences (funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG, and the German Government within the German university excellence program) at Luebeck university is now offering Ph.D. scholarships for the following 17 projects: *Branch I: Neuroengineering, Robotics and Navigation* I 1b - Correction of Susceptibility caused Distortions in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging I 1c - Endoscopic Optical Coherence Tomography in the Deep Brain I 1d - Small animal brain imaging with nano CT I 1e - Transcranial sonography (TCS) in monogenic forms of Parkinsonism I 1f - Combined motion detection and motion correction medical imaging I 2a - Stroke Rehabilitation Robot I 2b - Parallel mode of action control: from human studies to intelligent robotic interfaces I 2d - Cardiac pacemaker localisation I 3b - Brain Modelling I 4c - Robot assisted navagation guided OCT operating microscope I 5a - Definition of cortical networlks for the control of eye and hand movements I 5c - 3-dimensional kinematic principles of eye, head and limb movements I 6a - Interfaces based on EEG, ECoG and DBS *Branch II: Computing in Structural and Cell Biology* II 3b - Efficient Methods of Exact Solutions of Complex Problems in Molecular Biology II 3c - Synaptic Plasticity: Regulatory Mechanisms in Receptor Trafficking II 5 - Computational analysis of RNA structure II 7 - Adult Stem Cells Please visit our website www.gradschool.uni-luebeck.de for more detailed descriptions of the projects. Ph.D. scholarships amount between 1250 ? and 1711 ? per month. Students with a master's degree (or its equivalent) in science, mathematics or engineering are invited to apply for admission. Individuals holding an exellent bachelor's degree in science, mathematics or engineering as well as those with an exellent medical doctor's degree may also be eligible for application after consulting the school's board of examiners. In certain cases, students must submit, as part of their application, the results of one of the acknowledged language tests to prove their English proficiency. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions via email: management at gradschool.uni-luebeck.de before sending your application. From r.alongi at ieee.org Wed Oct 8 12:43:00 2008 From: r.alongi at ieee.org (Robert Alongi) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:43:00 -0500 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] IEEE robotics conferecne Message-ID: <0K8F00MTKQRPG1O1@vms172073.mailsrvcs.net> Please see the re-submitted plain text request for the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Practical Robot Applications (TePRA '08). "2008 IEEE International Conference on Practical Robot Technologies (TePRA '08) 10 -11 November 2008 Holiday Inn Select Hotel 15 Middlesex Canal Park Rd Woburn, MA 01880 What is TePRA? TePRA is a new conference aimed at catalyzing the development of enabling technologies and encouraging their adoption by robot designers. How does it differ compared to other robotics conferences? TePRA is positioned mid-way between an academic conference and a trade show. More so than academic conferences, TePRA emphasizes practical applications and industrial participation. More so than trade shows, TePRA has a serious review process, and is targeted at future applications. Keynote Speaker: Barry L. Shoop, Ph.D., Colonel, U.S. Army, Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, West Point: Robotics in Military and Educational Applications Plenary Session: Helen Greiner, iRobot William Townsend Barrett, Technology Andrew Goldenberg, Univ. of Toronto Joe Jones, Harvest Automation Technical Papers iRobot Create Programming Workshop Robot Demonstrations Student Robot Competition Networking Reception Panel Session FOR PROGRAM DETAILS AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION www.ieeerobot-tepra.org" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert J. Alongi, Jr. Business Manager IEEE Boston Section One Centre Street, Suite 203 Wakefield, MA 01880 phone: 781-245-5405 fax: 781-245-5406 www.ieeeboston.org From raj.madhavan at nist.gov Wed Oct 8 14:11:27 2008 From: raj.madhavan at nist.gov (Raj Madhavan) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:11:27 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CfP: IEEE/NIST National Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20081008170832.01f24048@mailhub.mel.nist.gov> Please forward this submission to the subscribers of the list. Thanks. Raj Madhavan. -------------------------------------------- CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IEEE/NIST Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition: Advancing Robotic Research through an Open Source High-Fidelity Simulation Framework and Competition (See CfP Flyer available from the competition website at: http://vmac.hood.edu/attachments/064_VMAC2008Flyer.pdf) BACKGROUND Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) represent an integral component of today's manufacturing processes. They are widely used on factory floors for intra-factory transport of goods between conveyors and assembly sections, parts and frame movements, and truck-trailer loading/unloading. Automating these systems to operate in unstructured environments presents an exciting area of current research in robotics and automation. Unfortunately, the traditional entry barrier into this research area is quite high. Researchers need an extensive physical environment, robotic hardware, and knowledge in research areas ranging from mobility and mapping to behavior generation and scheduling. An accepted approach to lowering this entry barrier is through the use of simulation systems and open source software. The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society has recognized the importance of this area by forming a new robot challenge competition that will take place annually at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). In addition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology will be administering a National Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition (VMAC) that will provide an opportunity for well qualified teams to try their algorithms on actual robotic platforms. It is our belief that competitions are an effective means of stimulating interest and participation among students by providing exciting technological problems to tackle. WHO CAN PARTICIPATE? Under this effort, we are soliciting faculty members and their interested students from universities to be introduced to this time-critical research area at a workshop to be held at CMU. Student involvement is strongly encouraged This competition is based on the successful VMAC competition (http://vmac.hood.edu) held in April 2008 and the RoboCup Rescue Virtual Competitions (http://www.robocup-us.org/). Since all code used in these competitions is open source, participants are able to learn from their competitors and self-sustain their research in their areas of expertise. Researchers from multi-agent cooperation, robotic mapping and localization, communications networks, and sensory processing backgrounds are particularly encouraged to participate. The participants will be provided with the necessary knowledge needed to join the robotics and automation research community in the area of manufacturing automation and will be provided with all relevant software. A full day tutorial will take place at each of the following three venues to introduce and discuss the simulation platforms and other associated details: * Carnegie Mellon University/University of Pittsburgh: October 23rd 2008 * Georgia Institute of Technology: December 4th 2008 * University of California, Merced: December 11th 2008 INTERESTED? Please contact us with a succinct statement of how you expect to benefit from your participation. This year's National VMA Competition will be held at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg MD, and the International Competition will be held during ICRA '09 in Kobe Japan. For both events, virtual participation is possible. BEYOND THE COMPETITION ... Using a metrics-driven competition model, advancements in the various technologies comprising the AGV control system are quantified, helping the community gauge as well as target progress. It is our belief that these competitions will serve as a model for establishing a university-community focused on a real-world practical problem. This effort is administered under the IEEE Washington/Northern Virginia Section Robotics & Automation Society Chapter. RAS Chapters from across the United States are invited to be a sponsor of this competition by spreading the word among their members and helping us with the local organization of the regional tutorials. CONTACT DETAILS: Dr. Stephen Balakirsky Dr. Raj Madhavan Mr. Chris Scrapper Intelligent Systems Division National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230. Email: robosim at nist.gov --------------------------------------------------------------------- Raj Madhavan, Ph.D. Intelligent Systems Division National Institute of Standards and Technology 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8230 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230. Tel: (301) 975-2865 Fax: (301) 990-9688 URL: http://aser.ornl.gov/madhavan/ From iqsocial at gmail.com Wed Oct 8 12:04:40 2008 From: iqsocial at gmail.com (iqsocial) Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:04:40 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Call for Participation: IEEE Technologies for Practical Robot Applications Create workshop and robot competition In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <48ed044a.0e36640a.6b54.2be3@mx.google.com> This workshop and competition provides a unique opportunity for robotics enthusiasts to participate in a robotics competition during the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Practical Robot Applications (TePRA).? There will be a 1 hour workshop on how to use the Create. Following the workshop each competition team (up to 4 members) will be given an iRobot Create, a programmable robot pre-assembled to facilitate the development of new robots.? A mobile robotics challenge will be presented.? Participants will have the day to prepare their robot entry, and compete for prizes before conference attendees.? Note: You can register as a team group of four or as an individual. Individuals will be placed on teams at the discretion of the competition organizers if there is a shortage of robots. Note: Participants can choose not to compete and just attend the workshop. For more information and to register visit the conference website: http://www.ieeerobot-tepra.org/ Ashley Gross From mail at jan-peters.net Thu Oct 9 07:05:04 2008 From: mail at jan-peters.net (Jan Peters) Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:05:04 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Submission instructions for the Autonomous Robots - Special Issue on Robot Learning Message-ID: Due to multiple requests, we have decided to send out submission instructions: In order to submit to the Autonomous Robots - Special Issue on Robot Learning, please 1) go to http://www.editorialmanager.com/auro/ 2) follow the submission instructions there. 3) Make sure that you select Special Issue on Robot Learning for your submission. If you happen to forget Step 3, please send us an email so that we can correct for it. Best wishes, Jan Peters & Andrew Ng PS: Please do not forget: there are less FOUR WEEKS left until the deadline for the Autonomous Robots - Special Issue on Robot Learning and early submission will get an expedited treatment! = = = ======================================================================== Call For Papers: Autonomous Robots - Special Issue on Robot Learning = = = ======================================================================== Quick Facts ========= Editors: Jan Peters, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Andrew Y. Ng, Stanford University Journal: Autonomous Robots Submission Deadline: November 8, 2008 Author Notification: March 1, 2009 Revised Manuscripts: June 1, 2009 Approximate Publication Date: 4th Quarter, 2009 Abstract ====== Creating autonomous robots that can learn to act in unpredictable environments has been a long standing goal of robotics, artificial intelligence, and the cognitive sciences. In contrast, current commercially available industrial and service robots mostly execute fixed tasks and exhibit little adaptability. To bridge this gap, machine learning offers a myriad set of methods some of which have already been applied with great success to robotics problems. Machine learning is also likely play an increasingly important role in robotics as we take robots out of research labs and factory floors, into the unstructured environments inhabited by humans and into other natural environments. To carry out increasingly difficult and diverse sets of tasks, future robots will need to make proper use of perceptual stimuli such as vision, lidar, proprioceptive sensing and tactile feedback, and translate these into appropriate motor commands. In order to close this complex loop from perception to action, machine learning will be needed in various stages such as scene understanding, sensory-based action generation, high-level plan generation, and torque level motor control. Among the important problems hidden in these steps are robotic perception, perceptuo-action coupling, imitation learning, movement decomposition, probabilistic planning, motor primitive learning, reinforcement learning, model learning, motor control, and many others. Driven by high-profile competitions such as RoboCup and the DARPA Challenges, as well as the growing number of robot learning research programs funded by governments around the world (e.g., FP7-ICT, the euCognition initiative, DARPA Legged Locomotion and LAGR programs), interest in robot learning has reached an unprecedented high point. The interest in machine learning and statistics within robotics has increased substantially; and, robot applications have also become important for motivating new algorithms and formalisms in the machine learning community. In this Autonomous Robots Special Issue on Robot Learning, we intend to outline recent successes in the application of domain-driven machine learning methods to robotics. Examples of topics of interest include, but are not limited to: ? learning models of robots, task or environments ? learning deep hierarchies or levels of representations from sensor & motor representations to task abstractions ? learning plans and control policies by imitation, apprenticeship and reinforcement learning ? finding low-dimensional embeddings of movement as implicit generative models ? integrating learning with control architectures ? methods for probabilistic inference from multi-modal sensory information (e.g., proprioceptive, tactile, vision) ? structured spatio-temporal representations designed for robot learning ? probabilistic inference in non-linear, non-Gaussian stochastic systems (e.g., for planning as well as for optimal or adaptive control) From several recent workshops, it has become apparent that there is a significant body of novel work on these topics. The special issue will only focus on high quality articles based on sound theoretical development as well as evaluations on real robot systems. Time Line ======== Submission Deadline: November 8, 2008 Author Notification: March 1, 2009 Revised Manuscripts: June 1, 2009 Approximate Publication Date: 4th Quarter, 2009 Editors ====== Inquiries on this special issue should be send to one of the editors listed below. Jan Peters (http://www.jan-peters.net/) Senior Research Scientist, Head of the Robot Learning Laboratory Department for Machine Learning and Empirical Inference, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany Andrew Y. Ng (http://ai.stanford.edu/~ang/) Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA From Philippe.MARTINET at lasmea.univ-bpclermont.fr Fri Oct 10 23:31:19 2008 From: Philippe.MARTINET at lasmea.univ-bpclermont.fr (Philippe MARTINET) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:31:19 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Phd Position at LASMEA/Cemagref Clermont-Ferrand France Message-ID: <1223706679.48f04837de0eb@wmail.univ-bpclermont.fr> We are offering a Phd position at LASMEA in collaboration with CEMAGREF. Subject of phd : Obstacle avoidance algorithm in dynamic environment Contact : Roland Lenain : roland.lenain at clermont.cemagref.fr Benoit THUILOT : Benoit.THUILOT at lasmea.univ-bpclermont.fr Philippe Martinet : Philippe.Martinet at lasmea.univ-bpclermont.fr Send your : Curriculum One Motivation Letter Notes of MASTER and previous diploma Deadline : 15th november 2008 ***************************************************************** Title: Obstacle avoidance algorithm in dynamic environment General background This subject takes place in the context of researches drives on mobile robots navigation under uncertainty in the frame of TIMS (Technology and Information support systems for Mobility and Safety) Research Federation in Clermont-Ferrand, France. More particularly, the thesis position will take place between LASMEA (Research Theme Rosace ) and Cemagref (Research Theme MOST ) and will aim at increasing the autonomy of Unmanned Vehicle with respect to uncertainty linked to the robots environment, thanks to the development of algorithms enabling dynamic obstacles avoidance. Numerous works have indeed been completed in this research context, in particular related to mobile robot localization and control with uncertain dynamics, but neglecting yet the interaction with obstacles. The algorithm to be developed will then take benefit of the algorithms already available and is expected to be based on a global approach including: * The mobile robot localization in a known environment. Related to the previous and on going works, several techniques can be used with respect to the vehicle state. Using absolute and known 3D maps, or based on a previous learning and updating map, these various approached are based on several and various sensors and often attached to a control approach. * Obstacle detection, description and tracking. This detection has to be focused on motionless obstacle (building, sidewalk, trees, hole) and dynamic one as well (such as pedestrian, animals). The detection has then to account for obstacle motion and dimensions, but also the capability of mobile robots with respect to its estimated state issued from the monitoring. * Monitoring of the vehicle state and its interaction with environment. The navigation under uncertain dynamics (in particular in an off-road context) requires the estimation and reconstruction of both the interaction behaviour between vehicle and its environment (such as adherence, perturbations, stability) but also the internal robot operation (such as fault detection). * Reference path and corridor generation based on known map. The motion control of mobile robots requires in an assumed to be known environment requires the knowledge of a nominal path to be followed including margin (corridor) pending on environment and robot capability. * Navigation strategy and control of vehicle motion for obstacle avoidance. Several control strategies are available for obstacle avoidance accounting for the robot motion control, the efficiency of which depends on the environment context and robot state. The selection of an appropriate strategy with respect to the estimated robot configuration and respecting the navigation goal (path tracking, velocity preservation) is a key issue of this subject. Work objectives and methodology The proposed thesis will contribute to the design of a navigation system dedicated to mobile robots subject to uncertain dynamics. Several strategies for obstacle avoidance will then be proposed pending on the robot configuration, state and its interaction with the environment. Based on works related to the localization, motion control and detection already in development. More particularly, the work will be focused on the modelling of robot interaction with its environment and potential obstacle allowing to derive a dynamic obstacle definition. Coupled with the motion control, several techniques (such as path deformation or potential field) will be studied, improved and evaluated to allow the robot navigation ensuring its integrity. The interaction with trajectory tracking control laws will also be study to preserve motion accuracy with respect to a desired path, preliminary defined. Theoretical developments will be tested in full scale experiments thanks to the experimental platforms available in the Research Federation. The electrical autonomous mobile robots AROCO (for natural environment) and Cycab (dedicated to urban environment) equipped with numerous exteroceptive and proprioceptive sensor will be more particularly used to show the capabilities of proposed algorithm. Contact The thesis will take place jointly in LASMEA and Cemagref, in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The thesis is expected to start in September 2008 for a 3 year period. Thesis Director: Philippe Martinet, Full Professor LASMEA martinet at lasmea.univ-bpclermont.fr Supervisors Roland Lenain, Research fellow, Cemagref roland.Lenain at cemagref.fr Benoit Thuilot, Associate Professor, LASMEA thuilot at lasmea.univ-bpclermont.fr From glyang at SIMTech.a-star.edu.sg Fri Oct 10 02:48:16 2008 From: glyang at SIMTech.a-star.edu.sg (Yang Guilin, Dr) Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:48:16 +0800 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Call for Paper: 2009 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM 2009) Message-ID: Dear All, The 2009 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics will be held on July 14-17, 2009 in Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Center, Singapore. The theme of the conference is "Mechatronics for Everyday Lives". AIM 2009 conference invites submissions of high quality research papers describing original work on abstractions, algorithms, theories, methodologies, and case studies on the following topics: Actuators, Automotive Systems, Bioengineering, Data Storage Systems, Electronic Packaging, Fault Diagnosis, Human-Machine Interfaces, Industry Applications, Information Technology, Intelligent Systems, Machine Vision, Manufacturing, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, Micro/Nano Technology, Modeling and Design, Motion Vibration and Noise Control, Neural and Fuzzy Control, Opto-Electronic Systems, Prototyping, Real-Time and Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation, Robotics, Sensors, System Integration, Transportation Systems, and other fields of mechatronics. Contributed Papers: Original full papers must be submitted in PDF format prepared strictly following the IEEE PDF Requirements for Creating PDF Documents for the IEEE Xplore(r). For detailed format information, please visit the conference website: http://www.aim2009.org/. Accepted and presented papers will be indexed by EI and included in IEEE Xplore(r). Best Paper Award: All submitted papers will be included in the evaluation for the Best Conference Paper Award. Tutorials & Workshops: Proposals for half day or full day tutorials and workshops addressing new topics in intelligent mechatronics are invited for submission to the T/W Chairs. Proposals must include (1) statement of objectives, (2) intended audiences, (3) list of speakers, and (4) list of topics. Organized Sessions: Organized session proposers should submit to the Organized Session Chairs a brief statement of purpose for the session as well as the abstract of the papers to be included. A typical organized session consists of 4 to 5 related papers. Technical Tours: In parallel to the technical sessions, the conference organizers will provide a number of technical tours to the participants to the major industrial companies, research institutions, and universities in Singapore. Details of the industrial tours will be posted on the conference website. Important Dates: Submission of Full Paper & Organized session papers January 15, 2009 Submission of Tutorials/Workshops proposals January 15, 2009 Notification of Paper Status April 1, 2009 Submission of Final Paper April 30, 2009 Advanced Registration April 30, 2009 Conference Website: http://www.aim2009.org/ With best regards, Dr Guilin Yang Publicity Co-Chairs, AIM 2009 ------------------------------------------------- SIMTech celebrates 15 years for Industry ------------------------------------------------- From hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de Sat Oct 11 04:30:32 2008 From: hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de (Sandra Hirche) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:30:32 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Junior professor/assistant professor position for Systemtheoretic Neuroscience at Tech Univ Munich Message-ID: <48F08E58.6030008@lsr.ei.tum.de> The Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen invites applications for the position of a Juniorprofessor (W1) for *Systemtheoretic Neuroscience* which is to be filled as soon as possible. The position is equivalent to an assistant professorship. Candidates are expected to have an excellent scientific record in the area of the control of system theory and computational neuroscience. Research experience in at least two of the following fields is expected: ? Systemtheoretic methods in neuroscience ? Dynamic modeling in neurophysiology ? Transfer of neuroscientific models to synthesize technical systems ? Systemtheory of complex systems ? Informationtheoretic approaches for dynamical system Active participation in the Cluster of Excellence ?Cognition for Technical Systems? (www.cotesys.org), and the Bernstein Center of Computational Neuroscience (www.bccn-muenchen.de) is expected. Furthermore, teaching contributions are expected in the bachelor, master, and diploma education of the faculty as well as in the Graduate School of Systemic Neuroscience. The appointment will be for an initial period of three years. Upon positive evaluation of the performance the position will be extended to an over-all duration of six years. Candidates must hold a degree from a university or an accredited college of applied science, pedagogical aptitude, and the qualification for academic work, which is typically proven by an excellent Ph.D./doctorate. Further academic achievements, which may have been also obtained outside the university environments, are desirable. In cases of substantially equal eligibility, preferential consideration will be given to disabled candidates. As part of the excellence initiative of the German federal and state governments, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen pursues the strategic goal of substantially increasing the proportion of women in research and education and thus expressly invites qualified female scientists to apply for this position. Applications with the usual supporting information (CV, certificates, credentials, etc., list of publications including reprints of the most important papers) should be submitted to: Dekan der Fakultaet f?r Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik der TU Muenchen, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 Munich, Germany or by Email to dekan at ei.tum.de. Deadline for applications is 30 November, 2008. -- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sandra Hirche Information-oriented Control Institute of Automatic Control Engineering Technische Universitaet Muenchen D-80290 Munich, Germany phone: +49-89-289-23417 fax: +49-89-289-28340 email: hirche at tum.de http://www.lsr.ei.tum.de http://www.shirche.de -------------------------------------------- From hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de Sat Oct 11 04:30:40 2008 From: hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de (Sandra Hirche) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:30:40 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Junior professor/assistant professor position for Multi-Robot Control at Tech Univ Munich Message-ID: <48F08E60.5020208@lsr.ei.tum.de> The Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen invites applications for the position of a Juniorprofessor (W1) for *Multi-Robot Control* which is to be filled as soon as possible. The position is equivalent to an assistant professorship. Candidates are expected to have an excellent scientific record in the area of the control of multi-robot and multi-agent systems. Research experience in at least two of the following fields is expected: ? Control, optimization, and coordination of multi-robot / multi-agent systems ? Higher level planning, navigation, and decision making techniques ? Analysis and synthesis of complex networked systems ? Autonomous vehicles (mobile robots, automobiles, aerial vehicles) Active participation in the Cluster of Excellence ?Cognition for Technical Systems? (www.cotesys.org), the collaborative research center SFB/TR-28 ?Cognitive Automobile? (www.kognimobil.org) and in the area of networked complex automation systems, mechatronics, and robotics is expected. The position requires the representation of the subject in research and teaching. In teaching contributions are expected in the bachelor, master, and diploma education of the faculty as well as in novel master degree programs currently being defined such as ?Automotive? and/or ?Mechatronics, Adaptronics and Automation?. Candidates must hold a degree from a university or an accredited college of applied science, pedagogical aptitude, and the qualification for academic work, which is typically proven by an excellent Ph.D./doctorate. Further academic achievements, which may have been also obtained outside the university environments, are desirable. In cases of substantially equal eligibility, preferential consideration will be given to disabled candidates. As part of the excellence initiative of the German federal and state governments, the Technische Universit?t M?nchen pursues the strategic goal of substantially increasing the proportion of women in research and education and thus expressly invites qualified female scientists to apply for this position. The appointment will be for an initial period of three years. Upon positive evaluation of the performance the position will be extended to an overall duration of six years. Applications with the usual supporting information (CV, certificates, credentials, etc., list of publications including reprints of the most important papers) should be submitted to: Dekan der Fakult?t f?r Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik der TU M?nchen, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 M?nchen, Germany or by Email to dekanat at ei.tum.de Deadline for applications is *30 November 2008*. -- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sandra Hirche Information-oriented Control Institute of Automatic Control Engineering Technische Universitaet Muenchen D-80290 Munich, Germany phone: +49-89-289-23417 fax: +49-89-289-28340 email: hirche at tum.de http://www.lsr.ei.tum.de http://www.shirche.de -------------------------------------------- From hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de Sat Oct 11 04:30:46 2008 From: hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de (Sandra Hirche) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:30:46 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Juniorprofessor/assistant professor position for Geometrical Optimization and Machine Learning at Tech Univ Munich Message-ID: <48F08E66.6050403@lsr.ei.tum.de> The Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen invites applications for the position of a Juniorprofessor (W1) for *Geometrical Optimization and Machine Learning* which is to be filled as soon as possible. The position is equivalent to an assistant professorship. The applicant should have an excellent scientific record in the area of geometric optimization, as well as in the area of system and information theory. It is expected that the applicant is an expert in at least two of the following areas: ? Numerical Methods of Geometric Optimization ? Information Theoretic Methods of Machine Learning ? Learning in distributed, networked and embedded systems ? Methods of Multivariate Data Analysis for Unsupervised Learning ? Signal-based, Sub-symbolic Learning The position requires the representation of the subject in research and teaching. Active participation in the Cluster of Excellence ?Cognition for Technical Systems? (www.cotesys.org) is expected, as well as the preparation of new proposals in related areas. Furthermore, teaching contributions are expected in the bachelor and master education of the department. The appointment will be for an initial period of three years. Upon positive evaluation of the performance the position will be extended to an overall duration of six years. Preconditions for employment are a degree from a university or an accredited college of applied science, pedagogical aptitude, and the qualification for academic work, which is typically proven by an excellent Ph.D./doctorate. Further academic achievements, which may have been also obtained outside the university environments, are desirable. In cases of substantially equal eligibility, preferential consideration will be given to disabled candidates. As part of the excellence initiative of the German federal and state governments, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen pursues the strategic goal of substantially increasing the proportion of women in research and education and thus expressly invites qualified female scientists to apply for this position. Applications with the usual supporting information (CV, certificates, credentials, etc., list of publications including reprints of the most important papers) should be submitted by 30 November, 2008 to: Dekan der Fakultaet f?r Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik der TU Muenchen, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 Munich, Germany or by Email to dekanat at ei.tum.de -- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sandra Hirche Information-oriented Control Institute of Automatic Control Engineering Technische Universitaet Muenchen D-80290 Munich, Germany phone: +49-89-289-23417 fax: +49-89-289-28340 email: hirche at tum.de http://www.lsr.ei.tum.de http://www.shirche.de -------------------------------------------- From hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de Sat Oct 11 04:31:00 2008 From: hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de (Sandra Hirche) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:31:00 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Juniorprofessor/assistant professor position for Dynamic Human-Robot Interaction at Tech Univ Munich Message-ID: <48F08E74.9030000@lsr.ei.tum.de> The Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen invites applications for the position of a Juniorprofessor (W1) for *Dynamic Human-Robot Interaction* which is to be filled as soon as possible. The position is equivalent to an assistant professorship. Candidates are expected to have an excellent scientific record in the area of dynamical system theory and human-robot interaction. Research experience in at least two of the following fields is expected: ? Probabilistic methods of dynamic system modeling in human-robot interaction and identification of skills ? Stochastic optimization methods for task decomposition and resource allocation ? Dynamic models of cooperative decision making processes and its synthesis ? Learning and adaptation in cooperative systems ? Benchmarking and quantitative evaluation of cooperative performance in human-robot interaction Active participation in the Cluster of Excellence ?Cognition for Technical Systems? (www.cotesys.org) is expected, as well as the shaping of new proposals in related areas. Furthermore, teaching contributions are expected in the bachelor, master, and diploma education of the faculty as well as in novel master degree programs currently being defined such as ?Mechatronics, Adaptronics and Automation?. The appointment will be for an initial period of three years. Upon positive evaluation of the performance the position will be extended to an overall duration of six years. Candidates must hold a degree from a university or an accredited college of applied science, pedagogical aptitude, and the qualification for academic work, which is typically proven by an excellent Ph.D./doctorate. Further academic achievements, which may have been also obtained outside the university environments, are desirable. In cases of substantially equal eligibility, preferential consideration will be given to disabled candidates. As part of the excellence initiative of the German federal and state governments, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen pursues the strategic goal of substantially increasing the proportion of women in research and education and thus expressly invites qualified female scientists to apply for this position. Applications with the usual supporting information (CV, certificates, credentials, etc., list of publications including reprints of the most important papers) should be submitted to: Dekan der Fakultaet f?r Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik der TU Muenchen, Arcisstra?e 21, 80333 Munich, Germany or by Email to dekan at ei.tum.de. Deadline for applications is 30 November, 2008. -- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sandra Hirche Information-oriented Control Institute of Automatic Control Engineering Technische Universitaet Muenchen D-80290 Munich, Germany phone: +49-89-289-23417 fax: +49-89-289-28340 email: hirche at tum.de http://www.lsr.ei.tum.de http://www.shirche.de -------------------------------------------- From hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de Sat Oct 11 04:31:10 2008 From: hirche at lsr.ei.tum.de (Sandra Hirche) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:31:10 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Junior professor/assistant professor position for Distributed Multimodal Information Processing at Tech Univ Munich Message-ID: <48F08E7E.1030506@lsr.ei.tum.de> The Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen invites applications for the position of a Juniorprofessor (W1) for *Distributed Multimodal Information Processing* which is to be filled as soon as possible. The position is equivalent to an assistant professorship. The applicant should have an excellent scientific record in the area of multimodal information acquisition and processing. It is expected that the applicant is an expert in at least two of the following areas: ? Multimodal and distributed information acquisition (audio/video/haptik) ? Cooperative multisensor-based object and 3D environment acquisition ? Application of object and 3D environment models in cognitive technical systems ? Cross-modal interaction and prioritization of modalities ? Perception-based multimodal information processing The position requires the representation of the subject in research and teaching. Active participation in the Cluster of Excellence ?Cognition for Technical Systems? (www.cotesys.org) is expected, as well as the preparation of new proposals in related areas. Furthermore, teaching contributions are expected in the bachelor, master, and diploma education of the department. The appointment will be for an initial period of three years. Upon positive evaluation of the performance the position will be extended to an overall duration of six years. Preconditions for employment are a degree from a university or an accredited college of applied science, pedagogical aptitude, and the qualification for academic work, which is typically proven by an excellent Ph.D./doctorate. Further academic achievements, which may have been also obtained outside the university environments, are desirable. In cases of substantially equal eligibility, preferential consideration will be given to disabled candidates. As part of the excellence initiative of the German federal and state governments, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen pursues the strategic goal of substantially increasing the proportion of women in research and education and thus expressly invites qualified female scientists to apply for this position. Applications with the usual supporting information (CV, certificates, credentials, etc., list of publications including reprints of the most important papers) should be submitted by 30 November, 2008 to: Dekan der Fakultaet f?r Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik der TU Muenchen, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 Munich, Germany or by Email to dekan at ei.tum.de -- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sandra Hirche Information-oriented Control Institute of Automatic Control Engineering Technische Universitaet Muenchen D-80290 Munich, Germany phone: +49-89-289-23417 fax: +49-89-289-28340 email: hirche at tum.de http://www.lsr.ei.tum.de http://www.shirche.de -------------------------------------------- From stephen at nist.gov Sat Oct 11 07:55:56 2008 From: stephen at nist.gov (Stephen Balakirsky) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:55:56 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] SPIE Industrial Robotics and Manufacturing Conference Message-ID: <000601c92bb1$7760fb20$d205a8c0@MEL.NIST.GOV> CALL FOR PAPERS - Deadline extended to October 31 Due to problems on the submission web site, we have extended the deadline for the submission of abstracts to the SPIE Industrial Robotics and Manufacturing conference to October 31, 2008. Please see below or http://spie.org/Documents/ConferencesExhibitions/Defense-Security-Sensing-20 09-Call.pdf for more information. The conference is held on April 13-17 in Orlando Florida. This conference provides an opportunity to explore research and development opportunities for industrial robotics and automation in a new light. Industrial robotics started the "robotics revolution" some 50 years ago. Today, that legacy of early robotics development has branched out into many exciting areas that include research and applications in the service sector, agriculture, consumer products, defense, military, undersea and space exploration, and much more. This diversity in the "New Robotics" areas is driving significant R&D funding and commercial activity that now exceeds efforts in the traditional industrial robotics areas. Some may say that industrial robotics for manufacturing is a "mature" sector, which could be interpreted as being "stagnant". Those working in the field understand that this couldn't be farther from the case and that many of the technologies being pioneered in the "New Robotics" can be leveraged to significantly enable new capabilities in manufacturing applications. This conference will be looking to examine the technology requirements and operational capabilities of automation programs for manufacturing, mining, agriculture, warehousing, and food processing applications that have been leveraging the "New Robotics". This conference brings together the technologists, developers and user communities to discuss requirements, challenges, and technical approaches relevant for commercial processes and military systems. It provides a balanced perspective on (a) programs and applications, and (b) theory, algorithms, designs, and implementation. This conference provides a unique opportunity for program managers to present their unique requirements and perspectives on the important technical issues. This conference will feature an expanded opportunity for hands-on demonstration of robot and automation systems and component technologies. Researchers who would like to demonstrate their technologies and unique capabilities are strongly encouraged to contact one of the program chairs. Papers are solicited in the following topic areas: . intelligent warehouse applications . human machine interface . discrete parts manufacturing . standard interfaces . intelligent control, performance measurements and standards for next-generation AGV's . cable robot systems . performance evaluation for sensors for manufacturing metrology . paint/depainting . intelligent assembly . mining applications . automation in agriculture . sensor fusion and integration . novel mobility platforms and running gear configurations . commercial applications . embedded world and vehicle models . system performance modeling and simulation . operator interface and human-robot interactions . novel robot arm configurations and applications. _____________________________________________ Dr. Stephen Balakirsky Intelligent Systems Division National Institute of Standards and Technology 100 Bureau Drive, M/S 8230 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230 Tel: (301)975-4791 Fax: (301)990-9688 email: stephen at nist.gov From K.Dautenhahn at herts.ac.uk Fri Oct 10 07:26:23 2008 From: K.Dautenhahn at herts.ac.uk (Kerstin Dautenhahn) Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:26:23 +0100 (BST) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CFP: New Frontiers in Human-Robot Interaction (Symposium at AISB2009) Message-ID: ----apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email------ NEW FRONTIERS IN HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION A two-day symposium, 8-9 April 2009, at AISB 2009, Edinburgh, Scotland http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqkd/HRI-AISB2009-Symposium.html Motivation and Background: Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a growing research field with many application areas that could have a big impact not only economically, but also on the way we live and the kind of relationships we may develop with machines. Due to its interdisciplinary nature different views and approaches towards HRI need to be nurtured. This symposium will provide a platform to discuss collaboratively recent findings and challenges in HRI. Different categories of submissions are encouraged that reflect the different types of research studies that are being carried out. The symposium will encourage a diversity of views on HRI and different approaches taken. In the highly interdisciplinary research field of HRI, a peaceful dialogue among such approaches is expected to contribute to the synthesis of a body of knowledge that may help HRI sustain its creative inertia that has drawn to HRI during the past 10 years many researchers from HCI, robotics, psychology, the social sciences, and other fields. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: - Developments towards robot companions - User-centred robot design - Robots in personal care and health care - Robots in search and rescue - Sensors and interfaces for HRI - Human-aware robot perception - Dialogue and multi-modal human-robot interaction - Robot architectures for socially intelligent robots - HRI field studies in naturalistic environments - Robot assisted therapy - Robots in HRI collaborative scenarios - Robots in schools and in other educational environments - Robots as personal assistants and trainers - Robot and human personality - New methods and methodologies to carry out and analyze human-robot interaction - Robots as companions and helpers in the home - Robots as assistive technology - Long-term or repeated interaction with robots - Creating relationships with robots - Expressiveness in robots - Sustaining the engagement of users - Personalizing robots and HRI interfaces - Human-robot teaching - Robots that learn socially and adapt to people - User experience in HRI - User needs and requirements for HRI - Robots as autonomous companions - Robots as remote-controlled tools - Embodied interfaces for smart homes - Ethnography and field studies - Cross-cultural studies Note, articles that are specifically addressing ethical issues in HRI are encouraged to submit to the AISB09 Symposium on .Killer robots or friendly fridges: the social understanding of Artificial Intelligence. (http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~ruth/krff.html), and may consider to attend both symposia which will run back to back. The symposium encourages submissions in any of the following categories. The submission should clearly state which category the article falls under: *N* Completed empirical studies reporting novel research findings In this category we encourage submissions where a substantial body of findings has been accumulated based on precise research questions or hypotheses. Such studies are expected to fit within a particular experimental framework (e.g. using qualitative or quantitative evaluation techniques) and the reviewing of such papers will apply relevant (statistical and other) criteria accordingly. Findings of such studies should provide novel insights into human-robot interaction studies. *E* Exploratory studies Exploratory studies are often necessary to pilot and fine-tune the methodological approach, procedures and measures. In a young research field such as HRI with novel applications and various robotic platforms, exploratory studies are also often required to derive a set of concrete research questions or hypothesis, in particular concerning issues where there is little related theoretical and experimental work. Although care must be taken in the interpretation of findings from such studies, they may highlight issues of great interest and relevance to peers. *S* Case studies Due to the nature of many HRI studies, a large-scale quantitative approach is often neither feasible nor desirable. However, case study evaluation can provide meaningful findings if presented appropriately. Thus, case studies with only one participant, or a small group of participants, are encouraged if they are carried out and analyzed in sufficient depth. *P* Position papers While categories N, E and S require reporting on HRI studies or experiments, position papers can be conceptual or theoretical, providing new interpretations of known results. Also, in this category we consider papers that present new ideas without having a complete study to report on. Papers in this category will be judged on the soundness of the argument presented, the significance of the ideas and the interest to the HRI community. *R* Replication of HRI studies To develop as a field, HRI findings obtained by one research group need to be replicated by other groups. Without any additional novel insights, such work is often not publishable. Within this category, authors will have the opportunity to report on studies that confirm or disconfirm findings from experiments that have already been reported in the literature. This category includes studies that report on negative findings. *D* Live HRI Demonstrations Contributors may have an opportunity to provide live demonstrations (live or via Skype), pending the outcome of negotiations with the local organization team. The demo should highlight interesting features and insights into HRI. Purely entertaining demonstrations without significant research content are discouraged. If authors feel that their particular paper does not fit any of the above mentioned categories, then they should indicate this when submitting their paper so that the reviewing process can take this into consideration. Symposium Chair: Kerstin Dautenhahn, Adaptive Systems Research Group, School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK (use K.Dautenhahn "@" herts "." ac "." uk for any inquiries regarding the workshop) Submission of Contributions: We invite unpublished, original work as extended abstracts (up to 3 pages) or full papers of up to 8 pages (double column). In category *D* we invite one page descriptions detailing the demo and its associated research questions. Please send the PDF submissions to HRI-AISB09 (aisb-hri "@" herts "."ac "." uk) (files bigger than 2MB will not be accepted) AND send an email to Kerstin Dautenhahn (K.Dautenhahn "@" herts "." ac "." uk) with the following information: title of paper, author list, contact email, file name (as submitted to HRI-AISB09). All submissions will be peer reviewed. Proceedings: Authors of accepted contributions will be asked to prepare the final versions (up to 8 pages) for inclusion in the symposium proceedings. A special journal issue will be considered and/or a book publication. Important Dates: - 5th January 2009 : Submission deadline - 2th February 2009: Deadline for notifications sent to authors - 23rd February 2009 : Camera read copies due - 8-9 April 2009: Symposium Programme Committee: Takayuki Kanda, ATR, Japan Ben Krose, UVA, the Netherlands Aude Billard, EPFL, Switzerland Kerstin Severinson Eklundh, KTH, Sweden Takanori Shibata, AIST, Japan Henrik I. Christensen, Georgia Tech, USA Nuno Otero, University of Minho, Portugal Michael Beetz, TUM, Germany Greg Trafton, Naval Research Laboratory, USA Yiannis Demiris, Imperial College, UK Hatice Kose-Bagci, University of Hertfordshire, UK Kolja Kuehnlenz, TUM, Germany Michael A. Goodrich, Brigham Young University, USA Yoshihiko Nakamura, University of Tokyo, Japan Christoph Bartneck, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands Michael L. Walters, University of Hertfordshire, UK Karl F. MacDorman, Indiana University, USA Hisato Kobayashi, Hosei University, Japan Tatsuya Nomura, Ryukoku University, Japan Dirk Wollherr, TUM, Germany Kheng Lee Koay, University of Hertfordshire, UK Astrid Weiss, University of Salzburg, Austria Monica Nicolescu, University of Nevada, Reno, USA Sandra Hirche, TUM, Germany Ben Robins, University of Hertfordshire, UK Christine Lisetti, Florida International University, USA Holly Yanco, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, USA Aaron Steinfeld, Carnegie Mellon University, USA Yoshihiro Miyake, Tokio Institute of Technology, Japan Tomio Watanabe, Okayama Prefectural University, Japan Haizhou Li, Institute for Infocomm Research, Singapore Adriana Tapus, USC, USA Andrea Thomaz, Georgia Tech, USA Jong-Hwan Kim, KAIST, South Korea Sylvain Calinon, EPFL, Switzerland Reid Simmons, Carnegie Mellon University, USA Julie Adams, Vanderbilt University, USA Aris Alissandrakis, Tokio Institute of Technology, Japan Yorick Wilks, University of Sheffield, UK Shuzhi Sam Ge, The National University of Singapore Odest Chadwicke Jenkins, Brown University, USA Dong-Soo Kwon, KAIST, South Korea Wolfram Erlhagen, University of Minho, Portugal Illah Nourbakhsh,Carnegie Mellon University, USA Catherina Burghart, University of Karlsruhe, Germany Manfred Tscheligi, University of Salzburg, Austria Matthias Scheutz, Indiana University Bloomington, US ----------------------------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Kerstin Dautenhahn Professor of Artificial Intelligence Adaptive Systems Research Group The University of Hertfordshire, School of Computer Science College Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, United Kingdom URL: http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqkd E-mail: K.Dautenhahn at herts.ac.uk Fax: +44-1707-284-303 Tel: +44-1707-284-333 From PatrickPfaff at kuka-roboter.de Sun Oct 12 23:41:25 2008 From: PatrickPfaff at kuka-roboter.de (Pfaff Patrick) Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:41:25 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CFP: Journal of Field Robotics, Special Issue on Three-Dimensional Mapping Message-ID: <9188EBADF1DD1A44AEE31CD4E0E78BB503219779@deau1svmail1.roboter.kuka.de> Call for Papers on -------------------------------------------------- Three-Dimensional Mapping -------------------------------------------------- for a special issue of the Journal of Field Robotics http://www.journalfieldrobotics.org/ Special Issue Guest Editors: Patrick Pfaff, Kuka Roboter GmbH, Wolfram Burgard, University of Freiburg. Recently, three-dimensional representations of environments have gained substantial interest in the robotics community as such maps provide better support for a wide variety of tasks including navigation, localization, and perception. For example, robots that know about the three-dimensional structure of the environment can better avoid obstacles, can more reliably localize themselves, and can more robustly detect objects. Accordingly, three-dimensional representations provide benefits in all applications in which robots are deployed in real-world scenarios. Additionally, three-dimensional models of environments are envisioned to be useful in a wide area of applications, which goes far beyond robotics, like architecture, emergency planning, interaction, and visualization. In all of these application domains, there is a need for methods that can automatically construct 3D-models. The goal of this special issue of the Journal of Field Robotics is to collect recent advances and state-of-the-art results in the area of learning three-dimensional maps with mobile robots with a particular emphasis on fielded systems and systems that operate in unstructured and dynamic environments. We particularly seek papers that both cover fundamental aspects of mapping along with those that describe the acquisition or maintenance of three-dimensional representations in natural, unstructured environments. Authors are invited to submit papers that cover relevant areas of three-dimensional mapping for field robotic systems including (but not limited to) stereo vision, autonomous cars, navigation, dynamic objects, cooperative systems, approximation and reconstruction techniques, and 3D-SLAM. Important Dates: December 15, 2008- Submission of manuscripts March 15, 2009 - Reviews sent to the authors June 15, 2009- Final manuscripts due for publication For comments, suggestions, or requests, please send email to Pfaff Patrick > or Wolfram Burgard > From salah at acfr.usyd.edu.au Mon Oct 13 17:13:42 2008 From: salah at acfr.usyd.edu.au (Salah Sukkarieh) Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:13:42 +1100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] SLAM Summer School 2009 Message-ID: <005101c92d91$b77c3c10$2674b430$@usyd.edu.au> The 4th Summer School in Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) will be hosted by the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney on 20-23 January 2009. The updated agenda and list of speakers is up on the web. The deadline for applications is fast approaching - November 14th. Objectives The goal of this summer school is to provide lectures and laboratory work on the basics as well as the state-of-the-art of SLAM, with a bent towards outdoor applications and perception in outdoor environments for autonomous systems. A number of leading international researchers will be presenting their ideas and solutions to this difficult problem, focussing on ideas of machine learning for perception and situational awareness, large scale SLAM and Active-SLAM. The summer school will provide the opportunity for research students who are new to, or interested in, this exciting area to see what methods are being employed and what systems have been demonstrated, as well as to get hands on experience with some of the algorithmic methods. It will also provide the opportunity to interact with fellow researchers in this field with the aim of generating collaborative initiatives. More information including registration can be found here: http://www.acfr.usyd.edu.au/education/summerschool.shtml Salah Sukkarieh Australian Centre for Field Robotics The University of Sydney From F.Wahl at tu-bs.de Mon Oct 13 03:26:09 2008 From: F.Wahl at tu-bs.de (F. Wahl) Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:26:09 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] 2nd CfP: German Workshop on Robotics, Braunschweig, June 9-10, 2009 Message-ID: <48F32241.7020809@tu-bs.de> ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please feel free to forward this message to interested colleagues. We apologize if you receive this email more than once. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================= SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS GERMAN WORKSHOP ON ROBOTICS (GWR09) ======================================================= Dear colleagues and friends, herewith we convey the Second Call for Papers of the German Workshop on Robotics 2009 to be held at the Technische Universitaet of Braunschweig, Germany during 09-10 June, 2009. www.gwr09.org. Your contributions are very welcome! The aim of the two day single-track German Workshop on Robotics 2009 is to bring together leading roboticists from academia and industry with backgrounds in various subdisciplines of robotics to foster an intensive exchange of information and cross- fertilisation between these fields. Since the workshop is sponsored by the German Association of Robotics (Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Robotik, DGR) it is mainly intended for, but is by no means limited to, researchers from the German robotics community. The conference language will be English. Paper submissions on new methodologies, algorithms, hardware components, system architectures and interesting applications are solicited. To ensure academic quality, a highly selective review process will lead to the final agenda. In addition to oral and poster presentations of refereed papers, invited talks by internationally renowned researchers will complete the conference program. All presented papers will be published by Springer-Verlag as a hardcover book to achieve high international visibility. Contributed Papers: Original full-length papers must be submitted in PDF format. For detailed format information, please visit www.gwr09.org. Schedule: ----------------------- Submission - December 14, 2008 Notification of acceptance - February 23, 2009 Final paper submission - March 22, 2009 Beginning of registration - March 01, 2009 End of advance booking period - April 30, 2009 Workshop - June 9 and 10, 2009 ----------------------- The deadline for paper submissions is firm and will not be extended! Conference Website: www.gwr09.org With best regards, Friedrich M. Wahl Chair GWR09 -- Institute for Robotics http://www.rob.cs.tu-bs.de and Process Control Technical University of Braunschweig Muehlenpfordtstrasse 23 38106 Braunschweig GERMANY ************************************ * German Workshop on Robotics 2009 * Tel: (+49) 531 391-7450 * refer to: http://www.gwr09.org/ * Fax: (+49) 531 391-7445 ************************************ From alanwags at cc.gatech.edu Tue Oct 14 01:23:15 2008 From: alanwags at cc.gatech.edu (Alan Richard Wagner) Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:23:15 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Final Call: Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Pioneer Workshop 2009 -- deadline 10/15 In-Reply-To: <603193697.53571223972476570.JavaMail.root@pinky.cc.gatech.edu> Message-ID: <1635297617.53591223972595509.JavaMail.root@pinky.cc.gatech.edu> Apologies for cross postings. Final notice the deadline is Oct. 15. Historically the workshop has attempted to provide travel grants and accommodations for participants. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------- CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Pioneer Workshop 2009 March 10, 2009 4th Human-Robot Interaction Conference (HRI2009) March 11-13, 2009 - San Diego, CA, USA http://www.hripioneers.org/hri09/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------- Workshop Description: The field of human-robot interaction is new but growing rapidly. While there are now several established researchers in the field, many of the current human-robotic interaction practitioners are students or recently graduated. This workshop, to be held in conjunction with the HRI 2009 conference, aims to bring together this group of researchers to discuss their work, talk about the important upcoming issues in the field, and hear about what their colleagues are doing. The workshop is the fourth annual workshop for junior researchers in HRI held in conjunction with the HRI conference. Those who have not attended a previous session are highly encouraged to submit to this workshop. Previous attendees will be considered for acceptance as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------- Workshop Format: The format of the workshop will have participants presenting their work in short talks, hearing from an expert in the field on the important problems in HRI, and meeting in small group sessions to discuss common research themes. The workshop will take place in March 2009, in San Diego in conjunction with the HRI 2009 Conference. Potential participants are encouraged to submit an abstract of their current research, a statement of motivation, and a letter of recommendation by October 1, 2008 (see the webpage http://www.hripioneers.org/hri09/ for more details about the application. Please limit abstracts to two pages. We plan to accept approximately 30 students and young researchers to the workshop. Twelve will be asked to give a brief (10 minute) talk to the workshop about their work. The remainder will be expected to talk about their work during breakout sessions and meals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------- Important Dates: 15 October 2008 - Application Deadline 19 November 2008 - Notification of acceptance 10 March 2009 - HRI Pioneer Workshop 11-13 March 2009 - HRI 2009 Conference ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------- Organizers: Alan Wagner, Georgia Tech, USA (chair) Emily Mower, USC, USA Rosemarijn Looije, TNO, the Netherlands Maxim Makatchev, CMU, USA Marek Michalowski, CMU, USA For more information, please visit the following website: http://www.hripioneers.org/hri09/ _____ Kind regards, Alan From Kanna.Rajan at mbari.org Sun Oct 12 20:03:16 2008 From: Kanna.Rajan at mbari.org (Kanna Rajan) Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:03:16 -0700 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Postdoc position MBARI, California Message-ID: [apologies for multiple messages] The Autonomous System group at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) invites applications for 1 postdoc position. MBARI (http://www.mbari.org) is a private non-profit Oceanographic research institute located in Moss Landing, California, in the heart of the largest marine sanctuary in the United States, just outside Silicon Valley. The institute is an inter-disciplinary research institution guided by a strong peer relationship between scientists, engineers and marine operations staff. MBARI pioneered the use of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs http://www.mbari.org/dmo/vessels_vehicles/tiburon/tiburon.html) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs http://www.mbari.org/auv/default.htm) for deep ocean research and continues to be at the cutting edge of marine robotics, marine sensor development, ocean chemistry, marine geology, micro-biology and ecology. Research Focus: The Autonomous Systems group is uniquely placed as being the only Artificial Intelligence group within an operational oceanographic setting anywhere. The focus of the groups effort is in automated reasoning for embodied robust intelligence for AUVs with a focus on Automated Planning, Execution, Constraint-Based Reasoning and Machine Learning. The core development effort is to enable adaptive control for AUVs to survey, sample and characterize dynamic and episodic ocean phenomenon such as Harmful Algal Blooms, Fronts and Thin Layers which have substantial societal impact (http://www.mbari.org/autonomy/ TREX/). Further efforts are underway to study the feasibility of goal- based commanding for underwater feature-based SLAM, mixed-initiative platform control and multi-vehicle coordination. Research Environment: The Autonomous Systems group was established in 2005 by researchers from NASA with extensive background in commanding spacecraft including the twin Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. A strong inter- disciplinary effort with biological oceanographers at MBARI and others outside has driven the design and deployment of a hybrid executive* which enables an AUV to adaptively sample the environment using Planning and Machine Learning techniques to inform dynamic in-situ behavior. Publishing in peer-reviewed conferences and journals in AI, Robotics and the Ocean Sciences and interacting with scientists in the fields of biology, chemistry, ecology, genetics, ocean physics, marine robotics is an important aspect of the research effort. The group collaborates with AI and Robotics researchers in academia in the US and Europe and hosts visiting graduate students and researchers from within the US and Europe. Key topic areas of interest for this position are: 1. Automated Planning and Execution 2. Scheduling 3. Machine Learning 4. Constraint-based Reasoning 5. Distributed Planning Applicants are encouraged to communicate with the PI for project feasibility and relevance to ongoing MBARI research. Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. Details of the application process are at http://www.mbari.org/oed/jobs/Postdocs-2009.html . The deadline for applications is December 11th 2008. * 1. McGann, C., Py, F., Rajan, K., Ryan, J., Thomas, H., Henthorn, R., and McEwen, R. ?Preliminary Results for Model-Based Adaptive Control of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle? Intnl. Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER) (Athens, Greece, 2008). 2. McGann, C., Py, F., Rajan, K., Ryan, J., and Henthorn, R. ?Adaptive Control for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles? In Proc. Assoc. for the Advancement of Arti?cial Intelligence, National Conference (AAAI) (Chicago, IL, 2008). 3. McGann, C., Py, F., Rajan, K., Thomas, H., Henthorn, R., and McEwen, R. ?A Deliberative Architecture for AUV Control? In Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (Pasadena, CA, May 2008). 4. McGann, C., Py, F., Rajan, K., Thomas, H., Henthorn, R., and McEwen, R., ?Automated Decision Making For a New Class of AUV Science?, In ASLO/Ocean Sciences, Florida, 2008. 5. Py, F., Ryan, J., Rajan, K., McGann, C., Fox, M, ?Adaptive Water Sampling from an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle based on Unsupervised Clustering?, In ASLO/Ocean Sciences, Florida, 2008 From aude.billard at epfl.ch Mon Oct 13 12:48:24 2008 From: aude.billard at epfl.ch (Aude Billard) Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:48:24 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Postdoctoral researcher in the field of computer vision and machine learning Message-ID: <04ff01c92d6c$a76ff520$1d53b280@lasalap0> Postdoctoral researcher in the field of computer vision and machine learning The Learning Algorithm and Systems Laboratory at the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne) seeks immediately one qualified postdoctoral researcher in the field of computer vision and machine learning. The postdoc will work in the framework of the IM2 and TACT projects, that develop algorithms for multimodal analysis of video and audio data recorded by the WearCam, a wearable hat designed for children with disabilities, see http://lasa.epfl.ch/research/toys/wearcam/index.php The successful candidate will have a PhD and experience in at least 1 of the following fields: - computer vision or image processing - machine learning, pattern recognition or statistical techniques In addition, the candidate should have a strong background in C++ programming and matlab. The applicant should be fluent in English. The initial Postdoctoral position is for one year, with a possibility of 1 year extension. The position is open immediately. Application: Interested candidates should send a letter of motivation, along with their detailed CV, electronic transcripts of B.S. and M.S. degrees and names of 3 references to Prof. Aude Billard (aude.billard at epfl.ch.) ----------------------------- References: - website LASA: http://lasa.epfl.ch - website WearCam Project: http://lasa.epfl.ch/research/toys/wearcam/index.php From atilla.elci at emu.edu.tr Sat Oct 11 07:59:50 2008 From: atilla.elci at emu.edu.tr (=?utf-8?Q?Atilla_El=C3=A7i?=) Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:59:50 +0300 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Deadline extended: ESAS SI w/ Expert Systems (SCI-E). Message-ID: <008501c92bb2$02fd2f50$08f78df0$%elci@emu.edu.tr> Dear All, Due to many requests, the deadline for draft paper submission has been extended until November 7th, 2008. This special issue with Expert Systems: The Journal of Knowledge Engineering (SCI-E) by Blackwell Publishing is based on the theme of Engineering Semantic Agent Systems (ESAS 2007-8 workshops). This special issue expects papers theory and practice of blending several fields such as multi-agent systems, semantic technology, and software engineering. Of interest is autonomous semantic robots such as those implementing agent services to be orchestrated in multitudes for cooperative problem solving. FYI: the last of the ESAS Workshop Series is described here: http://conferences.computer.org/compsac/2008/workshops/ESAS2008.html. Whether ESAS author or not, all are invited to propose a paper. CFP is given below. Greetings, Atilla Elci, ITRC & Dept. Comp. Eng., EMU, TRNC. http://cmpe.emu.edu.tr/aelci/ http://cmpe.emu.edu.tr/aelci/ESAS2008/Expert_Systems_ESAS_CFP_Jul25.doc SIN Conf 2007 proc is now available: http://www.trafford.com/07-1689 http://conferences.computer.org/compsac/2008/workshops/ESAS2008.html http://itrc.emu.edu.tr/ http://cmpe.emu.edu.tr/acm/ http://www.ijrc2008.org/ http://www.compsac.org/ http://tinyurl.com/2mddab http://preview.tinyurl.com/36dfuz http://www.sinconf.org/ CALL FOR PAPERS =============== Expert Systems: The Journal of Knowledge Engineering (SCI-E) by Blackwell Publishing Special Issue on Engineering Semantic Agent Systems The IEEE International Workshop Series on Engineering Semantic Agent Systems (ESAS) has been held since 2006 in conjunction with Annual IEEE International Computer Software and Applications Conferences (COMPSAC). Beginning 2006, COMPSAC is designated as the IEEE Computer Society Signature Conference on Software Technology and Applications. ESAS Workshop Series has two complementary objectives: i. To inquire into the theory and practice of engineering semantic multi-agent systems (MAS), especially methods, means and best cases. ii. To explore into unifying software engineering methodologies employed in implementing semantic MAS applications across domains. Semantic web technologies render dynamic, heterogeneous, distributed, shared content equally accessible to human reader and software agents. Here the vision is to achieve a synergy with MAS technologies that other workshops have so far missed, whereby both semantics and agents will be in the center stage. ESAS Workshop Series aims at garnering the synergy of both technologies by taking up both the semantic web and the agent aspects of the common research issue. ESAS Workshops have been very successful in attracting high quality submissions and they have become a focus of attention for researchers and practitioners of semantic software agents, mobile agents, MAS and semantic web technologies. Topics of Interest: ------------------- Topics span a wide spectrum of both theory and practice in autonomous semantic agents, context-aware intelligent agents, agents as semantic web services, software agents, mobile agents, agent architectures, multi-agent systems, agent communities, cooperation and goal seeking through sharing policy and ontology, safety & security in systems, other QoS issues, and so on. Paper submission: ----------------- This special issue of Expert Systems is primarily intended for revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers presented at ESAS 2007 and ESAS 2008. Additionally, this CFP is open to all potential authors. Submitted articles must not have been previously published or currently submitted for journal publication elsewhere. The authors should include a brief statement in their submission to indicate the way in which the article differs from their workshop papers and especially comment on the additional original content and contributions. A prospective author is responsible for understanding and adhering to the submission guidelines which can be accessed from: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/submit.asp?ref=0266-4720. Please thoroughly read these before submitting a manuscript. Each paper will go through a rigorous review process. Interested authors should submit digital copies (PDF preferred) of their papers, including all tables, diagrams, and illustrations, to all the Guest Editors by email. Important Dates: ---------------- Submission Deadline: November 7, 2008 (extended deadline) Completion of First-Round Reviews: January 31, 2009 Revised Papers: March 15, 2009 Publication Materials Due: April 30, 2009 Publication: late 2009 Contact Details: ---------------- Please address all correspondence regarding this special issue to the Guest Editors: Atilla Elci Internet Technology Research Center Department of Computer Engineering Eastern Mediterranean University Famagusta, North Cyprus, Turkey Email: Atilla.Elci at EMU.edu.tr Mamadou Tadiou Kone Dept. of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering Laval University, Qu?bec (Qu?bec) G1K 7P4, Canada Email: Kone.Mamadou at gmail.com Mehmet A. Orgun Intelligent Systems Group (ISG) Department of Computing Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2109, Australia Email: Mehmet.Orgun at mq.edu.au Contributors are also welcome to contact the Editors of Expert Systems for further information: Dr. Lucia Rapanotti Computing Department, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, U.K. Phone: +44 (0)1908 654125 Email: l.rapanotti at open.ac.uk Dr. Jon G. Hall Department of Computing The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, U.K. Email: J.G.Hall at open.ac.uk Dated: Oct. 5th, 2008. From robuffo at dis.uniroma1.it Wed Oct 15 06:08:22 2008 From: robuffo at dis.uniroma1.it (Paolo Robuffo Giordano) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:08:22 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] PhD and PostDoc positions at MPI for Biological Cybernetics Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.0.20081015150813.01e3d390@dis.uniroma1.it> 1 Post-Doc & 2 PhD positions in the field of Robotic Flight Simulator Research at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany. Deadline: 1st December 2008 Starting date: January 2009 or later ===================================================================================================================== The Department Perception, Cognition and Action, under the supervision of Professor B?lthoff, is searching for scientists to conduct research in perceptually designed flight simulators and basic science investigating human perceptuo-motor control tasks. The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics provides an excellent multi-disciplinary and interactive research environment combining expertise in cognitive science, computer science, robotics and neuroscience with the latest state of the art in virtual reality and simulator facilities (http://www.kyb.mpg.de). Projects will make use of a novel kind of motion simulator based on a large industrial robot arm (http://www.cyberneum.de/RoboLab_en) in order to evaluate human control performance with a large range of vehicle models. Applicants should have a Masters or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, Biology, Psychology, Physics or related areas. Expertise in: robotics, control theory, virtual reality, human factors, perceptual psychology would be an advantage. Salary will be based on the German TV?D or equivalent MPG stipend. The Max-Planck Society wishes to increase the number of female co-workers, and applications from women are particularly encouraged. Applications from handicapped persons will be favoured when all other qualifications are equal. The Postdoctoral position starts in January 2009 or later. Applications including the names of two referees should be sent electronically to dagmar.maier at tuebingen.mpg.de with subject line "Sim-Job: (your name)" or by post: Max-Planck-Institutf?rbiologische Kybernetik Sekretariat Prof. B?lthoff Spemannstra?e 38 72076 T?bingen Closing date for applications: 1st December 2008. -- Dr. Paolo Robuffo Giordano MPI for Biological Cybernetics Dept. B?lthoff Spemannstra?e 44 72076 T?bingen email: robuffo at dis.uniroma1.it From kenji at ieee.org Tue Oct 14 19:27:25 2008 From: kenji at ieee.org (Kenji Suzuki) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:27:25 +0900 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Postdoctoral Positions in Cybernics (up to three positions) Message-ID: <48F5550D.5050303@ieee.org> * We apologize if you receive multiple copies of this announcement. Job announcement Postdoctoral Positions in Cybernics (up to three positions) Cybernics Program, University of Tsukuba, Japan Ref: CYB04/P0810 http://www.cybernics.tsukuba.ac.jp/ Review of applications: from 1 November, 2008 Applications are invited for three (3) postdoctoral positions in the area of Cybernics: fusion of human, machine and information systems, or relevant subjects. Cybernics is a new domain of interdisciplinary academic field of human-assistive technology to enhance, strengthen, and support human cognitive and physical functions, which challenges to integrate and harmonize humans and robots (RT: robotics technology) with the basis of information technology (IT). We provide a stimulating environment for enthusiastic and creative postdocs, and the research teams allows them to pursue research in close collaboration with School of Medicine, Philosophy and Laws. The topics including - but not limited to - Robot suits (exoskeleton) - Assistive and Rehabilitation robotics - Humanoid robotics - Physical and cognitive human-robot interaction - Vital data sensing, Medical interface and Medical robotics - Brain-machine interface - Other fields in Cybernics (see the faculty members) These positions are for duration of three years, and will be available immediately. The review of applications will proceed after November 1st 2008 on their arrival and will continue until the position is filled. The Cybernics program (Leader, Prof. Yoshiyuki Sankai) is supported by the grant-in-aid science research under the Global COE program, and also is a strategic initiative of the University of Tsukuba. For more details on research areas, see the program website. Candidates are expected to have earned a Ph.D. degree or equivalent in a relevant subject area and to have demonstrated achievement in their fields. Candidates recently graduated Ph.D., or expected to obtain their Ph.D. degrees or equivalent before the appointment begins are also encouraged to apply. Applications should include full curriculum vitae, a list of publications, 5 reprints or preprints of relevant papers, an outline of past researches, future research plans, and possible contribution to this project (about A4 2-pages), and the names and addresses of at least two referees. Applicants are requested, if possible, to list publications under the following main headings: Authored or Edited books, Refereed Journal papers, Review articles, Refereed conference proceedings, Non-refereed conference proceedings, Patents, Awards, External funding and grants, Others. Please return your application by email, preferably in PDF format, to jobs.pd at cybernics.tsukuba.ac.jp. You should include the ref. number you are applying for in the header of your e-mail, or standard mail envelope. For informal inquiries please contact the Leader of the Cybernics Program, Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai on email sankai at cybernics.tsukuba.ac.jp. Tsukuba is a university and science city, located about 60 kilometers, about 45 min by train northeast of central Tokyo. Over 50 national and independently administered research organizations are concentrated in the Tsukuba Science City district, which is centered on the university. Yoshiyuki Sankai Professor, Leader of Cybernics Program University of Tsukuba Review of applications: from 1 November, 2008 (will continue until the positions are filled.) * http://www.cybernics.tsukuba.ac.jp/jobs/CYB04P0810.html --- Kenji Suzuki kenji at ieee.org University of Tsukuba, Japan http://www.iit.tsukuba.ac.jp/~kenji/ From j.nieto at acfr.usyd.edu.au Tue Oct 14 22:24:29 2008 From: j.nieto at acfr.usyd.edu.au (Juan Nieto) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:24:29 +1100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] PhD position in hyperspectral imaging at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics Message-ID: The Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney, Australia PhD Studentship in hyperspectral imaging and data analysis for mining applications. (Application deadline: 31st December 2008) Applications are invited for a 3-year PhD studentship to investigate the use of hyperspectral imagery for mineral identification, to commence in March 2009, or as soon as possible thereafter. The University of Sydney is Australia?s premier University with an outstanding reputation for academic and research excellence. The Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR,http:// www.acfr.usyd.edu.au/) at the University of Sydney is a world-renown research group in field robotics and automation and consists of over 150 research staff and students. The ACFR has established a major new Centre for Mine Automation (http://www.usyd.edu.au/CMA/) to develop and implement the vision of a fully autonomous, remotely operated mine. Applicants should have a first class honours degree in any related discipline (e.g., engineering, computer science, geology) or extensive appropriate professional experience. Each scholarship is valued at $25,872 p.a. (tax exempt). The scholarship will be supplemented by access to overseas travel grants and other allowances. To submit an application: Please include a curriculum vitae, an academic transcript and the names and contact details of two referees. A statement of the broad area of your research interest should also be included. For any enquiries or further information, send email to: Dr Juan Nieto j.nieto at acfr.usyd.edu.au or Dr Sildomar Monteiro sildomar at usyd.edu.au Dr Juan I. Nieto Senior Research Fellow Australian Centre for Field Robotics The Rose Street Building J04 Dept. of Aerospace, Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Tel:+61 2 9351 2744 Fax:+61 2 9351 7474 www.acfr.usyd.edu.au please consider the environment before printing this email From thiagodefreitas at gmail.com Tue Oct 14 09:33:28 2008 From: thiagodefreitas at gmail.com (Thiago de Freitas) Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:33:28 -0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CALL FOR REMOTE PARTICIPATION - ROBOCUP BRAZIL 2008 - VR LEAGUE Message-ID: <5a2916520810140933o4068ea00hb6e9ffa365294463@mail.gmail.com> ----apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email------Latin American RoboCup Open / Robocup Brazil 2008 The Latin American RoboCup Open, which is in its fourth edition, is an event supported by the RoboCup Federation. The RoboCup is a international joint project to foster the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics and related fields. It is an attempt to stimulate these areas using standard problems where many technologies can be used and tested. The IV Latin American RoboCup Open subsumes the II Brazilian RoboCup Open, the V RoboCup Brazil and the III RoboCup Junior Brazil. The Brazilian National Team for the 2009 RoboCup World Championship, which will be held in Graz, Austria, will be defined based on the results of the V RoboCup Brazil and the III RoboCup Junior Brazil. Remote Participation on the Virtual Robots Rescue Simulation League It is possible *only for non-Latin American teams* to participate remotely. Remote participation is for free, it is not necessary to pay any registration fees. If a remote team wins one of the three best postitions on the final ranking it will receive a certificate that can be sent by regular mail service. Please follow the instructionsfor remote teams registration. After completed the registration procedures, each remote team should send its binary code to vrlarc08 at gmail.com *up to October 22nd at midnight (GMT -3)*. Competiton machines will have 32-bit Windows XP SP2 and most recent version of USARSim. Be sure your binary code is compatible with these software. Teams with non-runnable binary codes will be disqualified. On October 25th, the chair will test all remote teams'codes and send a confirmation report to each team. Failed codes can be fixed and sent again up to October 26th at 11:00 a.m. (GMT -3). After this time, all non-runnable codes will be automatically disqualified. For Registration: *Only for non-Latin American Teams !* Remote Teams should follow these procedure: - Submit a TDP (Team Description Paper), according to section Submission of TDPs up to *October 17th at midnight (GMT -3)*; - Fill the registration formand send it to the same e-mail address you will send your binary code up to *October 22nd*. See each Leaguefor specific mail address information. When filling in the form, please don't fill the *Date of registration payment* and *Paid value* fields; - Follow specific instructions on each Leaguedescription to send your binary code for remote participation up to *October 22nd*. *More details on Registration procedures and TDP submission for Remote Participation can be found on the following site:* http://jri2008.dca.ufrn.br/LARC/instrucoes_en.php --- *Thiago de Freitas Oliveira Ara?jo Brazil VR - Team Member **Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG) **eROBOTICA - Robotics Study and Research Group :: http://embedded.ufcg.edu.br/erobotica* From samir.bouabdallah at mavt.ethz.ch Wed Oct 15 06:14:53 2008 From: samir.bouabdallah at mavt.ethz.ch (Bouabdallah Samir) Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:14:53 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] UAV'09 - INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES - June 8-10, 2009 - RENO, NEVADA, USA Message-ID: <20B3DFB65FB4244A869D91798B18FC900298216E@EX2.d.ethz.ch> Dear colleagues, Please find the CFP of the UAV'09 in: http://www.uavconferences.com/UAV09_CFP.pdf INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES, June 8-10, 2009 - RENO, NEVADA, USA. IMPORTANT DATES: February 15, 2009: Full papers, due. April 5, 2009: Notification of acceptance / rejection. April 30, 2009: Final paper and power point presentation, due. WEBSITE: http://www.uavconferences.com Best regards, __________________________ Dr. Samir Bouabdallah Autonomous Systems Lab Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems ETH Zentrum, Tannenstrasse 3 Office: CLA E 16.2 CH-8092 Z?rich, e-mail: samir.bouabdallah at ieee.org Phone: +41 44 632 89 06 Fax: +41 44 632 11 81 ___________________________ Project Leader of: http://www.mufly.org Co-chair of IEEE TC on Aerial Robotics: http://www.flyingrobots.org/ From aude.billard at epfl.ch Fri Oct 17 07:40:07 2008 From: aude.billard at epfl.ch (Aude Billard) Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:40:07 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Postdocs Openings in Robot Programming by Demonstration and Human-Robot Interaction Message-ID: <086e01c93066$3ff666c0$0291b280@lasalap0> Postdocs Openings in Robot Programming by Demonstration and Human-Robot Interaction The Learning Algorithm and Systems Laboratory at the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne) seeks immediately TWO qualified postdoctoral researchers in the fields of robot programming by demonstration and human-robot interaction. The candidates will work within the framework of two European projects that develop algorithms for learning the dynamics of motion to perform manipulatory tasks through human demonstration and for learning bimanual coordination tasks in collaboration with a human. The candidates are expected to have an Engineering BSc/Msc degree (EE, CS or Physics/Maths) and a PhD degree in robotics (not necessarily in human-robot interaction) with a strong background in machine learning. The applicants should be fluent in English. The initial Postdoctoral positions are for one year each, with a possibility of 1 year extension. The positions are open immediately. Application: Interested candidates should send a short letter of motivation, along with their detailed CV, copy of two of their most recent and relevant publications and names of 2 references to Prof. Aude Billard (aude.billard at epfl.ch.) ----------------------------- References: - website LASA: http://lasa.epfl.ch - Publications by the lab: http://lasa.epfl.ch/infopublications/index.php - Recent videos from the lab posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtjC-BXGgAE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKx49hjHDGc From jeedward at yahoo.com Sun Oct 19 09:43:54 2008 From: jeedward at yahoo.com (John Edward) Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2008 09:43:54 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] ARCS-09 call for papers Message-ID: <677650.37517.qm@web45904.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> ARCS-09 call for papers ? The 2009 International Conference on Automation, Robotics and Control Systems (ARCS-09) (website: www.PromoteResearch.org ) will be held during July 13-16 2009 in Orlando, FL, USA. We invite draft paper submissions. The conference will take place at the same time and venue where several other international conferences are taking place. The other conferences include: ????????? International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition (AIPR-09) ????????? International Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics and Chemoinformatics (BCBGC-09) ????????? International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems and Web Technologies (EISWT-09) ????????? International Conference on High Performance Computing, Networking and Communication Systems (HPCNCS-09) ????????? International Conference on Information Security and Privacy (ISP-09) ????????? International Conference on Recent Advances in Information Technology and Applications (RAITA-09) ????????? International Conference on Software Engineering Theory and Practice (SETP-09) ????????? International Conference on Theory and Applications of Computational Science (TACS-09) ????????? International Conference on Theoretical and Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (TMFCS-09) ? The website www.PromoteResearch.org contains more details. ? Sincerely John Edward Publicity committee ? ? ? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From EDWWANG at ntu.edu.sg Sun Oct 19 22:14:25 2008 From: EDWWANG at ntu.edu.sg (Wang Dan Wei (Prof)) Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:14:25 +0800 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] FW: Special Issue on Vehicle Terrain Interaction for Mobile Robots Message-ID: <4FFBE7D294FA9D4392628A59BD82DA9B04B32BF8@EXCHANGE22.staff.main.ntu.edu.sg> Special Issue on Vehicle Terrain Interaction for Mobile Robots Special Issue Guest Editors: Danwei Wang, Nanyang Technological University, Philippe Martinet, Universit? Blaise Pascal & Karl Iagnemma, Massachusetts Institute of Technology This special issue focuses on state-of-the-art developments in modeling, estimation, motion planning, and control of all terrain mobile robots with significant vehicle-terrain interaction effects. Mobility in outdoor unstructured or semi-structured environments is an important consideration for mobile robotic systems. Modeling and estimation of the contact between tire (or track, foot, or other appendage) and ground, control performance robustness to uncertainties and disturbances, path/trajectory generation over 3D terrain, and precise trajectory tracking in dynamic environments, represent challenging issues in our scientific community. This special issue will stimulate interest and provides motivation for further research and development in intelligent transportation and autonomous robotics. Details can be found in http://www.journalfieldrobotics.org/Special_Issues.html We invite papers that exhibit theory and methods applied to modeling, estimation, path planning and control of all terrain mobile robots with vehicle-terrain interactions. Topics are including, but not limited to: 1. *modeling of interaction between the robot running gear and terrain, including analysis of the interaction between wheels, tracks, feet, or other appendages with soil, vegetation, or other natural materials; 2. *description of uncertainties to vehicle motions, such as skidding/ slipping, and methods for explicit consideration of these uncertainties in planning and control; 3. *methods for sensing, sensor fusion, and estimation in the presence of terrain-induced perturbations 4. *experiments in posture estimation, data fusion, and control implementation; Papers for this special issue must also provide technical descriptions of systems and results and analysis of experimentation. For this special issue, experimental verification via field experiments is considered essential. Important Dates: February 1, 2009- Submission of manuscripts May 1, 2009- Reviews sent to the authors August 1, 2009- Final manuscripts due for publication Authors interested in submitting to this issue can discuss submissions with the special issue editors: Danwei Wang (edwwang at ntu.edu.sg), Philippe Martinet (Philippe.Martinet at lasmea.univ-bpclermont.fr) and Karl Iagnemma (kdi at mit.edu) Internal Virus Database is out of date. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.12/1589 - Release Date: 8/3/2008 1:00 PM Internal Virus Database is out of date. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.12/1589 - Release Date: 8/3/2008 1:00 PM From kdi at MIT.EDU Thu Oct 16 12:31:41 2008 From: kdi at MIT.EDU (Karl Iagnemma) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:31:41 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH POSITION AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Message-ID: <20081016153141.exxlp48746kkggc0@webmail.mit.edu> POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH POSITION AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY A postdoctoral research position is available immediately in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA. The appointment duration is 12 months, with a possible extension. The research will focus on the design of novel mechanisms/robotic systems that utilize the interplay of compliant mechanisms and active fluids and materials. The synergy of these technologies will yield highly deformable and flexible mechanisms and robots that are capable of changing shape to adapt to their environment, e.g. to negotiate passages that are significantly smaller than their nominal dimensions. The robot's mobility will be derived from principles of adhesive locomotion, which will allow it to negotiate vertical and inverted surfaces. The stiffness of the robot structure will be modulated by various types of active fluids. The research program is (i) part of a collaboration between multiple investigators at MIT and Boston Dynamics (http://www.bostondynamics.com/), and (ii) is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency (DARPA) under the ?chemical robots? program. See the following website for more information: http://www.darpa.mil/DSO/thrusts/materials/multfunmat/chembots/index.htm We seek applicants with demonstrated excellence in the synthesis, modeling, design and fabrication of compliant mechanisms and/or robotic systems. Preference will be given to applicants that are (i) experienced with conventional and rapid prototyping of mechanisms, and (ii) have designed and developed a successful compliance-based mechanism or robot. Knowledge of and experience with compliant or flexure-based mechanism design is highly desired, however applicants will be judged primarily on their creativity and practical design and fabrication knowledge. Applicants should submit 1) a CV, 2) 1-3 recent publications in electronic format, 3) the names and contact information of three individuals who can serve as professional references, and 4) a design portfolio, consisting of videos, images, and/or text describing a significant design accomplishment(s). The total file size of applications should be less than 10 MB. Only electronic applications will be considered. Applicants should contact: Karl Iagnemma Principal Investigator, Robotic Mobility Group Department of Mechanical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology email: kdi at mit.edu http://web.mit.ed/mobility From moriyama at mega.t-kougei.ac.jp Wed Oct 15 18:24:24 2008 From: moriyama at mega.t-kougei.ac.jp (Tsuyoshi Moriyama) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:24:24 +0900 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] ICAT 2008 Call for Demos Message-ID: <20081016102254.D1B3.38160984@mega.t-kougei.ac.jp> Call for Demonstrations ====================================== 18th International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence (ICAT 2008) December 1-3, 2008 Keio University, Yokohama, Japan http://www.vrsj.org/ic-at/ICAT2008/ ######################################### # Submission deadline: October 17, 2008 # ######################################### ICAT'08 will host a demonstration session each day. It features live demonstrations given by their developers, and provides an opportunity for researchers on artificial reality and telexistence and for practitioners to present and exchange ideas in an interactive way. These demonstrations present all or part of a working system developed for various tasks in this field. We request proposals for demonstrations on any topics that are related to artificial reality and telexistence from both academic institutions and industry. Proposals should be submitted before October 17, 2008, and acceptance will be notified before October 30, 2008. Please submit the following in a single file (preferably in ZIP) by email at icat2008-demo at ozawa.ics.keio.ac.jp. 1. Title 2. List of Authors 3. Contact information (name, e-mail, phone, fax) 4. A short demo description (2 to 4 pages in PDF). 5. Equipment provided by authors 6. Specific requirements concerning space, power, network, and security 7. (optional) A full demo description (any length in PDF; may not be reviewed) 8. (optional) Video clips (MPEG or QuickTime) that support your proposal. 9. (optional) Executable code and sample data Note: You are encouraged to bring as much of your own equipment as possible. We suggest that participants bring a poster to the session to support their demonstration. Important Dates: ---------------- October 17, 2008: Demonstations: Submission deadline October 30, 2008: Demonstrations: Acceptance notification Demonstration Chair: --------------------- Tsuyoshi Moriyama - Tokyo Polytechnic University, Japan. Email: moriyama at mega.t-kougei.ac.jp From murphy at cs.tamu.edu Sun Oct 19 08:50:28 2008 From: murphy at cs.tamu.edu (Robin Murphy) Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:50:28 -0500 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Tenure-track position Texas A&M in AI Robotics Message-ID: I've moved to Texas A&M where I am chairing a faculty search for a tenure-track position (assistant professor). Of particular interest is for an enthusiastic researcher in artificial intelligence for robotics with a focus in one or more of the following: human-robot interaction, machine learning for robots and agents, biologically inspired control, or cooperative autonomy. High priority will be given to candidates who are interested in field applications and advanced experimental demonstrations of their basic research in extreme environments such as disasters, underwater, or space, as an active collaborator in multi-disciplinary teams, including academics, users and industry. Texas A&M is a fantastic place and working environment! It is a top 10 engineering research university with a large, comprehensive computer science department, and active research in land, sea, and aerial vehicles. The college is a leader in graduating women and minorities and has a diverse, supportive faculty and administration. Robotics and related areas span multiple departments and routinely cross boundaries to work together. As the only Land, Sea, and Space grant college in the US, Texas A&M has unique facilities, including the 52 acre Disaster City for response research and training, the Riverside Campus for UAV and MOUT work and several coastal facilities. NASA Johnson is near-by. The Department of Computer Science currently has 40 tenure-track faculty members. The faculty holds over 60 important and influential professional positions, including editorships for scientific journals and general chairs of technical conferences. The faculty is also well-recognized for contributions to their fields, with research known throughout the international academic community and global industry alike. The department currently has one National Academy of Engineering member, five IEEE fellows, one ACM Fellow, and over 25% of our faculty are PYI/NYI/CARREER awardees. Additional information about faculty recruiting is available at http://www.cs.tamu.edu/facprospective. Prospective candidates should apply online at https://apply2.cs.tamu.edu/gts/applicant/faculty/. If interested, please apply before December 1, as we will begin inviting candidates as early as January. Robin -- Prof. Robin R. Murphy, PhD Raytheon Professor of Computer Science Texas A&M profile in Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/2004/innovators/200406/murphy.html From schmiedeler.4 at nd.edu Thu Oct 16 11:20:02 2008 From: schmiedeler.4 at nd.edu (Jim Schmiedeler) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:20:02 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Faculty position at the University of Notre Dame Message-ID: <1224181202.48f785d2a3c91@webmail.nd.edu> Colleagues: The Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame invites applications for tenure-track faculty positions in all areas including dynamic systems and controls, with particular interest in robotics applications. Details can be found at http://ame.nd.edu/employment/TenureTrk_9.08.pdf and below. Jim Schmiedeler, Associate Professor Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering University of Notre Dame 373 Fitzpatrick Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 (574) 631-6403 Fax (574) 631-8341 schmiedeler.4 at nd.edu >> UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING The Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana invites applications for multiple tenure-track faculty positions in all areas of the department, including: aerospace engineering; mechanobiology; dynamic systems and controls; fluid mechanics and heat transfer; and materials engineering. Applicants must hold a doctorate in an appropriate field, must have demonstrated an ability to conduct outstanding research, and must show promise for leadership in the field and excellent teaching. The University of Notre Dame is a US News and World Report top-20 national university that offers a unique opportunity for professional growth in an environment that values scholarship, education and community. Applicants at all levels (Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor) are encouraged to apply; salary and rank are commensurate with qualifications and experience. We seek outstanding individuals engaged in theoretical, computational and/or experimental research in areas of relevance to mechanical or aerospace engineering. Areas that will receive special consideration this year include: Experimental and/or computational aerodynamics ? flow physics and control; Experimental and computational approaches to mechanobiology, systems biology, and tissue engineering; Thermo-physics with applications in advanced power generation, energy conversion systems, renewable energy systems; Experimental and/or computational multi-physics modeling of structures and materials at the micro- and nano- scales, Control of complex dynamical systems (structures, fluids, or biomechanical systems). Current research in the school has a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary problems that extend beyond group and even department boundaries, with clear ties to significant mechanical or aerospace applications. University of Notre Dame faculty members have the opportunity to collaborate with a number of university programs across the campus. Further information about the University and the Department can be found at: http://www.nd.edu/~ame/. Interested persons should send their curriculum vitae, three references and one-page statements of 1) research program plans and 2) teaching interests to: Dr. John Renaud, Chair, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, 365 Fitzpatrick Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556. Phone (574) 631-9024. Electronic submissions (pdf format) are recommended and should be sent to jrenaud at nd.edu. For full consideration, applications should be received by January 9, 2009. The University of Notre Dame is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. From slawson at lincoln.ac.uk Fri Oct 17 07:38:20 2008 From: slawson at lincoln.ac.uk (Shaun Lawson) Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:38:20 +0100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Final CFP: The Reign Of Catz & Dogz at CHI 2009 Message-ID: <139F6E4BC4C585478FA84D02D90CC1CA0F6A79ED@aexcmb02.network.uni> --------------------------------------------------------------------- CFP: The Reign Of Catz & Dogz at CHI 2009 (Boston, USA, 5 April 2009) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Position papers (3/4 pages) DUE IN ONE WEEK (deadline 23 Oct 2008). The Reign of Catz & Dogz at CHI 2009 is a one day workshop which intends to explore aspects of interaction with ethologically inspired virtual creatures including anthropomorphised embodied devices such as Aibo and Pleo, and software such as Catz, Dogz and Nintendogs, as well as non-commercial devices that have been developed in many research labs. Despite the commercial success of these artefacts, the academic understanding of human interactions with such systems remains limited. We invite submission of position papers (three to four pages in length) by researchers working on any relevant topic. These include: -The role of virtual creatures in society -Studies of the benefits of owning virtual pets -Cross cultural studies of aspects of virtual creatures -Zoomorphic social robots -Ethical and cultural aspects of virtual companions -Educational and developmental aspects of owning virtual creatures -Comparisons of virtual with real pets and companion animals -Innovative applications for virtual pets -Cute virtual creatures and kawaii culture -Aesthetics of design of virtual creatures -Hardware and software descriptions of research creatures -Kids and virtual pets versus kids and teddy bears -Evaluations of commercial creatures -Virtual pets as proxies, tool and applications for Web 2.0 Papers will be accepted based on the quality of research and potential interest to attendees. We are particularly keen to receive submissions from researchers outside of computer science and also from researchers addressing intercultural aspects of interactions with virtual creatures. The workshop will be held at CHI 2009 in Boston (USA) (http://www.chi2009.org/) and will include presentations, discussion panels, demonstrations and interactive activities. For further information please see the workshop website http://www.catz-and-dogz.org.uk/. Note that at least one author of each accepted paper needs to register for the workshop and for one or more days at the main CHI conference. Papers (and any queries) should be emailed to Thomas Chesney (thomas.chesney at nottingham.ac.uk) by midnight UK GMT on the 23rd October 2008 (please note the short deadline). ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Shaun Lawson Senior Lecturer, Director, Lincoln Social Computing Research Centre, Department of Computing and Informatics, University of Lincoln. http://hemswell.lincoln.ac.uk/~slawson/ Tel: + 44 (0)1522 886318 ------------------------------------------------------------------- From sabine.hauert at epfl.ch Tue Oct 21 01:21:07 2008 From: sabine.hauert at epfl.ch (Sabine Hauert) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:21:07 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] 2nd CFP: Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics - IEEE CEC 2009 Message-ID: * Apologies for multiple postings * ================================================ 2ND CALL FOR PAPERS IEEE CEC 2009 - Special Session on "Evolutionary Robotics" Trondheim, Norway, 18th-21st of May, 2009 http://lis.epfl.ch/specialsessions/CEC09/ http://lis.epfl.ch/specialsessions/CEC09/CFP.pdf Paper submission deadline: 1st of November 2008 ================================================ ORGANISERS Patricia A. Vargas (Heriot-Watt University) Sabine Hauert (EPFL-Lausanne) Dario Floreano (EPFL-Lausanne) Phil Husbands (University of Sussex) DESCRIPTION Evolutionary Robotics (ER) aims to apply evolutionary computation techniques, inspired by Darwin's principle of selective reproduction of the fittest, to automatically design the control and/or hardware of both real and simulated autonomous robots. Having an intrinsic interdisciplinary character, ER is being employed towards the development of many fields of research, among which we can highlight neuroscience, cognitive science, evolutionary biology and robotics. Hence the objective of this special session is to assemble a set of high-quality original contributions that reflect and advance the state-of-the-art in the area of Evolutionary Robotics, with an emphasis on the cross-fertilization between ER and the aforementioned research areas, ranging from theoretical analysis to real-life applications. Topics of interest include (but are are not restricted to): * Evolution of robots which display minimal cognitive behaviour, learning, memory, spatial cognition, adaptation or homeostasis. * Evolution of neural controllers for robots, aimed at giving an insight to neuroscientists or advancing control structures. * Evolution of communication, cooperation and competition, using robots as a research platform. * Co-evolution and the evolution of collective behaviour. * Evolution of morphology in close interaction with the environment, giving rise to self-reconfigurable, self-designing, self-healing and self-reproducing robots or humanoid and walking robots. * Evolution of robot systems aimed at real-world applications as in aerial robotics, space exploration, industry, search and rescue, robot companions, entertainment and games. * Evolution of controllers on board real robots or the real-time evolution of robot hardware. * Novel or improved algorithms for the evolution or robot systems. * The use of evolution for the artistic exploration of robot design. POST CONFERENCE BOOK PUBLICATION Authors of the best selected paper from among those accepted for the "Evolutionary Robotics" session will be invited to submit an extended version for review for possible publication as a chapter in the forthcoming book "The Horizons of Evolutionary Robotics" edited by Patricia A. Vargas, Ezequiel Di Paolo, Inman Harvey and Phil Husbands (target publisher MIT Press). PAPER SUBMISSION Submissions should follow the guidance given on the IEEE CEC 2009 conference website: http://www.cec-2009.org/submission.shtml. When submitting, please select the special session on "Evolutionary Robotics". All submissions will be peer-reviewed with the same criteria used for other contributed papers. All accepted papers will be included in the published conference proceedings. IMPORTANT DATES Paper Submission:.........................November 01, 2008 Notification of Acceptance:...........January 16, 2009 Camera-Ready Submission:........February 16, 2009 CONTACTS Dr. Patricia A. Vargas Research Fellow School of Maths and Computer Science Heriot-Watt University, UK Phone: +44 (0)7798 645 621 Email: p.a.vargas at hw.ac.uk Sabine Hauert Laboratory of Intelligent Systems EPFL, Switzerland Phone: +41 (0)21 693 77 59 Email: sabine.hauert at epfl.ch From mquinlan at cs.utexas.edu Tue Oct 21 08:33:34 2008 From: mquinlan at cs.utexas.edu (Michael Quinlan) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:33:34 -0500 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Reminder: RoboCup 2009 Standard Platform League: Call for Applications due November 1st In-Reply-To: <00a901c923c9$9ace9bc0$d06bd340$%Roefer@dfki.de> References: <00a901c923c9$9ace9bc0$d06bd340$%Roefer@dfki.de> Message-ID: <48FDF64E.4000506@cs.utexas.edu> Hi, This a reminder that November 1st is the deadline for RoboCup Standard Platform League applications (the full Call for Applications is included below). The committee has a tight schedule for receiving the applications and selecting the 24 teams so this is a firm deadline. Aldebaran recently released a video showcasing the new and improved version of the Nao robot- http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/download/NaoAcademicsV3.mov, please enjoy the movie and we look forward to having a successful and exciting league in 2009. - Michael ------------------ You can also find the text of this e-mail at http://www.tzi.de/spl/bin/view/Website/Call2009. Apologies for duplicates. Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2009 Standard Platform League http://www.tzi.de/spl June 29 - July 5, 2009 Graz, Austria RoboCup is an international initiative that fosters research and education in robotics and artificial intelligence, on multi-robot systems in particular, through competitions of RoboCup Robot Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup at Home, and RoboCupJunior. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. The RoboCup Standard Platform League is a RoboCup robot soccer league, in which all teams compete with identical robots. The robots operate fully autonomously, i.e. there is no external control, neither by humans nor by computers. RoboCup 2008 included the Four-Legged Standard Platform League with the SONY AIBO robots, and the Two-Legged Standard Platform League with the Aldebaran Robotics humanoid NAO robots. Due to the unfortunate discontinuation of the SONY AIBO robots, RoboCup 2009 will NOT include the Four-Legged Competition. Instead we invite teams to provide AIBO exhibition games. No team registration fee will be charged for participation in the exhibition games. The games will be played on the shared Standard Platform League fields of the new standard small field dimension (slightly smaller than the past AIBO playing field.) Please see the RoboCup'2009 SPL website for further details. RoboCup 2009 will then include ONLY the Two-Legged Competition with the Aldebaran humanoid NAO robots. We will be able to host up to 24 teams, which we will select from the interested parties. Submission of Applications for Participation -------------------------------------------- By November 1st, 2008, interested teams need to submit the following to spl_tech at tzi.de: 1. A 2-5 page qualification document that includes: 1. the leader(s) and planned elements of the proposed team; 2. a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup'2009 Standard Platform League - check the dates at http://www.robocup2009.org; 3. a statement of the research interests related to the participation; and 4. a summary of past relevant work and publications. See the NAO costs below. 2. A statement whether you would like to participate in the Four-Legged Exhibition Games. NOTE: Teams can participate in both. We encourage teams to consider joint teams. Joint teams will be judged on combined merit. Pre-qualification ----------------- The teams that competed in the Two-Legged Competition in 2008 will be pre-qualified for 2009 if: 1. they state their intention of participation (include team constitution for 2009); 2. and submit the team research report by November 1st, 2008, describing the work they have done for their participation in RoboCup 2008. If a team splits, only one of them can be pre-qualified. Please state which one you would like us to pre-qualify. NAO Robots ---------- The NAO robots will come as a special RoboCup package in the following conditions: 1. For new teams, a package of FOUR new 2009 version Nao Robocup Edition robots inluding 4 batteries and 2 chargers costs 12,000 Euros excl. VAT. The price includes hardware and software support for these robots through the calendar year of 2009. An extra similar robot unit costs ?3,600 excl. VAT with one battery and one charger. Shipping costs will be additional. 2. The 2008 RoboCup edition NAO robots will be upgraded to the 2009 version for the 2009 qualified teams at a price of 500 Euros excl. VAT for each robot. The price includes hardware and software support for these robots. Shipping costs will be additional. 3. A 2-day NAO workshop at Aldebaran in Paris is planned for January 2009, exact dates TBD. All qualified teams with up to 2 members per team will be invited to participate at their expense. Some travel support may be available. RoboCup 2009 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees ------------------- Michael J Quinlan, PhD Department of Computer Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~mquinlan/ From auke.ijspeert at epfl.ch Tue Oct 21 15:16:00 2008 From: auke.ijspeert at epfl.ch (Auke Jan Ijspeert) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:16:00 +0200 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] At EPFL: 2 PhD studentships + one postdoc position in rehabilitation and reconfigurable robotics Message-ID: <48FE54A0.8000408@epfl.ch> The Biologically Inspired Robotics Group (BIRG, http://birg.epfl.ch/) at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland) has the following open positions: One funded *PhD studentship in reconfigurable robotics* (locomotion control and online learning) One funded *PhD studentship in rehabilitation robotics* (control and optimization of a lower limb exoskeleton) One *postdoc position in rehabilitation robotics* (control and optimization of a lower limb exoskeleton) Starting date: *February 2009*. More details about the positions and instructions on how to apply can be found here: http://birg.epfl.ch/page59726.html for the phd studentships http://birg.epfl.ch/page62868.html for the postdoc position -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Auke Jan Ijspeert SNF (Swiss National Science Foundation) Assistant Professor School of Computer and Communication Sciences, EPFL EPFL-IC-ISIM-GRIJ EPFL, Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne Station 14 CH 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Office: INN 237 Tel: +41 21 693 2658, Fax: +41 21 693 3705 www: http://birg.epfl.ch Email: Auke.Ijspeert at epfl.ch Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California ----------------------------------------------------------------- From raj.madhavan at nist.gov Tue Oct 21 13:50:35 2008 From: raj.madhavan at nist.gov (Raj Madhavan) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:50:35 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] [Agenda] IEEE/NIST National Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition (CMU Oct. 23rd) Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20081021165010.01f04f48@mailhub.mel.nist.gov> Please forward this submission to the subscribers of the list. Thanks. Raj Madhavan. -------------------------------------------- CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IEEE/NIST Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition: Advancing Robotic Research through an Open Source High-Fidelity Simulation Framework and Competition http://vmac.hood.edu/attachments/064_VMAC2008Flyer.pdf VENUE & DATE CMU's Newell Simon Hall 4201 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM on October 23rd) PARKING http://www.cmu.edu/parking/about/index.html AGENDA ?Start 8:00 am ? Software install for people who have not preinstalled ?9:00 ? VMAC Overview ?10:30 ? Break ?10:45 ? USARSim and Middleware ?12:00 ? Lunch ?1:00 ? NML ?2:00 ? 4D/RCS ?2:45 ? Break ?3:00 ? MOAST Overview ?4:30 ? Discussion BACKGROUND Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) represent an integral component of today's manufacturing processes. They are widely used on factory floors for intra-factory transport of goods between conveyors and assembly sections, parts and frame movements, and truck-trailer loading/unloading. Automating these systems to operate in unstructured environments presents an exciting area of current research in robotics and automation. Unfortunately, the traditional entry barrier into this research area is quite high. Researchers need an extensive physical environment, robotic hardware, and knowledge in research areas ranging from mobility and mapping to behavior generation and scheduling. An accepted approach to lowering this entry barrier is through the use of simulation systems and open source software. The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society has recognized the importance of this area by forming a new robot challenge competition that will take place annually at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). In addition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology will be administering a National Virtual Manufacturing Automation Competition (VMAC) that will provide an opportunity for well qualified teams to try their algorithms on actual robotic platforms. It is our belief that competitions are an effective means of stimulating interest and participation among students by providing exciting technological problems to tackle. WHO CAN PARTICIPATE? Under this effort, we are soliciting faculty members and their interested students from universities to be introduced to this time-critical research area at a workshop to be held at CMU. Student involvement is strongly encouraged This competition is based on the successful VMAC competition (http://vmac.hood.edu) held in April 2008 and the RoboCup Rescue Virtual Competitions (http://www.robocup-us.org/). Since all code used in these competitions is open source, participants are able to learn from their competitors and self-sustain their research in their areas of expertise. Researchers from multi-agent cooperation, robotic mapping and localization, communications networks, and sensory processing backgrounds are particularly encouraged to participate. The participants will be provided with the necessary knowledge needed to join the robotics and automation research community in the area of manufacturing automation and will be provided with all relevant software. A full day tutorial will take place at each of the following three venues to introduce and discuss the simulation platforms and other associated details: * Carnegie Mellon University/University of Pittsburgh: October 23rd 2008 * Georgia Institute of Technology: December 4th 2008 * University of California, Merced: December 11th 2008 INTERESTED? Please contact us with a succinct statement of how you expect to benefit from your participation. This year's National VMA Competition will be held at the NIST campus in Gaithersburg MD, and the International Competition will be held during ICRA '09 in Kobe Japan. For both events, virtual participation is possible. BEYOND THE COMPETITION ... Using a metrics-driven competition model, advancements in the various technologies comprising the AGV control system are quantified, helping the community gauge as well as target progress. It is our belief that these competitions will serve as a model for establishing a university-community focused on a real-world practical problem. This effort is administered under the IEEE Washington/Northern Virginia Section Robotics & Automation Society Chapter. RAS Chapters from across the United States are invited to be a sponsor of this competition by spreading the word among their members and helping us with the local organization of the regional tutorials. CONTACT DETAILS: Dr. Stephen Balakirsky Dr. Raj Madhavan Mr. Chris Scrapper Intelligent Systems Division National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230. Email: robosim at nist.gov --------------------------------------------------------------------- Raj Madhavan, Ph.D. Intelligent Systems Division National Institute of Standards and Technology 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8230 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8230. Tel: (301) 975-2865 Fax: (301) 990-9688 URL: http://aser.ornl.gov/madhavan/ From kantor at ri.cmu.edu Tue Oct 21 05:45:22 2008 From: kantor at ri.cmu.edu (George Kantor) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:45:22 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Webcast: Celebrating Pioneering in Robotics (Oct 24-25) Message-ID: We are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Field Robotics at Carnegie Mellon and the 60th Birthday of Red Whittaker with a unique and exciting two day event that will feature a lineup of distinguished speakers from the world of field robotics and take place on the Carnegie Mellon campus October 24th and 25th. You are invited to join us via live a webcast which can be viewed at http://fr25.org/webcast Schedule (all times EDT): Friday, Oct. 24 3:30pm-4:45pm Red Whittaker, Robots at Work Saturday, Oct. 25 9:00am-9:10am Opening Remarks: Sanjiv Singh & Matt Mason 9:10am-9:50am Brian Wilcox 9:50am-10:30am John Reid 10:45am-10:50am Remarks: Raj Reddy 10:50am-11:30am Dana Yoerger 11:30am-12:10pm Marc Raibert 1:40pm- 1:45pm Remarks: Takeo Kanade 1:45pm-2:25pm Hugh Durrant-Whyte 2:25pm-3:05pm David Lavery 3:20pm-3:25pm Remarks: Chuck Thorpe 3:25pm-4:05pm Robin Murphy 4:05pm-4:45pm David Akin 4:45pm-5:25pm Sebastian Thrun Additional information about the event, including speaker bios and a guestbook is available at http://fr25.org/ ======= George Kantor Systems Scientist The Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University 1101 Newell Simon Hall Pittsburgh, PA 15127 412-268-7084 kantor at ri.cmu.edu From gaurav at usc.edu Wed Oct 22 14:05:15 2008 From: gaurav at usc.edu (Gaurav Sukhatme) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:05:15 -0700 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Autonomous Robots 25(4) TOC Message-ID: A new issue of Autonomous Robots is now available. The table of contents is appended. Gaurav Sukhatme Editor, Autonomous Robots ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Autonomous Robots. Volume 25 Number 4 http://springerlink.com/content/100243/ Design and control of a planar bipedal robot ERNIE with parallel knee compliance T. Yang, E. R. Westervelt, J. P. Schmiedeler and R. A. Bockbrader Self-organized adaptive legged locomotion in a compliant quadruped robot Jonas Buchli and Auke Jan Ijspeert Basic navigation, guidance and control of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle Massimo Caccia, Marco Bibuli, Riccardo Bono and Gabriele Bruzzone An autonomous educational mobile robot mediator Ruben Mitnik, Miguel Nussbaum and Alvaro Soto A multimode navigation system for an assistive robotics project Andrea Cherubini, Giuseppe Oriolo, Francesco Macr?, Fabio Aloise, Febo Cincotti and Donatella Mattia A pragmatic approach to dimensional analysis for mobile robotic programming Geoffrey Biggs and Bruce A. MacDonald [Erratum] Appearance-based mapping using minimalistic sensor models Paul E. Rybski, Stergios Roumeliotis, Maria Gini and Nikolaos Papanikopoulos From jean at cs.cmu.edu Thu Oct 23 06:57:26 2008 From: jean at cs.cmu.edu (Jean Harpley) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:57:26 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CMU Robotics Faculty Positions Message-ID: <490082C6.8030605@cs.cmu.edu> Carnegie Mellon?s Robotics Institute invites outstanding candidates to apply for the faculty positions described at www.ri.cmu.edu/jobs/faculty_jobs.html Applications are due by January 1, 2009 and supporting materials are due no later than Jan. 15, 2009. From mjarrah at aus.edu Wed Oct 22 18:18:54 2008 From: mjarrah at aus.edu (Dr. Mohammad Amin Mahmoud M. Al Jarrah) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:18:54 +0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] ISMA09 Conference submission extended to 21 of November 2008. Message-ID: <000901c934ad$51061730$f3124590$@edu> Dear colleagues, The paper submission deadline is extended until November 21, 2008 due to several requests from the authors consequently, all other deadlines are extended as follows: a. Tutorial and special session proposals: November 21st, 2008 b. Notification of acceptance: January 5th, 2009 c. Camera-ready paper submission: February 5th, 2009 You are invited to submit full papers by November 21, 2008 using our TrackChair online submission system at: http://isma09.trackchair.com The conference confirmed Keynotes presenters are: Professor Oussama Khatib Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Department of Computer Science Stanford University Professor Ronald C. Arkin Regents' Professor & Director of the Mobile Robot Laboratory College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Kevin C. Craig, Ph.D. Robert C. Greenheck Chair in Engineering Design & Professor of Mechanical Engineering College of Engineering, Marquette University Two other renowned keynote speakers will be announced shortly. Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted and presented papers will be published in the proceedings of the ISMA'09 symposium which will appear in IEEExplore. Selected papers will be published in a special issue of a reputed journal which has been the conference tradition for the last three years. The organizing committee welcomes proposals for special sessions and tutorials to be held in conjunction with ISMA'09. Please send your proposals by email to: isma09 at aus.edu . In addition to the technical activities, you will enjoy a rich and exciting social program including a safari trip, and a tour to Sharjah and Dubai and to some of the exciting mega projects taking place nearby. For more details, please visit the Symposium Website at: http://www.isma-conf.org We look forward to meeting you at ISAM09 in UAE. M. A. Jarrah, Professor ISMA General Chair and Steering Committee Chair American University of Sharjah P.O. Box: 26666, Sharjah, UAE Tel: +971 6 5152934 Fax: +971 6 5152979 Email: mjarrah at aus.edu Mohammad-Amin Al-Jarrah, Ph.D Head, Department of Mechancial Engineering American University of Sharjah (AUS) P. O. Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE Tel: +971 6 515 2464 Fax: +971 6 515 2979 http://www.aus.edu/engr/mce/people/mohammad_al-jarrah.php From stefan.wermter at sunderland.ac.uk Fri Oct 24 06:58:43 2008 From: stefan.wermter at sunderland.ac.uk (Stefan Wermter) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:58:43 +0100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CFP: Natural Computing and Intelligent Robotics conference and NCAF 2009 Message-ID: <4901D493.1060007@sunderland.ac.uk> Call for Papers, Abstracts, Participation Conference on Natural Computing and Intelligent Robotics and Natural Computing Applied Forum Meeting (NCAF) University of Sunderland 21-22 January 2009 Submissions are invited for the forthcoming Conference on Natural Computing and Intelligent Robotics and NCAF meeting to be held at the University of Sunderland, 21-22 January 2009. This forum should be ideal to bring together PhD students and staff in an enjoyable setting. Submissions are invited in general areas of natural computing including: * Nature-inspired Knowledge Representation * Multimodal Knowledge Representation * Neural Networks * Artificial Life * Evolutionary Computation * Genetic Algorithms * Biological Computation * Neuroscience-inspired architectures * Reinforcement Learning * Machine Learning * Hybrid Intelligent Systems and particularly in areas related to biologically-inspired intelligent robotics, such as: * Language processing robots and speech interfaces * Smart sensors and perception * Human-robot interaction * Learning robots * Multimodal integration * Biorobots and neuroscience-inspired architectures * Robot control and navigation * Neural, statistical and symbolic integration * Hybrid architectures. This meeting will complement the EU funded NESTCOM project and submissions focussing on multimodal communication are especially welcome. We particularly encourage submissions from PhD students with early results for dissemination. In order to encourage student submissions a prize will be awarded for the best paper from a PhD student. 1 page abstracts or full papers of up to 10 pages should be submitted to Dr. Michael Knowles ( Michael.Knowles at sunderland.ac.uk ) by Monday 17th November 2008 in pdf form. High quality submissions could be considered as submissions for publication in journals e.g. Connection Science, Neural Networks in extended form. For more information see the website http://www.his.sunderland.ac.uk/ncaf09/ Organising Committee: Stefan Wermter (Chair) Naveed Anwar Graham Hesketh Michael Knowles John MacIntyre Kimberley Moore Martin Page Kiran Ravulakollu *************************************** Professor Stefan Wermter Centre for Hybrid Intelligent Systems Department of Computing and Technology, FAS University of Sunderland St Peters Way Sunderland SR6 0DD United Kingdom http://www.his.sunderland.ac.uk/ **************************************** From simon.miles at kcl.ac.uk Fri Oct 24 02:34:19 2008 From: simon.miles at kcl.ac.uk (Miles, Simon) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:34:19 +0100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] AAMAS-09 Call for Demonstrations Message-ID: (apologies if you receive multiple copies of this call) Eighth International Joint Conference on AUTONOMOUS AGENTS AND MULTIAGENT SYSTEMS (AAMAS 2009) Budapest, Hungary May 10-15, 2009 Call for Demonstrations AAMAS 2009 will include a demonstration session. Demonstration submissions are be invited for four different categories: * INDUSTRIAL SOFTWARE * ACADEMIC SOFTWARE * ROBOTICS * STUDENT PROJECTS. A best demo award will be chosen separately for each category. A price of 1000 Euro is provided for the winner in the category "student projects." The award selection will be done in consultation by the advisory board and the exhibits and demo co-chairs. Demonstrators are expected to present a live interactive demo at assigned time slots during the conference. Developers of software or robotic system based on autonomous agents or multi-agent techniques, especially those showing novel technology, are welcome to submit a demo. Examples of demos include but are not limited to: * Multi-agent software systems * Industrial and military applications (including prototypes) * Agent-based games * Agent platforms and development environments * Open-source software tools * Robotic systems (single and multi-agent) * Virtual agents and interactive virtual environments * Simulation environments The demonstration sessions will be held as part of the AAMAS main conference. The goal of the AAMAS demonstrations is to give participants, from industry and academia an opportunity to present their latest developments on software and/or robotic system. In addition, we strongly encourage students to submit valuable demos resulting from their projects or thesis work. Submissions accepted for the demonstration session will be advertised on the AAMAS website and in the conference booklet, which will contain abstracts of all available demos. Each demo submission should consist of three parts: 1. A 2-page paper in which the authors describe the system to be demonstrated. The paper should describe the application domain/problem/scenario, the technology used, the agent/multi-agent techniques involved, the innovations of the system, its live and interactive aspects, etc. Papers have to be prepared in PDF format using the AAMAS style (follow the instructions at http://www.conferences.hu/AAMAS2009/). 2. A demonstration movie (youtube compatible) that clearly shows the purpose and use of the demo. Alternatively, the authors can submit a scenario that consists of a series of snapshots of the demo annotated with an explanation. 3. For student projects only: a 1 page statement in which the student clearly describes his personal contribution to the project 4. Additional information in a plain text file including the following information: - Demonstration title - Authors (name, affiliation, email, address, phone fax) - The corresponding author with her/his email address - Abstract (max. 150 words) - Keywords - URL (if available) - Paper ID if the demo is related to a paper at the main conference - Equipment you will bring (e.g., laptop, robot) - Equipment you will need (e.g., table, poster board, power sockets) - Special requirements (e.g., space for robot and if so how much, video projector) - A discussion of the present state of your demo (e.g., ready to demonstrate now, but if not, include a realistic estimate for conclusion and what remains to be done before you have a demonstrable software/robotic system). Accepted demos will have the 2-page papers included in the AAMAS proceedings. Submissions All demonstration proposals should be send to demos at aamas2009.org Submissions are open from October 27, 2009 Submission Deadline: January 12, 2009, 23:59 UTC Selection Process The submission and selection processes for the AAMAS 2009 demos will be separate from that of the main conference. Each submission will be assessed by the demo co-chairs and at least one member of the advisory board. The authors will receive a brief report with the result of the evaluation with the notification. The main evaluation criteria are: * Relevance to AAMAS * Quality and soundness of the underlying technology * Novelty of the application domain * Maturity of the (deployed) system * Potential for public interaction Notification of acceptance or rejection of submitted demos will be sent to the corresponding author by January 30, 2009. At least one author of each accepted demonstration is required to register and to attend the conference to give the demonstration. Important Dates Submission deadline: January 12, 2009. Notification of acceptance/rejection: January 30, 2009. Camera-ready paper: February 6, 2009 Contact Information For more information, contact the demos co-chairs: demos at aamas2009.org AAMAS 2009 Advisory Board James Odell, Independent consultant, USA Andrea Omicini, Universit? di Bologna, Italy H. Van Dyke Parunak, NewVectors LLC, Ann Arbor, USA Juan Pav?n, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain Giovanni Rimassa, Whitestein Technologies Michael Winikoff, RMIT Melbourne, Australia AAMAS 2009 Demo & Exibits Co-Chairs Paolo Giorgini, University of Trento, Povo (Italy) Danny Weyns, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) -- Dr Simon Miles Agents and Intelligent Systems Group Department of Computer Science Kings College London, UK From bushsf at research.ge.com Thu Oct 23 10:04:07 2008 From: bushsf at research.ge.com (Bush, Stephen F (GE, Research)) Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:04:07 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CFP: IEEE ICCCN Workshop on Nano, Molecular, and Quantum Communications Message-ID: <328DC56CE839BA49BC31BEE66564C1EF05DA3571@CINMLVEM12.e2k.ad.ge.com> ************************************************************************************************** Workshop on Nano, Molecular, and Quantum Communications (NanoCom 2009) (in conjunction with ICCCN 2009, August 2 - 6, 2009, San Francisco, CA, USA) http://cms.comsoc.org/eprise/main/SiteGen/Nano/Content/Home/NanoCom_09.html *************************************************************************************************** Nanotechnology is fundamentally changing the field of networking in medicine, computing, and sensing. Interesting applications of nano-networking include devices that enable delivery of targeted drugs directly into cancerous tumors or the use of nano robots to conduct inspection in harsh environments. The small size of micro and nanoscale devices imposes constraints on communication, information processing and propulsion. As the fields of nano and molecular computing come together, it has created a rich avenue of interdisciplinary research that will shape the future of nano and molecular information networks. This workshop aims to bring together researchers from the disciplines of biology, nano engineering, and computer science to address the communication and information processing issues in nano and molecular networks. Hybrid classical-quantum systems are being developed that are beginning to address the above challenges. This workshop welcomes anyone including researchers, practitioners, and students. The areas of interests include, but are not limited to, the following areas: ** Quantum Communication Networks ** Hybrid classical quantum communication networks, repeaters, teleportation, entanglement swapping, nanoscale photon detectors, quantum dot networks, networks and quantum robotics, etc... ** Applications for Nano-Networks ** Wireless nanoscale transmitters and receivers, nano-sensors and actuators, nanorobotics, medical and in-vivo imaging and sensing, lab on a chip, swarm micro and nano-inspection, embedding sensing, etc... ** Modeling, Simulation, Standards and Architectural Aspects of Nano-Networks ** Physical characterization/modeling of nano-scale interconnects and devices, Fault-tolerant and reliability of nano-devices, Self-healing properties of nano-networks, CAD flows for NoCs and MP-SoC platforms, NoC performance and trade-off analysis, Energy efficiency, Bio-inspired aspects. ** Novel Information and Graph Theory Aspects of Nano-Networks ** Network architectures and topologies, Statistical mechanics approach to nano-communications, Routing/addressing issues in nano-networks, Nano-coding, Applications of complex network theory, Self-organization in nano-scale systems, Modeling of Nano/Bio Communication Channels. ** Device Physics and Interconnects ** Nano-technologies and devices for on-chip interconnects (CNTs, graphene nano-ribbons, semic., metallic and DNA-templated nanowires), Molecular, optical and wireless interconnects, Interconnects for non-charge-based devices, emerging 3D-interconnect technologies. ** Nano-Robotics ** Communication systems and networking protocols for sub-inch robotic systems, including low-bandwidth coordination schemes for nano-robot teams and range and bearing devices for inter-robot relative positioning. ** Bio-nano Applications ** Bio-Micro/Nanoelectronics, Molecular scale chemical and biosensors, Bio-MEMS technology, Data and power management, Nano-scale and molecular communications and information processing, Information theory analysis of biological communications, Molecular Computation using molecular cells, Chemical computing. Note that: * The proceedings of the workshop will be included in the IEEExplore digital library and indexed by the EI. * One registration of ICCCN'08 covers up to three papers (including both main conference and workshops). Please refer to ICCCN'08 registration policy for detail. Submission Guidelines Authors are invited to submit original and unpublished papers limited to 6 pages. Please see the Author Information page for submission guidelines in the ICCCN 2009 website. Important Dates Paper submission due................10 Mar 2009 Author notification.......................1 May 2009 Camera-ready due.....................15 May 2009 Author registration.....................15 May 2009 Organizing Committee General Chair * Stephen F Bush, GE Global Research, USA Program Committee Chair * Sanjay Goel, University of Albany, USA Technical Program Committee * Sasitharan Balasubramaniam, TSSG, Ireland * Jian-Qin Liu, NiCT, KARC, Japan * Maggie Cheng, Missouri S&T, USA * Nikolaus Correll, MIT * Andrew Eckford, York University, UK * Darren Brock, Lockheed Martin Nanosystems, USA * James Lyke, USAF * Paul Sotiriadis, Johns Hopkins, USA * Murat Yuksel,University of Nevada, USA * Aristides A. G. Requicha, USC, USA * Guillermo Rueda, Intel Corporation, USA * Alhussein Abouzeid, RPI, USA * Kota Murali, IBM, India * Satoshi Hiyama, NTT DOCOMO, Japan * Feng Cheng, University of Potsdam, Germany * John Barker, University of Glasgow, Scotland * Harish Sethu, Drexel, USA * Michael Shur, RPI, USA * Kevin Mills, NIST, USA * Ji?? Wiedermann, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic * ... Contact Us You are welcome to contact Stephen F Bush (bushsf at research.ge.com) for with any questions regarding the workshop or the IEEE Emerging Technologies Committee on Nano-Scale, Molecular, and Quantum Networking. From vkrovi at eng.buffalo.edu Fri Oct 24 12:52:35 2008 From: vkrovi at eng.buffalo.edu (Venkat N. Krovi) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:52:35 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] FIRST Call for Papers: ASME/IEEE TMECH Focused Section on Anthropomorphism in Mechatronic Systems -- Submission Deadline: FEB 15th Message-ID: *First Call for Papers* *Focused Section on Anthropomorphism in Mechatronic Systems* Anthropomorphism has served as a useful guiding principle for design and control of robotic systems in man's pursuit of "making a machine in his own image". The renewed interest in recent years arises from the need to develop human-like robotic and mechatronic systems (and subsystems) to operate, interact with and cohabit in human built-environments. >From a morphological perspective, numerous novel designs have been proposed ranging from prosthetic/robotic hands, for performing dextrous grasping and manipulatory tasks, to lower-limb exoskeletons/ walking robots, for enabling ambulation in our homes and the outdoors. From a social perspective, the new generation of robots participate in social interactions with humans, taking and giving verbal and non-verbal cues, and sensing or appropriately evoking human emotional and affective states. This new generation of anthropomorphic mechatronic systems (and subsystems) capitalize on advances in miniaturization of sensing/actuation and the ongoing revolutions in embedded computation and wireless communication. This Focused Section of the IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (TMECH) is dedicated to the new advances in modeling, design, analysis, control, implementation and validation of such anthropomorphic mechatronic systems being developed as we pursue the dream of reaching the level of mobility, manipulation, fluidity and expressivity of humans. Multidisciplinary papers combining Robotics and Life Sciences (e.g., biomechanical modeling, computational neuroscience) are encouraged. The papers should contain both the theoretical and practical/experimental results and are subject to the TMECH review procedures. Potential topics include but are not limited to: ? State-of-art research and technological development survey in the field ? Issues in anthropomorphic system design and promising solutions ? Conceptual and algorithmic contributions to understanding human motion ? Enabling sensor/actuator/computational technologies ? Experimental results from prototype and fielded systems ? Exoskeletons/Prosthetics/Walking robots ? Facially Expressive and Gestural Robots ? Emulation of the human subsystems (sensory, musculoskeletal etc.) *Manuscript Submission* Please submit the manuscripts in PDF format to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tmech-ieee, and indicate on your cover letter that *"This paper is submitted for possible publication in the Focused Section on Anthropomorphism in Mechatronics Systems." *Instructions for authors are available online at: http://www.ieee-asme-mechatronics.org. If you have any questions relating to this Focused Section, please email one of the guest editors. * * *Important Dates: *February 15, 2009 Paper Submission May 15, 2009 Completion of First Review July 15, 2009 Submission of Revised Paper September 1, 2009 Completion of Final Review September 15, 2009 Submission of Final Manuscripts and Copyright Forms December 2009 Publication * * *Guest Editors* *Venkat Krovi* Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering SUNY Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14260 E-mail: vkrovi at eng.buffalo.edu *Jean-Paul Laumond* Directeur de Recherche LAAS-CNRS Toulouse, France E-mail: jpl at laas.fr *Michael Goldfarb* Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN E-mail: michael.goldfarb at vanderbilt.edu *Shigeki Sugano* Dept. of Mech.Engg. School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Japan Email: sugano at waseda.jp -- Venkat N. Krovi Associate Professor Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering State University of New York at Buffalo Office: 1012 Furnas Hall Mailing Address: Tel: (716) 645-2593 x2264 318 Jarvis Hall Fax: (716) 645-3668 MAE Department E-mail: vkrovi at eng.buffalo.edu University at Buffalo (SUNY) http://www.eng.buffalo.edu/~vkrovi Buffalo, NY 14260 LAB: http://mechatronics.eng.buffalo.edu From devin at cs.dartmouth.edu Mon Oct 27 08:38:44 2008 From: devin at cs.dartmouth.edu (Devin Balkcom) Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:38:44 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] RSS 2009 call for papers Message-ID: Robotics: Science and Systems 2009 http://www.roboticsconference.org/ University of Washington, Seattle, June 28 - July 1, 2009 CALL FOR PAPERS http://www.roboticsconference.org/papercall.html The 2009 Robotics: Science and Systems Conference will bring together researchers working on algorithmic or mathematical foundations of robotics, robotics applications, and analysis of robotic systems. High quality, original papers are solicited in all areas of robotics. The final program will be the result of a highly selective review process designed to include the best work of its kind in every category. The conference will be single track to allow attendees an opportunity to experience the best research in all areas of robotics. The program will include invited talks as well as oral and poster presentations of refereed papers. Conference dates are Sunday, June 28 through Wednesday, July 1, 2009. Workshops will run all day Sunday and Monday morning and the main conference track begins Monday afternoon and continues through Wednesday. As in previous years, efforts are underway to make RSS affordable, particularly for student attendees. Important Dates: Paper submissions: January 15, 2009, 23:59:59PST (firm) Rebuttal phase: March 9-13, 2009 Notification: April 15, 2009 Conference: June 28 ? July 1, 2009 We look forward to seeing you in Seattle. Jeff Trinkle, RSS 2009 General Chair Yoky Matsuoka, RSS 2009 Program Chair Devin Balkcom, RSS 2009 Publicity Chair From devin at cs.dartmouth.edu Mon Oct 27 08:46:41 2008 From: devin at cs.dartmouth.edu (Devin Balkcom) Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:46:41 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] RSS 2009 Call for Workshops Message-ID: <5B088E8B-381B-49D9-B1B7-4AAFBB589D14@cs.dartmouth.edu> ======================== Call for Workshop and Tutorial Proposals Robotics: Science and Systems Sunday, June 28 - Wednesday, July 1, 2009 University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA http://www.roboticsconference.org Important Dates: December 15, 2008 submission deadline for the proposed topic January 31, 2009 submission deadline for the full proposal March 15, 2009 acceptance decisions made June 28 and June 29, 2009 workshops and tutorials take place Description: The Organizing Committee for the 2009 Robotics: Science and Systems Conference (RSS 2009) requests proposals for full and half-day workshops and tutorials to be held on Sunday, June 28, 2009 and Monday morning June 29, 2009 at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. This day and a half of workshops and tutorials will precede the main conference, which takes place from the afternoon of Monday June 29, 2009 to Wednesday July 1, 2009. RSS brings together researchers working on algorithmic or mathematical foundations of robotics, robotic applications, and the analysis of robotic systems. The workshops and tutorials have consistently provided high-quality, topically-focused forums for researchers at the forefront of robotics. Submissions: We request that workshop and tutorial organizers initially email a brief, single-paragraph description of the proposed topic and a list of organizers by December 15, 2008 to rss09workshops at cs.rice.edu. A template for the final proposal will be mailed to all interested parties. The simple template will inform the organizers of the expected constraints of full-day and half-day workshops and tutorials (including starting and ending times, coffee-breaks, capacity of available rooms) and will request information for the full proposal to be considered. As it will be indicated in the template, the full proposal submission should include a title, an abstract appropriate for promotion of the event on the RSS website, a description of the proposed content, a tentative schedule, a plan for soliciting participation, and expected requirements for space and equipment, among others. We expect full proposals to be approximately 3 pages in length. Full proposals for review will be due by January 31, 2009. Full proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage early submissions. All decisions will be made by March 15, 2009. We recommend that workshops and tutorials be designed to promote discussion among the participants. Priority will be given to proposals that effectively address this issue. Previous Workshops and Tutorials: Examples of previous workshops and tutorials with websites and on- line schedules can be found through the following links: http://robotics.ethz.ch/rss/workshopcall.shtml http://rss2007.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/workshoplist.shtml http://robotics.cs.brown.edu/rss06/workshop_descriptions.shtml http://robotics.cs.umass.edu/rss05/workshop_descriptions.html Contact: Submissions rss09workshops at cs.rice.edu Inquiries rss09workshops at cs.rice.edu Workshop Chair Lydia E. Kavraki, Rice University (kavraki at rice.edu) From hirata at irs.mech.tohoku.ac.jp Mon Oct 27 16:46:05 2008 From: hirata at irs.mech.tohoku.ac.jp (Yasuhisa Hirata) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:46:05 +0900 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Advanced Robotics : Vol. 22, No. 12 issue Message-ID: <490652BD.6080006@irs.mech.tohoku.ac.jp> ************************************************************************ The Official International Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan Advanced Robotics Volume 22, Number 12, 2008 Special Issue on IROS 2007 ************************************************************************ You have free access to the abstracts of all papers below from the following link, and can access the pdf files if you or your institution is subscribing to Advanced Robotics: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/vsp/arb/2008/00000022/00000012 Table of Contents Preface pp. 1265-1265(1) Authors: Henderson, Thomas C.; Kaneko, Makoto; Sugano, Shigeki A Tire Stiffness Backstepping Observer Dedicated to All-Terrain Vehicle Rollover Prevention pp. 1267-1285(19) Authors: Bouton, Nicolas; Lenain, Roland; Thuilot, Benoit; Martinet, Philippe Robotic Patient Transfer and Rehabilitation Device for Patient Care Facilities or the Home pp. 1287-1307(21) Authors: Bostelman, Roger; Albus, James Intentional Control for Planetary Rover SRR pp. 1309-1327(19) Authors: Kozma, Robert; Huntsberger, Terry; Aghazarian, Hrand; Tunstel, Eddie; Ilin, Roman; Freeman, Walter J. Self-Oscillating Gel Actuator for Chemical Robotics pp. 1329-1342(14) Authors: Maeda, Shingo; Hara, Yusuke; Yoshida, Ryo; Hashimoto, Shuji Translating Structured English to Robot Controllers pp. 1343-1359(17) Authors: Kress-Gazit, Hadas; Fainekos, Georgios E.; Pappas, George J. Controlling Ensembles of Robots via a Supervisory Aerial Robot pp. 1361-1377(17) Authors: Michael, Nathan; Fink, Jonathan; Kumar, Vijay Efficient Behavior Learning Based on State Value Estimation of Self and Others pp. 1379-1395(17) Authors: Takahashi, Yasutake; Noma, Kentaro; Asada, Minoru These are the relevant links to Advanced Robotics: http://www.rsj.or.jp/AR/index_e.html [Advanced Robotics Home Page] http://www.rsj.or.jp/AR/Subscribe_e.html [How to Subscribe] http://www.rsj.or.jp/AR/Submit_e.html [Paper Submission] -- Shigeki Sugano (Waseda University, Japan) Editor-in-Chief, Advanced Robotics Takashi Yoshimi (Toshiba Corporation, Japan) Committee Chair of RSJ International Journal e-info at rsj.or.jp From Jerald.D.Kralik at Dartmouth.edu Mon Oct 27 12:16:58 2008 From: Jerald.D.Kralik at Dartmouth.edu (Jerald D. Kralik) Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:16:58 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Full-time position in robotics at Dartmouth College Message-ID: <135208651@newdasher.Dartmouth.EDU> We have a full-time post-doc or research assistant position available for a project in social robotics. We are working closely with five other laboratories on a multidisciplinary research initiative to develop a team of heterogeneous robots that mimic the behavior of social mammals. The successful candidate will work in all phases of the project, designing and implementing social control modules in both computer simulations and real robots. Our lab is particularly interested in developing controllers that are inspired by neuroscience. Programming experience in C/C++ is preferred. The position is available immediately. If you know of anyone who might be interested please have them contact me by e-mail, with a resume or CV included. Thanks, Jay ____________________________________ Jerald D. Kralik, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences Dartmouth College 6207 Moore Hall Hanover, NH 03755 E-mail: Jerald.D.Kralik at Dartmouth.edu Web site: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~psych/people/faculty/kralik.html Office phone: (603) 646-0610 Lab phone: (603) 646-0047 FAX: (603) 646-1419 From kaspers at mmmi.sdu.dk Tue Oct 28 02:49:05 2008 From: kaspers at mmmi.sdu.dk (Kasper Stoy) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:49:05 +0100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] ROBOCOMM 2009: 2nd Call for Papers Message-ID: <4906E011.1090303@mmmi.sdu.dk> Dear colleagues, This is to let you know that the 15th of November deadline for ROBOCOMM 2009 is approaching fast. Updates since 1st call: *selected papers of the conference will be invited to submit to a special issue of Autonomous Robots. *conference papers will be published through IEEExplore *the submission server is ready to accept you submission Please see http://robocomm.org for more information. Kind regards, Kasper Stoy, Associate Prof. General Co-chair Robocomm --------------------------------------------- ROBOCOMM 2009: Call for Papers Second International Conference on Robot Communication and Coordination Marts 31 - April 2, 2009 Odense, Denmark http://robocomm.org/ The Second International Conference on Robot Communication and Coordination targets the convergence of robotics and communications, acting as a common forum for the two communities. The event will promote cross-pollination of these two areas, adding to our understanding of the interaction between these two exciting computer science research areas. Robotics is an interdisciplinary field, having benefited greatly from interactions with mechanics, control theory, and electronics. Lately, with the unprecedented growth of wireless communication technologies, the growing attention devoted to sensor networks and ad-hoc networks, and the emergence of commodity robotics platforms, networked robotics represents an exciting new research direction. Networked robotics offers a framework for coordination of complex mobile systems, thus providing the natural common ground for convergence of information processing, communication theory and control theory. It poses significant challenges, requiring the integration of communication theory, software engineering, distributed sensing and control into a common framework. Furthermore, robots are unique in that their motion and tasking control systems are co-located with the communications mechanisms. This allows the co-exploitation of individual subsystems to provide completely new kinds of networked or distributed autonomy. ROBOCOMM is a leading-edge conference where prominent researchers with different backgrounds can exchange ideas for a common framework that will enable new applications based on large scale networks of mobile or modular robots. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: ? Robotic interactions with sensors ? Communication protocols for tele-operated and tele-reflexive robots ? Intra-sensor communications within individual robots ? Communication protocols for flocks and swarms of networked robots ? Distributed coordination of modular robots or mobile robots ? Situated and embodied communication ? Biologically-inspired or biomimetic robot communication ? Exploiting the interactions between communications and autonomy ? Localization and tracking using robotic communications ? Industrial applications of networked robotics ? Real-time software for robot teams or modular robots ? Wired networking for robots ? Advanced communication systems for single tele-operated robots The conference will take place in modern conference facilities located at the University of Southern Denmark. The university is on the outskirts of Odense, which is the 4th largest town in Denmark and the birthplace of the fairytale-writer H.C. Andersen. ############## Important Dates ################# Full paper due: 15 November 2008 Notification of acceptance: 15 January 2009 Final version due: 15 February 2009 Conference: 31 Marts - 2 April 2009 ############## Organizers ##################### General Chairs: Ramesh Govindan (Univ. Southern California) Kasper Stoy (Univ. Southern Denmark) General Vice Chairs: Brian Gerkey (Willow Garage, California) Kamin Whitehouse (University of Virginia) Program Chairs: Saikat Ray (Univ. of Bridgeport) Luca Schenato (Univ. of Padova) Bruno Sinopoli (CMU) Publicity Chair: Sonia Martinez (Univ. of California, San Diego) Publication Chair: Kamin Whitehouse (University of Virginia) Industry Chair: Roberto Sannino (STMicroelectronics) Steering Commitee Chair: Imrich Chlamtac (CREATE-NET) Steering Commitee Members: P.R. Kumar (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana Campaign) Francesco De Pellegrini (CREATE-NET) Jason Redi (BBN) Alcherio Martinoli (EPFL) Magnus Egerstedt (GATECH) Demo Chair and Vice Chair: Francesco Mondada (EPFL) David Brandt (Univ. Southern Denmark) Local Chair: Ulrik Pagh Schultz (Univ. Southern Denmark) Conference Organizer and Financial Chair: Karen Decker (ICST) From jaydev at umd.edu Tue Oct 28 18:53:10 2008 From: jaydev at umd.edu (Jaydev P. Desai) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:53:10 -0400 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY - Post-Doc in Surgical Robotics for an NIH project at University of Maryland, College Park Message-ID: <4907C206.6040803@umd.edu> *Position description:* Research Associate (Post-Doc) position in Surgical Robotics for the design, development, and implementation of a teleoperated robotic system with haptic feedback capability for breast biopsy (Bx) and radio-frequency ablation (RFA) of breast tumor under continuous Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is available immediately for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 project. The selected candidate will also be involved in the currently funded NIH R21 grant on the development of a highly dexterous Minimally Invasive Neurosurgical Intracranial Robot (MINIR) teleoperated under continuous MRI. *Required expertise:* Expertise in one or more of the areas relating to: robot kinematics and dynamics, stability issues in teleoperation, nonlinear control, and haptics is desired. Hardware design and integration skills and expertise in C++ is a pre-requisite. Selection of potential candidates will begin immediately. * Application package:* Interested candidates should submit the following by email in a *single* PDF file to jaydev at umd.edu . 1. Curriculum vitae with a list of at least 3 references 2. At least three papers which could be either published, accepted for publication, or in-preparation which demonstrate some of the required expertise mentioned above. 3. Relevant courses taken during Ph.D studies 4. Expected date of graduation (for those who are currently pursuing a Ph.D) 5. Doctoral dissertation topic 6. A one-page summary of research background and interests and how it aligns with the current position. *Contact Information:* Jaydev P. Desai Associate Professor Director - Robotics, Automation, Manipulation, and Sensing (RAMS) Laboratory Department of Mechanical Engineering Room 0160, Bldg 088, Glenn L. Martin Hall University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 Phone: 301-405-4427 Fax: 301-314-9477 Web: http://rams.umd.edu/ From zhidong.wang at it-chiba.ac.jp Wed Oct 29 22:52:44 2008 From: zhidong.wang at it-chiba.ac.jp (Zhidong Wang) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:52:44 +0900 (JST) Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Call for Participation ROBIO2008, Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 14-17 Message-ID: <20081030145244.42908981@it-chiba.ac.jp> Call for Participations 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO 2008) December 14-17, 2008 Bangkok, Thailand http://www.robio.org/ or http://www.robotics.it-chiba.ac.jp/wang/ROBIO2008/ The IEEE ROBIO 2008 Conference will be held December 14 to 17, 2008 at Imperial Queen's Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. The theme of Robio 2008 is "Information Technology Enabled Robotics and Biomimetics", reflecting the increasing interest in research, development and applications in the areas of robotics and biomimetics. Bangkok is an exciting city with thriving business, entertainment and shops tailored to tourists and business people alike. ROBIO 2008 will be a great event for researchers and scholars in robotics and biomimetics with a technical program covering a wide range of topics and an attractive social program. Plenary Talk 1 (Dec. 15th): Human Adaptive Mechtronics and Analysis of Human Emotional Level Professor Katsuhisa Furuta, President, Tokyo Denki University, Japan Plenary Talk 2 (Dec. 16th): Industrial Robotics - Trends and Opportunities in a Changing World Dr. Sonke Kock, ABB Corporate Research, Sweden Plenary Talk 3 (Dec. 17th): Robotic Technology for Damaged Nervous System Professor Joel W. Burdick, California Institute of Technology, USA On Dec. 14th, three workshops, one tutorial and technical tour are provided to registered attendees for free. Hotel reservation and registration information is available on the conference web site. The hotel will provide a special room rate discount to attendees who make hotel reservation before November 10, 2008. The advance registration due is October 31, 2008. Best regards, Ning Xi General Chair of ROBIO 2008 & Toshio Fukuda Program Chair of ROBIO 2008 -------------------------------- Zhidong WANG, Ph.D, Professor Dept. of Advanced Robotics Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan Tel/Fax: +81-47-478-0142 From firacongress at gmail.com Tue Oct 28 22:50:22 2008 From: firacongress at gmail.com (FIRACongress NUS) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:50:22 +0800 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Call for Paper---FIRA Congress Korea 2009 Message-ID: FIRA Congress 2009 Where Theory and Practice Meet Incheon, Korea : 16-18 August 2009 http://robotics.nus.edu.sg/fira2009/ Technically sponsored by: Int. Neural Network Society Int. Fed. of Information Processing Under the official umbrella of the 12th FIRA RoboWorld Congress, Incheon, Korea, 16~18 August 2009, six international conferences will be organized under one roof with one single registration for greater impact and scientific exchange: 1. International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) 2. International Conference on Entertainment Robotics (ICER) 3. International Conference of Advanced Humanoid Robotics Research (ICAHRR) 4. International Symposium on Autonomous Mini-robots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE) 5. International Robotics Education Forum (IREF) 6. 6th International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CIRAS) The FIRA RoboWorld Congress is hosted together with the renowned FIRA RoboWorld Cup, 18~20 August 2009, the first robotic soccer competition in the world, which started in 1996. The theme of the FIRA congress is "Where Theory and Practice Meet" which genuinely reflects its tradition of combining real-life robotic competitions and high quality presentations of scientific research in robotics, artificial intelligence, and computer vision. The Steering Committee of FIRA RoboWorld Congress and the Executive Committee of RoboWorld Cup are devoted to provide a common platform where scientists, academic researchers, robotic engineers and students meet to share their pioneering works and insights, to strive for unraveling challenges, and to propel the community to the next level of excitement, breakthrough and vision in the robotics community. The conference welcomes paper submissions from researchers, practitioners and students, and will cover myriad topics in intelligent control, autonomous systems and various robots including soccer robots, edutainment robots, service robots, personal robots and humanoid robots. IMPORTANT DATES Paper Submission: 01 Feb 2009 Special Sessions: 01 Feb 2009 Acceptance Notification: 10 March 2009 Camera ready final submission and registration: 01 April 2009 VENUE The congress will be held in the Hotel Ramada in Incheon. Incheon is the 3rd largest city of Korea which is located in the mid-west Korea peninsula abutting the Yellow Sea, 28km from the nation's capital, Seoul. It is a gateway to Northeast Asia with both international port and international airport in its hand. The city is well known for Mun-hak Worldcup Stadium and 1st Economic Free Zone in Korea. For more information please visit http://english.incheon.go.kr More information about FIRA is available on the FIRA web site http://www.fira.net From Justus-bulk at Piater.name Wed Oct 29 03:40:06 2008 From: Justus-bulk at Piater.name (Justus-bulk at Piater.name) Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:40:06 +0100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] ICVS 2009 CALL FOR PAPERS, WORKSHOPS and TUTORIALS Message-ID: ICVS 2009 1st CALL FOR PAPERS, WORKSHOPS and TUTORIALS http://icvs2009.intelsig.be/ The 7th International Conference on Computer Vision Systems will take place October 12-15 2009 in Li?ge, the cultural and economic capital of Wallonia, Belgium, continuing the established series of conferences held so far in Europe and North America. While most computer vision conferences focus on either algorithms or applications, ICVS addresses issues arising in the design and deployment of computer vision *systems*. Its scope includes but is not limited to the following topics: - Building Vision Systems: paradigms, architectures, integration, control - Vision for the Real World: robustness, learning, adaptability, self-assessment, failure recovery - Vision for Action: robotics, human-computer interaction, perception-action loops - Vision in Context: knowledge representations, reasoning, goal specification, context awareness - Biological Systems: computer vision inspired by biology or psychology - Implementation Issues: embedded systems, nonstandard hardware, real-time systems - Performance Evaluation: benchmarks, methods and metrics ICVS brings together researchers and developers from academe and industry around the world. Due to its perspective on systems, it is a well-positioned platform for knowledge and technology transfer and for the identification of application-driven research questions. The conference proceedings will be published in the Springer series of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. KEYNOTE SPEAKER confirmed to date: Jay Yagnik Google Inc., Head of Computer Vision and Audio Understanding Research WORKSHOPS and TUTORIALS We invite workshops and tutorials related to any area of computer vision systems. For submission information see the conference Web pages. IMPORTANT DATES Workshop/tutorial proposals: 6 April 2009 Paper submission: 4 May 2009 Notification of acceptance: 10 July 2009 Camera-ready paper: 3 August 2009 Conference: 12-15 October 2009 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chair: Justus Piater, University of Li?ge, Belgium Program Chairs: Bernt Schiele, TU Darmstadt, Germany, and Mario Fritz, ICSI & UC Berkeley Tutorial and Workshop Chair: Markus Vincze, TU Vienna, Austria Conference Secretariat: Mich?le Delville and C?line Dizier, A.I.M., Belgium For more and up-to-date information, see http://icvs2009.intelsig.be/. -- Prof. Justus H. Piater, Ph.D. http://www.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/~piater/ on leave at MPI T?bingen Phone +49-7071/601-559, Fax -552 Dept. of Empirical Inference http://www.kyb.mpg.de/bs/ ICVS 2009 12-15 October in Li?ge, Belgium http://icvs2009.intelsig.be/ From salah at acfr.usyd.edu.au Thu Oct 30 22:22:47 2008 From: salah at acfr.usyd.edu.au (Salah Sukkarieh) Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:22:47 +1100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] SLAM Summer School 2009 Message-ID: <021a01c93b18$b61d09a0$22571ce0$@usyd.edu.au> Last week of enrolment for the SLAM Summer School. The final agenda and list of speakers is up on the web. ___ The 4th Summer School in Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) will be hosted by the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney on 20-23 January 2009. Objectives The goal of this summer school is to provide lectures and laboratory work on the basics as well as the state-of-the-art of SLAM, with a bent towards outdoor applications and perception in outdoor environments for autonomous systems. A number of leading international researchers will be presenting their ideas and solutions to this difficult problem, focussing on ideas of machine learning for perception and situational awareness, large scale SLAM and Active-SLAM. The summer school will provide the opportunity for research students who are new to, or interested in, this exciting area to see what methods are being employed and what systems have been demonstrated, as well as to get hands on experience with some of the algorithmic methods. It will also provide the opportunity to interact with fellow researchers in this field with the aim of generating collaborative initiatives. More information including registration can be found here: http://www.acfr.usyd.edu.au/education/summerschool.shtml From sabine.hauert at epfl.ch Thu Oct 30 13:36:44 2008 From: sabine.hauert at epfl.ch (Sabine Hauert) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:36:44 +0100 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Final CFP: Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics - IEEE CEC 2009 Message-ID: <0CDC9DE0-6029-4BB3-B137-FD0F0495DF45@epfl.ch> * Apologies for multiple postings * ================================================ FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS IEEE CEC 2009 - Special Session on "Evolutionary Robotics" Trondheim, Norway, 18th-21st of May, 2009 http://lis.epfl.ch/specialsessions/CEC09/ http://lis.epfl.ch/specialsessions/CEC09/CFP.pdf **** Extended deadline: 14th of November 2008 **** ================================================ ORGANISERS Patricia A. Vargas (Heriot-Watt University) Sabine Hauert (EPFL-Lausanne) Dario Floreano (EPFL-Lausanne) Phil Husbands (University of Sussex) DESCRIPTION Evolutionary Robotics (ER) aims to apply evolutionary computation techniques, inspired by Darwin's principle of selective reproduction of the fittest, to automatically design the control and/or hardware of both real and simulated autonomous robots. Having an intrinsic interdisciplinary character, ER is being employed towards the development of many fields of research, among which we can highlight neuroscience, cognitive science, evolutionary biology and robotics. Hence the objective of this special session is to assemble a set of high-quality original contributions that reflect and advance the state-of-the-art in the area of Evolutionary Robotics, with an emphasis on the cross-fertilization between ER and the aforementioned research areas, ranging from theoretical analysis to real-life applications. POST CONFERENCE BOOK PUBLICATION Authors of the best selected paper from among those accepted for the "Evolutionary Robotics" session will be invited to submit an extended version for review for possible publication as a chapter in the forthcoming book "The Horizons of Evolutionary Robotics" edited by Patricia A. Vargas, Ezequiel Di Paolo, Inman Harvey and Phil Husbands (target publisher MIT Press). PAPER SUBMISSION Submissions should follow the guidance given on the IEEE CEC 2009 conference website: http://www.cec-2009.org. When submitting, please select the special session on "Evolutionary Robotics". All submissions will be peer-reviewed with the same criteria used for other contributed papers. All accepted papers will be included in the published conference proceedings. TOPICS OF INTEREST INCLUDE (but are not restricted to) * Evolution of robots which display minimal cognitive behaviour, learning, memory, spatial cognition, adaptation or homeostasis. * Evolution of neural controllers for robots, aimed at giving an insight to neuroscientists or advancing control structures. * Evolution of communication, cooperation and competition, using robots as a research platform. * Co-evolution and the evolution of collective behaviour. * Evolution of morphology in close interaction with the environment, giving rise to self-reconfigurable, self-designing, self-healing and self-reproducing robots or humanoid and walking robots. * Evolution of robot systems aimed at real-world applications as in aerial robotics, space exploration, industry, search and rescue, robot companions, entertainment and games. * Evolution of controllers on board real robots or the real-time evolution of robot hardware. * Novel or improved algorithms for the evolution or robot systems. * The use of evolution for the artistic exploration of robot design. IMPORTANT DATES (modified) Paper Submission:......................November 14, 2008 Notification of Acceptance:........February 06, 2009 Camera-Ready Submission:.....February 27, 2009 CONTACTS Dr. Patricia A. Vargas Research Fellow School of Maths and Computer Science Heriot-Watt University, UK Phone: +44 (0)7798 645 621 Email: p.a.vargas at hw.ac.uk Sabine Hauert Laboratory of Intelligent Systems EPFL, Switzerland Phone: +41 (0)21 693 77 59 Email: sabine.hauert at epfl.ch From guoshuxiang at hotmail.com Thu Oct 30 01:45:22 2008 From: guoshuxiang at hotmail.com (Shuxiang Guo) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:45:22 +0900 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] CFP of IEEE ICMA 2009 (August 9-12, 2009) Message-ID: Apologies if you receive this message more than once ! Dear colleagues, The 2009 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA 2009) will take place in Changchun, Jilin, China from August 9 to August 12, 2009. Please visit the website http://www.ieee-icma.org/ for the detailed information. http://www.ieee-icma.org/ A renowned ancient city in China, Changchun is situated in northeastern China. As the capital of Jilin province, Changchun is known as the cradle of new China's automobile industry, optoelectronics technology and biological technology, applied chemistry and so on. It ranks predominantly China in terms of the research and development on optics, exactitude apparatus, laser technique, macromolecule material,biological products, super conduct and automobile, etc. The objective of ICMA 2009 is to provide a forum for researchers, educators, engineers, and government officials involved in the general areas of mechatronics, robotics, automation and sensors to disseminate their latest research results and exchange views on the future research directions of these fields. The topics of interest include, but not limited to the following: - Intelligent mechatronics, robotics, biomimetics, automation and control systems - opto-electronic elements and Materials, laser technology and laser processing - Elements, structures, mechanisms, and applications of micro and nano systems - Teleoperation, telerobotics, haptics, and teleoperated semi-autonomous systems - Sensor design, multi-sensor data fusion algorithms and wireless sensor networks - Biomedical and rehabilitation engineering, prosthetics and artificial organs - Control system modeling and simulation techniques and methodologies - AI, intelligent control, neuro-control, fuzzy control and their applications - Industrial automation, process control, manufacturing process and automation Important Dates: March 20, 2009 Full papers and organized session proposals May 1, 2009 Proposals for tutorials and workshops May 15, 2009 Notification of paper and session acceptance June 1, 2009 Submission of final papers in IEEE Contributed Papers: All papers must be submitted in PDF format prepared strictly following the IEEE PDF Requirements for Creating PDF Documents for IEEE XploreR. The standard number of pages is 6 and the maximum page limit is 8 pages with extra payment for the two extra pages. See detailed instructions in the conference web site. All paper accepted by IEEE ICMA 2009 will be indexed by EI and included in IEEE XploreR. Organized Sessions: Proposals with the title, the organizers, and a brief statement of purpose of the session must be submitted to an OS Chair by March 20, 2009. Tutorials & Workshops: Proposals for tutorials and workshops that address related topics must be submitted to one of the Tutorial/Workshop Chairs by May 1, 2009. Best Paper Competition: IEEE ICMA conference has the following four categories of conference awards: 1) Best Conference Paper Award 2) Toshio Fukuda Best Award in Mechatronics 3)Best Paper Award in Automation 4)Best Student Paper Award The winner of the Best Paper Award will receive a certificate. You are expected to make contributions to this conference via contributing high quality papers and attending the conferenc We are striving to make IEEE ICMA 2009 a high quality conference. Your strong support is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, yours Toshio Fukuda &Shuxiang Guo, General Chairs of IEEE ICMA 2009 Yong Yu, Program Chair of IEEE ICMA 2009 From anishgarg at techfest.org Fri Oct 31 03:38:16 2008 From: anishgarg at techfest.org (anish garg) Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:08:16 +0530 Subject: [robotics-worldwide] Techfest 2009 Message-ID: <1f130b480810310338s3125b0cu86308d020eeffd15@mail.gmail.com> Hi, * Robotics competition in Denmark *Techfest in association with Robo Cluster is organizing a *legged robotics competition* in Odense, Denmark on 6th December. Prizes worth *23,000 (DKK)* to be won including *free airline tickets to winners *to travel to India to participate in a higher version of this competition during annual* Techfest of IIT Bombay* with teams from all parts of the world and chance to witness the asia'a largest technical festival in action. To register or for further details visit this page:- http://techfest.org/inexus/ With Kind Regards, Anish garg Manager, Events, Techfest 2009, IIT Bombay +91 98337 89055 www.techfest.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- It is not enough to do your best: you must know what to do, and THEN do your best. -- W. Edwards Deming