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[jobs] Last Call: Postdoc position in Robotics and AI at Orebro University
by Alessandro Saffiotti 07 Feb '17

07 Feb '17

====================================================================== Orebro University, Sweden, seeks a postdoctoral researcher with experience in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics to work in a European project on culturally aware assistive robots. Application deadline: February 20, 2017 Expected starting date: March 2017 ====================================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Task Description ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We seek a postdoctoral researcher who will work at the AASS research center of Orebro University, in the context of the EU project CARESSES. The CARESSES project (www.caressesrobot.org) aims to make assistive robots that are culturally aware, meaning that they adapt to the culture of their assistee. The researcher will develop methods for making the actions and behaviors of the robots consonant to a given cultural profile, and will implement those methods on real assistive robots. The researcher will also work in close collaboration with other partners within the project. This includes taking part in extensive user evaluation campains involving elderly volunteers living in assistive residences in the UK. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Required Competences ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In order to perform the above tasks, applicants are expected to have a strong background in Artificial Intelligence, especially in the areas of knowledge representation and reasoning and of automated planning, as well as good programming skills. The appointed researcher must be able to successfully work in a large international team, and to cope with project committments and deadlines. The appointed researcher must also be willing and available to travel within and ouside the EU, and to spend extensive periods of time in the UK during the evaluation campains. A proven record of working with robots is a plus, as well as previous experience in human-robot interaction, in user-centered design, and in user-based evaluation of welfare technologies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eligibility and Assessment Criteria ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To qualify for this position appplicants must hold a doctoral degree in Computer Science or related subjects. The degree must have been awarded at most three years before the application deadline. Candidates who obtained a degree earlier may be considered if there are specific reasons like illness, parental leave, or other similar circumstances. Applicants should show that that they have the competences needed to perform this project as well as the ability to work collaboratively in a scientific environment. Proficiency in spoken and written English is necessary. Special importance will be given to the following additional criteria: - The applicant should show evidence of scientific excellence, e.g., impact of conducted research both before and after the obtainment of the PhD degree; - The applicant should show the ability to work within collaborative international projects, e.g., experience in previous EU projects. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Application ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The position is a full-time position for a bounded term of two years. The salary depends on the successful candidate's qualifications and experience. Our ambition is to create a place of work that is characterised by gender equality and diversity. Applications must be sent through the Orebro University website here: https://www.oru.se/english/working-at-orebro-university/jobs-and-vacancies/… Applications must include: * Covering letter * CV * An account of research qualifications * Copies of relevant course/degree certificates and references * Copies of scientific publications (maximum of 10) The application deadline is February 20, 2017, strict. Inquiries: Prof Alessandro Saffiotti <asaffio(a)aass.oru.se> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- About the Host Institution ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Orebro University (www.oru.se) is a modern university which currently enrolls more than 15,000 students. It is located in Orebro, a city of 130,000 inhabitants situated in central Sweden. The Center for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems (AASS, aass.oru.se) is one of the Strong Research Environments at Orebro University. It carries out multi-disciplinary research at the intersection of robotics and artificial intelligence. The research and human environment at AASS is young and enthusiastic. Researchers come from a dozen different countries and have different scientific and cultural backgrounds. AASS frequently hosts international researchers and is involved in many national and international projects, both in fundamental and applied research. AASS is internationally renowned for its research in mobile robotics, cognitive robotic systems, robot ecologies, assistive technologies, and artificial olfaction. The work will be carried out at the Cognitive Robotic Systems laboratory of AASS. ======================================================================

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[RoboCup@Home2017] Second Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

Call for Participation RoboCup -2017 RoboCup@Home League July 25 - July 30, 2017 (Nagoya, Japan) http://www.robocup2017.org http://www.robocupathome.org/ http://wiki.robocup.org/wiki/@Home_League/ RoboCup is an international scientific initiative with the goal to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots through competitions (RoboCup@Home, RoboCup Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup@Work and RoboCup Junior). The RoboCup@Home league aims to develop service and assistive robot technology with high relevance for future personal domestic applications. It is the largest international annual competition for autonomous service robots and is part of the RoboCup initiative. A set of benchmark tests is used to evaluate the robots' abilities and performance in a realistic home environment setting. Focus lies on the following domains but is not limited to: Human-Robot-Interaction and Cooperation, Navigation and Mapping in dynamic environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition under natural light conditions, Object Manipulation, Adaptive Behaviours, Behaviour Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. The RoboCup@Home league is itegrated by three Leagues officially referred as - Domestic Standard Platform League [DSPL] (Toyota HSR) - Social Standard Platform League [SSPL] (SoftBank Robotics Pepper) - Open Platform League [OPL] This message describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home League 2017. Important dates: *Feb. 12, 2017* Intention of Participation Mar. 12, 2017 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website, Information in @Home Wiki). Mar. 26, 2017 Qualification announcement The qualification procedure consists of the following two steps: Step 1) Intention of Participation (strongly recommended) The team sends an email to the Organizing Committee (oc(a)robocupathome.org) to indicate your intention to participate in the RoboCup@Home 2017 event, including the following basic information: Team Name: League: Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Web site: Only one platform can be specified per team. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2017-Participation] (YourTeamName) Please check the email is encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. ***** Deadline: Sunday, 5th Feb. 2017 23:59 GMT ****** Step 2) Qualification Material Submission (mandatory) The team ***MUST*** send an email to the Oranizing Committee ( oc(a)robocupathome.org) to participate in the qualification process for the RoboCup@Home 2017 event. Please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Web site: Link to a team video: Link to a team web site devoted to their efforts: Team Description Paper (TDP) attached to the email based on the official template. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2017-Participation] (YourTeamName) Considerations: - Only one platform can be specified per team. - All the publications and software to be evaluated for qualification ***MUST*** be in the team’s website. - The email must be encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. *Important Notice:* As platforms are independent, you must send an application email for each platform you want to compete in, specifying different team names in each. Qualification Material (e.g. video and TDP) must match the robot to qualify. ***** Deadline: Sunday, Mar. 12, 2017 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Team Video =========================== As a proof of running hardware, each team has to provide a qualification video. As a minimum requirement for qualification, we consider showing the robot(s) successfully solving at least one test of the current or last year's rulebook. *[Standard Platforms Only]* The robot shown in the video must not be altered or modified in any way. Instructions for the TDP ======================== The TDP is an 8-pages long scientific paper, detailing information on the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, while including also the following: - Innovative technology and scientific contribution - Photo(s) of the robot - Focus of research/research interests - Re-usability of the system for other research groups - Applicability of the robot in the real world - Brief, compact list of the 3rd party robot's software (e.g. ROS vision should be included, but not OpenCV). - *[Open Platform Only]* Brief, compact description of the robot's hardware. - *[Standard Platforms Only]* Specify all external computing devices, if any. For the TDP, please use the Springer LNAI format <http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0> used in the RoboCup Symposium submissions and limit yourself to 8 pages without altering margins or spacing. You may download a template for the TDP from here <https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate>. Instructions for the Web site ========================== While the TDP goes into detail about the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, the website should be designed for a broader audience, including: - Photos of the robot(s) - Videos of the robot(s) - Description of the approaches and information on scientific achievements - Relevant publications (last 5 years, preferably available to download) - Link to repositories with software for the community - Team members - Previous participation in RoboCup Evaluation criteria: ================= Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: - Team description paper (clarity, scientific contributions, re-usability by the league, applicability in real world) - Qualification Video (navigation, human-robot interaction, people/object recognition, object manipulation and new features) - Website (multimedia, publications from last 5 years, downloadable content, open-source software and other contributions) - Relevant Scientific contribution/publications (downloadable papers and open-source software) - Novelty of approach (what you do is new for @Home) We encourage teams to produce self-explicative videos for a general audience where complex tasks are solved. For Team Description Papers focus on the scientific contribution and avoid brief descriptions of the overall system. *Note to experienced competitors:* Major changes are being done in the rulebook. You may download the latest version from: https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook. With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team in Nagoya, The 2017 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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[RoboCup@Home2017] Second Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

Call for Participation RoboCup -2017 RoboCup@Home League July 25 - July 30, 2017 (Nagoya, Japan) http://www.robocup2017.org http://www.robocupathome.org/ http://wiki.robocup.org/wiki/@Home_League/ RoboCup is an international scientific initiative with the goal to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots through competitions (RoboCup@Home, RoboCup Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup@Work and RoboCup Junior). The RoboCup@Home league aims to develop service and assistive robot technology with high relevance for future personal domestic applications. It is the largest international annual competition for autonomous service robots and is part of the RoboCup initiative. A set of benchmark tests is used to evaluate the robots' abilities and performance in a realistic home environment setting. Focus lies on the following domains but is not limited to: Human-Robot-Interaction and Cooperation, Navigation and Mapping in dynamic environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition under natural light conditions, Object Manipulation, Adaptive Behaviours, Behaviour Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. The RoboCup@Home league is itegrated by three Leagues officially referred as - Domestic Standard Platform League [DSPL] (Toyota HSR) - Social Standard Platform League [SSPL] (SoftBank Robotics Pepper) - Open Platform League [OPL] This message describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home League 2017. Important dates: Feb. 5, 2017 Intention of Participation Mar. 12, 2017 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website, Information in @Home Wiki). Mar. 26, 2017 Qualification announcement The qualification procedure consists of the following two steps: Step 1) Intention of Participation (strongly recommended) The team sends an email to the Organizing Committee (oc(a)robocupathome.org) to indicate your intention to participate in the RoboCup@Home 2017 event, including the following basic information: Team Name: League: Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Web site: Only one platform can be specified per team. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2017-Participation] (YourTeamName) Please check the email is encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. ***** Deadline: Sunday, 5th Feb. 2017 23:59 GMT ****** Step 2) Qualification Material Submission (mandatory) The team ***MUST*** send an email to the Oranizing Committee ( oc(a)robocupathome.org) to participate in the qualification process for the RoboCup@Home 2017 event. Please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Web site: Link to a team video: Link to a team web site devoted to their efforts: Team Description Paper (TDP) attached to the email based on the official template. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2017-Participation] (YourTeamName) Considerations: - Only one platform can be specified per team. - All the publications and software to be evaluated for qualification ***MUST*** be in the team’s website. - The email must be encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. *Important Notice:* As platforms are independent, you must send an application email for each platform you want to compete in, specifying different team names in each. Qualification Material (e.g. video and TDP) must match the robot to qualify. ***** Deadline: Sunday, Mar. 12, 2017 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Team Video =========================== As a proof of running hardware, each team has to provide a qualification video. As a minimum requirement for qualification, we consider showing the robot(s) successfully solving at least one test of the current or last year's rulebook. *[Standard Platforms Only]* The robot shown in the video must not be altered or modified in any way. Instructions for the TDP ======================== The TDP is an 8-pages long scientific paper, detailing information on the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, while including also the following: - Innovative technology and scientific contribution - Photo(s) of the robot - Focus of research/research interests - Re-usability of the system for other research groups - Applicability of the robot in the real world - Brief, compact list of the 3rd party robot's software (e.g. ROS vision should be included, but not OpenCV). - *[Open Platform Only]* Brief, compact description of the robot's hardware. - *[Standard Platforms Only]* Specify all external computing devices, if any. For the TDP, please use the Springer LNAI format <http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0> used in the RoboCup Symposium submissions and limit yourself to 8 pages without altering margins or spacing. You may download a template for the TDP from here <https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate>. Instructions for the Web site ========================== While the TDP goes into detail about the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, the website should be designed for a broader audience, including: - Photos of the robot(s) - Videos of the robot(s) - Description of the approaches and information on scientific achievements - Relevant publications (last 5 years, preferably available to download) - Link to repositories with software for the community - Team members - Previous participation in RoboCup Evaluation criteria: ================= Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: - Team description paper (clarity, scientific contributions, re-usability by the league, applicability in real world) - Qualification Video (navigation, human-robot interaction, people/object recognition, object manipulation and new features) - Website (multimedia, publications from last 5 years, downloadable content, open-source software and other contributions) - Relevant Scientific contribution/publications (downloadable papers and open-source software) - Novelty of approach (what you do is new for @Home) We encourage teams to produce self-explicative videos for a general audience where complex tasks are solved. For Team Description Papers focus on the scientific contribution and avoid brief descriptions of the overall system. *Note to experienced competitors:* Major changes are being done in the rulebook. You may download the latest version from: https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook. With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team in Nagoya, The 2017 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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survey - RoboCup WM 2016 - results
by Eva Jahn 27 Jan '17

27 Jan '17

for your information ********************************************************** RoboCup WM, Leipzig 2016 - results of the @home-survey 2. part ********************************************************** The survey was last year (as a module for my thesis about the perception of service robots) evaluated in the @home liga. The reduced results you can find under: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eva_Jahn2/publications DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17019.11042 If there are any question, than contact me. best regards, Eva Jahn --- Eva Jahn, M.A. Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena Institute of Communication Research Department of Communication Psychology Postal Address: Ernst-Abbe-Platz 8 Visitor Address: Semmelweisstraße 12 D-07743 Jena E-Mail: eva.jahn(a)uni-jena.de Web: www.ifkw.uni-jena.de

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[RoboCup@Home2017] Second Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 26 Jan '17

26 Jan '17

Call for Participation RoboCup 2017 RoboCup@Home League July 25 - 30, 2017 (Nagoya, Japan) http://www.robocup2017.org http://www.robocupathome.org http://wiki.robocup.org/wiki/@Home_League/ RoboCup is an international scientific initiative with the goal to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots through competitions (RoboCup@Home, RoboCup Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup@Work and RoboCup Junior). The RoboCup@Home league aims to develop service and assistive robot technology with high relevance for future personal domestic applications. It is the largest international annual competition for autonomous service robots and is part of the RoboCup initiative. A set of benchmark tests is used to evaluate the robots' abilities and performance in a realistic home environment setting. Focus lies on the following domains but is not limited to: Human-Robot-Interaction and Cooperation, Navigation and Mapping in dynamic environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition under natural light conditions, Object Manipulation, Adaptive Behaviours, Behaviour Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. The RoboCup@Home league is itegrated by three Leagues officially referred as - Domestic Standard Platform League [DSPL] (Toyota HSR) - Social Standard Platform League [SSPL] (SoftBank Robotics Pepper) - Open Platform League [OPL] This message describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home League 2017. Important dates: Feb 5, 2017 Intention of Participation Mar 12, 2017 Preregistration and Deadline for qualification material (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website, Information in @Home Wiki). Mar 26, 2017 Qualification announcement The qualification procedure consists of the following two steps: *Step 1) Intention of Participation (strongly recommended)* The team sends an email to the Oranizing Committee <oc(a)robocupathome.org> to indicate your intention to participate in the RoboCup@Home 2017 event, including the following basic information: Team Name: League: Platform: Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Web site: Only one platform can be specified per team. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2017-Participation] (YourTeamName) Please check the email is encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. ***** Deadline: Sunday, 5th Feb. 2017 23:59 GMT ****** *Step 2) Qualification Material Submission (mandatory)* The team ***MUST*** send an email to the Oranizing Committee < oc(a)robocupathome.org> to participate in the qualification process for the RoboCup@Home 2017 event. Please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Link to a team video: Link to a team web site devoted to their efforts: Team Description Paper (TDP) attached to the email based on the official template. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2017-Qualification] (YourTeamName) Considerations: - Only one platform can be specified per team. - All the publications and software to be evaluated for qualification ***MUST*** be in the team’s website. - The email must be encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. *Important Notice: * As platforms are independent, you must send an application email for each platform you want to compete in, specifying different team names in each. Qualification Material (e.g. video and TDP) must match the robot to qualify. ***** Deadline: Sunday, Mar. 12, 2017 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Team Video =========================== As a proof of running hardware, each team has to provide a qualification video. As a minimum requirement for qualification, we consider showing the robot(s) successfully solving at least one test of the current or last year's rulebook. *[Standard Platforms Only]* The robot shown in the video must not be altered or modified in any way. Instructions for the TDP =========================== The TDP is an 8-pages long scientific paper, detailing information on the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, while including also the following: - Innovative technology and scientific contribution - Photo(s) of the robot - Focus of research/research interests - Re-usability of the system for other research groups - Applicability of the robot in the real world - Brief, compact list of the 3rd party robot's software (e.g. ROS vision should be included, but not OpenCV). - *[Open Platform Only] *Brief, compact description of the robot's hardware. - *[Standard Platforms Only] *Specify all external computing devices, if any. For the TDP, please use the Springer LNAI format <http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0> used in the RoboCup Symposium submissions and limit yourself to 8 pages without altering margins or spacing. You may download a template for the TDP from here <https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate>. Instructions for the Web site =========================== While the TDP goes into detail about the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, the website should be designed for a broader audience, including: - Photos of the robot(s) - Videos of the robot(s) - Description of the approaches and information on scientific achievements - Relevant publications (last 5 years, preferably available to download) - Link to repositories with software for the community - Team members - Previous participation in RoboCup Evaluation criteria: =========================== Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: - Team description paper (clarity, scientific contributions, re-usability by the league, applicability in real world) - Qualification Video (navigation, human-robot interaction, people/object recognition, object manipulation and new features) - Website (multimedia, publications from last 5 years, downloadable content, open-source software and other contributions) - Relevant Scientific contribution/publications (downloadable papers and open-source software) - Novelty of approach (what you do is new for @Home) We encourage teams to produce self-explicative videos for a general audience where complex tasks are solved. For Team Description Papers focus on the scientific contribution and avoid brief descriptions of the overall system. *Note to experienced competitors:* Major changes are being done in the rulebook. You may download the latest version from: https://github.com/RoboC upAtHome/RuleBook With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team in Nagoya, The 2017 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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CFP: IJCAI 2017 Human-Robot Engagement in the Home, Workplace and Public Spaces Workshop
by Mary-Anne Williams 26 Jan '17

26 Jan '17

IJCAI 2017 HUMAN-ROBOT ENGAGEMENT in the Home, Workplace and Public Spaces WORKSHOP PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS Social robots are poised to have a profound impact on business, society and the global economy. They are a disruptive technology. A self-driving vehicle is an example of a social robot, not only does it need to drive on the road safely but it must also create enjoyable experiences for humans inside the vehicle, while at the same time communicating with and anticipating nearby cars, pedestrians, city infrastructure, land and space based technologies. The key to success of any social robot is how well it can engage people around it as it pursues its design goals. The critical research question is how can we design social robots to enhance the human experience and improve people's lives? The purpose of this workshop is to explore how social robots can generate value and create engaging experiences for people in the home, workplace and public spaces. The workshop will focus on social robots in the home, workplace and public spaces. Robot encounters in public spaces will be different to those in workplaces where a robot is a long-term partner and expected to help humans be more productive. The key research challenges are autonomy, proactivity and intelligence, sociability. Social robotics is a transdisciplinary field. We seek to bring together research interests that are not traditionally 'close'. In particular, the workshop will provide a venue for fruitful discussion between artificial intelligence researchers exploring pervasive computing, social robotics, cognitive science, software engineering, law, AI planning and knowledge representation. In addition to presented papers the Workshop will involve an ideation session and much lively discussion and debate on the applications and implications of social robotics. Relevant topics include, but are not limited, to the following: - Human-robot interaction and collaboration - Social intelligence for proactive autonomous robots - Law abiding autonomous robots - Engagement and disengagement in HRI - Human attention, proactive decision making and behaviour - Autonomy, learning and intelligence - Joint attention and emotional connection - Social robots in an Internet of Things ecosystem - Privacy and security for Social Robotics - Legal and ethical implications of social robots IMPORTANT DATES Paper Submission Deadline: *May 15, 2017 *(EasyChair Submission Website will Open in March) Acceptance Notification: *June 8, 2017* Camera-Ready Version: *June 22, 2017* SUBMISSION DETAILS Submitted papers must be original work of no more than 6 pages in length and formatted according to IJCAI guidelines and submitted electronically through the Workshop submission site, which will be available in March from Workshop website. Formatting Guidelines, LaTeX Styles and Word Template can be dowloaded from here <http://ijcai-17.org/FormattingGuidelinesIJCAI-17.zip>. Submissions must be in electronic form. Additional material such as videos may also be submitted. At least one author of each accepted paper is required to attend the workshop to present the work. Submissions received after the deadline or that do not meet the length or formatting requirements will not be considered for review. No email or fax submissions will be accepted. Notification of receipt of an electronically submitted paper will be emailed to the designated contact author soon after receipt. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE *Mary-Anne Williams*, University of Technology Sydney and CodeX Stanford University (Chair) *Benjamin Johnston*, University of Technology Sydney *William Judge*, Commonwealth Bank of Australia *Amit Kumar Pandey*, Softbank Robotics Europe *Meg Tonkin*, University of Technology Sydney *Jonathan Vitale,* University of Technology Sydney PROGRAM COMMITTEE *Nic Carey*, Harvard University, USA *Xiaoping Chen*, University of Science and Technology of China *Jesse Clark,* University of Technology Sydney, Australia *Tony Cohn*, Leeds University, UK *Kate Darling*, MIT, USA *Peter Gärdenfors*, Lund University, Sweden *Georg Gottlob*, Oxford University, UK *Daniel Grollman*, Sphero, USA *Michael Genesereth*, CodeX and the Dept of Computer Science, Stanford University, USA *Hatice Gunes*, University of Cambridge, UK *George Konidaris*, Brown University, USA *Eryk Korfel*, Commonwealth Bank of Australia *Mahya Knox*, University of Technology Sydney, Australia *Séverin Lemaignan*, University of Plymouth, UK *William Mailer*, Commonwealth Bank of Australia *Lilia Moshkina*, Neato Robotics, USA *Yukie Naga*i, Osaka University, Japan *Bernhard Nebel*, University of Freiburg, Germany *Suman Ojha*, University of Technology Sydney, Australia *David Parkes*, Harvard University, USA *Pavlos Peppas*, Patras University, Greece *Sammy Pfeiffer*, University of Technology Sydney, Australia *Brian Scassellati*, Yale University, USA *Julie Shah*, MIT, USA *Harry Surden,* University of Colorado and Stanford University, USA *Manuela Veloso*, Carnegie Mellon University, USA *Roland Vogl*, CodeX and the Law School, Stanford University, USA *Holly Yanco*, UMass Lowell, USA *Xun Wang*, University of Technology Sydney and Commonwealth Bank of Australia WORKSHOP INFORMATION Place: IJCAI-17 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence <http://ijcai-17.org/>, Melbourne, Australia. Workshop Date to be Advised: August 19, 20 or 21, 2017 Website: http://ijcaihumanrobotengagement.webnode.com Contact: Mary-Anne Williams <http://mary-annewilliams.com/>, The Magic Lab, UTS

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[Competitions] Pre-registration Deadline Extended for RoboCup IranOpen 2017
by Asad Norouzi 20 Jan '17

20 Jan '17

*Apologies for duplicate messages* *Call For Participation* *RoboCup IranOpen 2017* *April 03 - 07* The 12th RoboCup IranOpen competitions will be held in April 03-07, 2017. Having had the experience of 11 years successful organization of these competitions, we look forward to an even more glorious event with more teams competing in this major robotics event from all over the world. Last year, we had 272 teams from Afghanistan, Canada, China, Germany, Iran, South Korea, Peru, UK, and USA. RoboCup IranOpen is an attempt to further promote AI and Robotics research. These competitions will provide a chance for all researchers to present and share their experiences and achievements. The RoboCup IranOpen 2017 competitions leagues are as follows: - RoboCupSoccer - Humanoid (Entry Level, Kid Size, Teen Size, Adult Size) - Middle Size - Small Size - Standard Platform - Soccer 3D Simulation - Soccer 2D Simulation - RoboCupRescue - Rescue Robot - Rescue Simulation - Rescue Virtual Robot - RoboCup@Home - RoboCupIndustrial - RoboCup@Work - RoboCupJunior - Junior Soccer Open - Junior Soccer B Light Weight - Junior Rescue A Primary - Junior Rescue A Secondary - Junior Rescue B - Junior CoSpace Rescue The following leagues will be also be organized in conjunction with RoboCup IranOpen 2017: - Middle Size Intelligent Deminer Robots - Small Size Intelligent Deminer Robots - Tele-operated Deminer Robots - Deminer Technical Challenge - IranOpenROV (Radio Operated Vehicles - underwater robots) - Explorer Category - Navigator Category (for Junior only) - IranOpenUAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Indoor and Outdoor) - Indoor Category - Outdoor Category - Major Demo - Junior Demo Common Challenge - Junior Demo Open Challenge Participation: All teams are required to pre-register through the online form available in the website. The pre-registered teams should then submit the relevant qualification materials. Last year 316 teams were qualified from 624 pre-registered teams. Important dates: - Pre-Registration: November 21, 2016 - January 29, 2017 - Submission of qualification materials: refer to leagues pages in the website - Qualification: January 20 - February 03, 2017 - Early Registration: February 04 - 24, 2017 - Late Registration: February 25 - March 10, 2017 For further information please visit our official website at http://2017.iranopen.ir For inquiries please contact us via the below email addresses: - General Inquiries: info(a)iranopen.ir - Registration: registration(a)iranopen.ir - Visa & International Affairs: visa(a)iranopen.ir - Travel Support (for international teams): asadollah_norouzi(a)sp.edu.sg Social Media Links - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robocupiranopen/ - Google+: https://plus.google.com/communities/111497896135259743202 Regards On behalf of, Iranian RoboCup Regional Committee RoboCup IranOpen 2017 Organizing Committe

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Call for papers RoboCup International Symposium 2017
by Plinio Thomaz Aquino Jr. 18 Jan '17

18 Jan '17

Deadline for submission: March 31, 2017 Place: Nagoya, Japan Date: July 31, 2017 Web page URL: http://www.robocup2017.org/ ******************************************************************** Call for Papers RoboCup International Symposium 2017 ******************************************************************** OVERVIEW The 21st Annual RoboCup International Symposium will be held in conjunction with RoboCup 2017. The Symposium is a primary venue for presentation and discussion of scientific contributions to a variety of research areas related to all RoboCup divisions (RoboCup Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup at Home, RoboCup at Work, and RoboCup Junior). Its scope includes, but is not restricted to, research and educational activities in robotics and artificial intelligence. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, the Symposium offers a unique venue for exploring both theory and practice in wide spectrum of research fields. The experimental, interactive, and benchmark character of the RoboCup initiative presents an opportunity to disseminate novel ideas and promising technologies, rapidly adopted and field-tested by a large, and still growing, community. SUBMISSION We solicit submissions of papers reporting high-quality, original research with relevance to the areas mentioned below. Researchers in these areas, even if not actively participating in RoboCup teams, are urged to submit their work. We welcome both papers describing real- world research and papers reporting theoretical results, as well as combinations thereof. We also encourage the submission of high- quality overview articles for any field related to the general scope of RoboCup. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium are published and archived within the Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) series. Submitted papers are limited to 12 pages formatted according to the LNAI requirements (http://www.springer.com/series/1244) and must be electronically submitted through the symposium web site. All contributions are peer-reviewed by a number of reviewers, and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. DEVELOPMENT TRACK To encourage open-source release of hardware and software components, a special track on open-source development will be part of the 2017 RoboCup International Symposium. Contributions to this track are limited to eight pages, formatted according to LNAI requirements. Contributions should include evidence of impact of the released component on the RoboCup community. Review of these contributions will be based on technical contribution and benefit to the RoboCup community. IMPORTANT DATES * Submission of full papers: March 31, 2017 * Notification to authors: May 5, 2017 * Submission of camera-ready copies: May 19, 2017 * RoboCup 2017 Symposium: 31 July 2017 SYMPOSIUM CO-CHAIRS Hidehisa Akyama Oliver Obst Claude Sammut Flavio Tonidandel AREAS OF INTEREST * Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robotic system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators * Perception and Action - 3D perception - distributed sensor integration - sensor noise filtering - real-time image processing and pattern recognition - motion and sensor models - sensory-motor control - robot kinematics and dynamics - high-dimensional motion control * Robot Cognition and Learning - world modeling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localization, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - reinforcement learning - complex motor skill acquisition - motion and sensor model learning * Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy * Human-Robot Interaction - human-robot interfaces - speech synthesis and natural language generation - visualization - emotion recognition - understanding human intent - affect detection and synthesis - robot response to external disturbances - safety and dependability * Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment * Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robotic surveillance - service and social robots - robots at home - performance metrics

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[jobs] Postdoc position in Robotics and AI at Orebro University
by Alessandro Saffiotti 11 Jan '17

11 Jan '17

====================================================================== Orebro University, Sweden, seeks a postdoctoral researcher with experience in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics to work in a European project on culturally aware assistive robots. Application deadline: January 31, 2017 Expected starting date: March 1, 2017 ====================================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Task Description ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We seek a postdoctoral researcher who will work at the AASS research center of Orebro University, in the context of the EU project CARESSES. The CARESSES project aims to make assistive robots that are culturally aware, meaning that they adapt to the culture of their assistee. The researcher will develop methods for making the actions and behaviors of the robots consonant to a given cultural profile, and will implement those methods on real assistive robots. The researcher will also work in close collaboration with other partners within the project. This includes taking part in extensive user evaluation campains involving elderly volunteers living in assistive residences in the UK. In order to perform the above tasks, applicants are expected to have a strong background in Artificial Intelligence as well as good programming skills. The appointed researcher must be able to successfully work in a large international team, and to cope with project committments and deadlines. The appointed researcher must also be willing and available to travel within and ouside the EU, and to spend extensive periods of time in the UK during the evaluation campains. A proven record of working with robots is a plus, as well as previous experience in human-robot interaction, in user-centered design, and in user-based evaluation of welfare technologies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eligibility and Assessment Criteria ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To qualify for this position appplicants must hold a doctoral degree in Computer Science or related subjects. The degree must have been awarded at most three years before the application deadline. Candidates who obtained a degree earlier may be considered if there are specific reasons like illness, parental leave, or other similar circumstances. Applicants should show that that they have the competences needed to perform this project as well as the ability to work collaboratively in a scientific environment. Proficiency in spoken and written English is necessary. Special importance will be given to the following additional criteria: - The applicant should show evidence of scientific excellence, e.g., impact of conducted research both before and after the obtainment of the PhD degree; - The applicant should show the ability to work within collaborative international projects, e.g., experience in previous EU projects. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Application ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The position is a full-time position for a bounded term of two years. The salary depends on the successful candidate's qualifications and experience. Our ambition is to create a place of work that is characterised by gender equality and diversity. Applications must be sent through the Orebro University website here: https://www.oru.se/english/working-at-orebro-university/jobs-and-vacancies/… Applications must include: * Covering letter * CV * An account of research qualifications * Copies of relevant course/degree certificates and references * Copies of scientific publications (maximum of 10) The application deadline is January 31, 2017, strict. Inquiries: Prof Alessandro Saffiotti <asaffio(a)aass.oru.se> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- About the Host Institution ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Orebro University (www.oru.se) is a modern university which currently enrolls more than 15,000 students. It is located in Orebro, a city of 130,000 inhabitants situated in central Sweden. The Center for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems (AASS, aass.oru.se) is one of the Strong Research Environments at Orebro University. It carries out multi-disciplinary research at the intersection of robotics and artificial intelligence. The research and human environment at AASS is young and enthusiastic. Researchers come from a dozen different countries and have different scientific and cultural backgrounds. AASS frequently hosts international researchers and is involved in many national and international projects, both in fundamental and applied research. AASS is internationally renowned for its research in mobile robotics, cognitive robotic systems, robot ecologies, assistive technologies, and artificial olfaction. The work will be carried out at the Cognitive Robotic Systems laboratory of AASS. ======================================================================

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[Competitions] 2nd CFP: RoboCup IranOpen 2017
by Asad Norouzi 09 Jan '17

09 Jan '17

*Apologies for duplicate messages* *Call For Participation* *RoboCup IranOpen 2017* *April 03 - 07* The 12th RoboCup IranOpen competitions will be held in April 03-07, 2017. Having had the experience of 11 years successful organization of these competitions, we look forward to an even more glorious event with more teams competing in this major robotics event from all over the world. Last year, we had 272 teams from Afghanistan, Canada, China, Germany, Iran, South Korea, Peru, UK, and USA. RoboCup IranOpen is an attempt to further promote AI and Robotics research. These competitions will provide a chance for all researchers to present and share their experiences and achievements. The RoboCup IranOpen 2017 competitions leagues are as follows: - RoboCupSoccer - Humanoid (Kid Size, Teen Size, Adult Size) - Middle Size - Small Size - Standard Platform - Soccer 3D Simulation - Soccer 2D Simulation - RoboCupRescue - Rescue Robot - Rescue Simulation - Rescue Virtual Robot - RoboCup@Home - RoboCupIndustrial - RoboCup@Work - RoboCupJunior - Junior Soccer Open - Junior Soccer B Light Weight - Junior Rescue A Primary - Junior Rescue A Secondary - Junior Rescue B - Junior CoSpace Rescue The following leagues will be also be organized in conjunction with RoboCup IranOpen 2017: - Middle Size Intelligent Deminer Robots - Small Size Intelligent Deminer Robots - Tele-operated Deminer Robots - Deminer Technical Challenge - IranOpenROV (Radio Operated Vehicles - underwater robots) - Explorer Category - Navigator Category (for Junior only) - IranOpenUAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Indoor and Outdoor) - Indoor Category - Outdoor Category - Major Demo - Junior Demo Common Challenge - Junior Demo Open Challenge Participation: All teams are required to pre-register through the online form available in the website. The pre-registered teams should then submit the relevant qualification materials. Last year 316 teams were qualified from 624 pre-registered teams. Important dates: - Pre-Registration: November 21, 2016 - January 19, 2017 - Submission of qualification materials: refer to leagues pages in the website - Qualification: January 20 - February 03, 2017 - Early Registration: February 04 - 24, 2017 - Late Registration: February 25 - March 10, 2017 For further information please visit our official website at http://2017.iranopen.ir For inquiries please contact us via the below email addresses: - General Inquiries: info(a)iranopen.ir - Registration: registration(a)iranopen.ir - Visa & International Affairs: visa(a)iranopen.ir - Travel Support (for international teams): asadollah_norouzi(a)sp.edu.sg Social Media Links - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robocupiranopen/ - Google+: https://plus.google.com/communities/111497896135259743202 Regards On behalf of, Iranian RoboCup Regional Committee RoboCup IranOpen 2017 Organizing Committee

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