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Fwd: SCIROC 2021: Call for interest now open!
by Luca Iocchi 16 Apr '21

16 Apr '21

Dear @Home teams, please consider participation to the SciRoc Challenge (Bologna, Italy, September 2021) that includes tests certainly in-line with @Home research interests. Do not hesitate to contact us for any information. Best regards, Luca. ---- *SMART CITIES ROBOTICS CHALLENGE (SCIROC) 2021 : Call for interest now open! Deadline: Friday 30^th April 2021. * After the outstanding success of our first Smart Cities Robotics Challenge in Milton Keynes, UK, in which we estimate we may have shown the state of the art in European robotics to around 650,000 people, we’re now promoting our second event in Bologna, Italy, 6 - 11 September 2021. Teams will bring their robots from all over Europe to compete in an environment that embeds the newest technologies in an ancient location. We’re aiming for a safe physical event (but have plans for teams that can’t travel if lockdown restrictions come back again). The last year has been hard, and across Europe it is time for people to start to re-emerge from their hibernation, and embrace life again. Our second SCIROC event will be an opportunity for robotics teams to get together and celebrate. It is also the perfect platform to show that robotics in Europe will play a role in supporting our happy safe future by showcasing research, and engaging with industry and the public. We all know how hard life has been with Covid-19, people will be full of questions about how robotics could help in the future. *Want to be involved?* For anyone that is interested in taking part in this year’s Smart City Challenge, our call for interested teams is now open! Register your interest via the SCIROC website by 30th April 2021: https://sciroc.org/2021-challenge-description/ We hope to see you in Bologna! Sarah Carter Project Manager SCIROC EU-H2020 / The European Robotics League Bristol Robotics Laboratory University of the West of England, Bristol, UK Tel. +44 (0) 117 32 83082 page1image2896128 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unsubscribe: HRI-ANNOUNCEMENT-signoff-request(a)LISTSERV.ACM.ORG If you don't already have a password for the LISTSERV.ACM.ORG server, we recommend that you create one now. A LISTSERV password is linked to your email address and can be used to access the web interface and all the lists to which you are subscribed on the LISTSERV.ACM.ORG server. To create a password, visit: https://LISTSERV.ACM.ORG/SCRIPTS/WA-ACMLPX.CGI?GETPW1 Once you have created a password, you can log in and view or change your subscription settings at: https://LISTSERV.ACM.ORG/SCRIPTS/WA-ACMLPX.CGI?SUBED1=HRI-ANNOUNCEMENT

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BRAHUR/BRASERO 2021: Call for Papers - DEADLINE EXTENDED
by Marco Simões 09 Mar '21

09 Mar '21

Sorry for any duplication. ===================== Call For Papers The *IV Brazilian Humanoid Robot Workshop (BRAHUR)* and the *V Brazilian Workshop on Service Robotics (BRASERO)* will be a virtual edition. It will run from *May 19th to 21th, 2021*. These workshops will cover the most exciting new developments in the humanoid and service robotics field and related technologies. See further information on the Workshops web site: http://www.acso.uneb.br/brahurbrasero2021 ################### Important Dates ## ################### *Abstract registration deadline: March 15, 2021Submission deadline: March 22, 2021Notification: April 16, 2021Camera-ready: April 26, 2021* ########################### Submission Guidelines ## ########################### Considering that the primary goal of the joint workshops is the dissemination and sharing of work developed in robotics areas, focusing on humanoid robots and service robots, the works do not need to be original, but they must be relevant to the community (works published previously will NOT be accepted). Papers will be reviewed based on relevance, technical soundness, and clarity of presentation. All papers must not simultaneously be submitted to another journal or conference. Papers may be written in Portuguese or English. Articles written in Portuguese should also include the title and abstract in English. Papers must not exceed 6 (six) pages including all figures, references, and appendices, and must be submitted in one PDF file. Please, rely on good quality figures. The IEEE format for article submission should be followed: http://ras.papercept.net/conferences/support/files/ieeeconf_A4.dot http://ras.papercept.net/conferences/support/tex.php#latexclass (A4) <http://ras.papercept.net/conferences/support/tex.php#latexclass> At least *one author must be registered to BRAHUR/BRASERO 2021 for each accepted paper*. Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=brahurbrasero2021 ##################### List of Topics ## ##################### The Research Track publishes solid contribution focused on the theme of humanoid and service robotics or related technologies, which include (but is not limited to) the following topics: * Machine learning, intelligent systems, artificial intelligence, cognitive development, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, reinforcement learning, fuzzy logic applied to humanoid or service robots; * Computer vision, image processing, object segmentation and recognition, face recognition, camera calibration; * Multi-robot systems; * Multi-agent learning; * Multi-agent planning; * Feedback control, digital control, control theory; * Embedded systems; * Real-time systems; * Digital signal processing; * Object manipulation and action planning; * Innovations in mechanical design and materials; * Mobile robotics, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), sensor fusion; * Legged locomotion, biped walking and running; * Unmanned aerial vehicles; * Unmanned underwater vehicles; * Humanoids robots; * Ethics and the social implications of the advance of service robotics; * Robotics applications and case studies; * Assistive robotics. ############## Committees ## ############## *Organizing committee* - Ana Patricia Fontes Magalhães Mascarenhas (UNEB/ACSO and UNIFACS) - Adailton de Jesus Cerqueira Junior (UNEB/ACSO) - Jorge Alberto Prado Campos (UNEB/ACSO and UNIFACS) - Josemar Rodrigues de Souza (UNEB/ACSO) - Marco A C Simões (UNEB/ACSO) - Paulo Drews (FURG) - Robson Marinho da Silva (UNEB/ACSO) - Rodrigo Guerra (UFSM) - Tiago Nascimento (UFPB) ############## Publication ## ############## The BRAHUR/BRASERO 2021 proceedings will be published on BRAHUR/BRASERO 2021 website with DOI and ISBN ######## Venue ## ######## The conference will be held in Salvador, BA, Brazil (virtual). ########## Contact ## ########## All questions about submissions should be emailed to apmagalhaes(a)uneb.br *Take this opportunity and send your work!* *-- Marco Antonio Costa SimõesNucleo de Arquitetura de Computadores e Sistemas Operacionais - ACSO - http://www.acso.uneb.br <http://www.acso.uneb.br>Bahia Robotics Team - http://www.acso.uneb.br/bahiart <http://www.acso.uneb.br/bahiart>Universidade do Estado da Bahia - UNEBDepartamento de Ciências Exatas e da Terra - Campus IMestre em Ciência da Computação - UFPE* * <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…> Livre de vírus. www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…>. <#m_-9209586057992870033_m_8241794896325470754_m_5100748289025288629_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>*

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[news] [@Home2021] First Call for Participation: EXTENDED
by Mauricio Matamoros 27 Feb '21

27 Feb '21

Online version: https://athome.robocup.org/2021-cfp-all/ *First Call for Participation* RoboCup@Home Virtual 2021 (DSPL · OPL · SSPL) June 22 – June 28, 2021 (Online) https://2021.robocup.org// <https://2021.robocup.org/> https://athome.robocup.org/ https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook 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 Virtual competition 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 virtual home environment setting. Focus lies on the following domains but is not limited to: Navigation and Mapping in virtual environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition, Object Manipulation, Adaptive Behaviors, Behavior Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. This page describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home 2021. Important dates: Feb. 10, 2021 Publication of the Call for Participation Feb. 28, 2021 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration. March 7, 2021 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration. EXTENDED (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website). Mar. 14, 2021 Qualification announcement April 24, 2021 Robot model reception The qualification procedure consists of three simple steps: Step 1) Qualification Material Submission (mandatory) The team ***MUST*** send an email to the Organizing Committee ( oc(a)robocupathome.org) to participate in the qualification process for the RoboCup@Home 2021 event. Please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Rank in local tournaments: 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 (new teams only). OR Hereby team [Team Name] countersigns its qualification for RoboCup@Home 2021 (qualified teams only). The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2021-Qualification] (YourTeamName) Considerations: - Only one platform can be specified per team. - Only one team leader can be specified per team. - Only one team video url can be specified per team. - Only one contact email 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:* Teams qualified for the 2020 RoboCup@Home do *NOT* need to resubmit their TDPs. ***** Deadline: Sunday, February 28, 2021 23:59 GMT ****** Step 2) Participation confirmation Teams qualified do not require to confirm attendance. Step 3) Robot Model Submission (Open Platform League): Qualified teams ***MUST*** send the robot model to be used during the competition via email to the Organizing Committee (oc(a)robocupathome.org). Please follow the template below: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Virtual robot model attached to the email based on the official simulator. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2021-RModel] (YourTeamName) The Technical Committee will inspect the robot models to verify they are compatible with the simulator and that all sensing and actuation is performed at component level and not bypassed by reading the variables of simulator such as position, pixel collision, etcetera. *IMPORTANT:* OPL teams may opt to use the official robot models of any of the Standard Platform League. In these cases, instead of attaching the robot models, the email must state which model will be used by the team. ***** Deadline: Sunday, April 25, 2021 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Qualification Material Instructions for the Team Video: In order to proof a running virtual robot model, each team has to provide a qualification video. As a minimum requirement for qualification, the video must show the robot(s) successfully solving a task involving the following abilities: robust full-stack navigation (navigation, self localization, online mapping and collision avoidance), object manipulation, and object recognition. Is strongly advised to show a test of any of the RoboCup@Home RuleBooks from 2009 on. *Remarks:* - The shown task execution must look continuous, smooth, and robust. - When speeding-up video, the speed factor must be indicated. - The language spoken and shown in the video must be English. When using any other languages, translations must be included. - We strongly suggest upload videos to Youtube. - Videos sent will be uploaded/displayed in the league’s youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkdCpT0xrFMMt-_N8wSVew/playlists” <http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkdCpT0xrFMMt-_N8wSVew/playlists> - *Standard Platforms Only:* Teams are encouraged to use the standard robot in their Team Video. *Copyright note:*When sending videos for qualification, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, modify, distribute, upload, publish, and use the multimedia material to promote the event and the league at convenience. Instructions for the TDP The TDP is an 6-pages long scientific paper, detailing information on the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, while including also the following: - TDP - Group’s research focus and interests. - Innovative technology and scientific contribution - Please specify when your research is being used by other teams or research groups - Please specify when you are using software from other teams - Brief, general description of the system when solving a [domestic] task (portability to the real world) - The impact of your research must be clearly visible - Maximum length is *6 pages* (including figures and citations) - TDP length is *****6 pages***** (submissions over this hard limit will be discarded). 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 6 pages without altering margins or spacing (including references). You may download a template for the TDP from here <https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate>. *Remark: *The language for the TDP, its graphics, tables, images, and all additional content must be English. Content in other languages must be translated. *Copyright note:*All TDPs sent for qualification may be made publicly available in the RoboCup @Home Wiki for further reference. On submitting, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, distribute, upload, publish, and use the manuscript to promote the event and the league at convenience. ***** Exceeding the number of pages will automatically void your application *****. 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 virtual and/or real robot(s) - Videos of the virtual and/or real 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 - Participation and rankings in local RoboCup tournaments *Remark: *No IP addresses will be accepted as website. *Remark: *Only documented active software repositories are considered as contributions to the league. It must be clear and straightforward to other teams how to use your software. Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: - Team description paper (clarity, scientific contributions, re-usability by the league, applicability in real world) - Performance in local tournaments and previous competitions. - Qualification Video (number of demonstrated abilities, integration, difficulty of the task, portability to the real world) - 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. With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team online, The 2021 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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Greetings and test
by Luca Iocchi 15 Feb '21

15 Feb '21

Dear all, we moved the mailing lists on another server and I am just checking if everything works well. Let me also take this opportunity to greet all the RoboCup@Home community. I hope to (virtually) meet many of you during RoboCup 2021. Best regards, Luca

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[@Home2021] Call for Participation (DSPL · OPL · SSPL)
by Mauricio Matamoros 11 Feb '21

11 Feb '21

Online version: https://athome.robocup.org/2021-cfp-all/ *Call for Participation* RoboCup@Home Virtual 2021 (DSPL · OPL · SSPL) June 22 – June 28, 2021 (Online) https://2021.robocup.org// <https://2021.robocup.org/> https://athome.robocup.org/ https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook 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 Virtual competition 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 virtual home environment setting. Focus lies on the following domains but is not limited to: Navigation and Mapping in virtual environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition, Object Manipulation, Adaptive Behaviors, Behavior Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. This page describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home 2021. Important dates: Feb. 10, 2021 Publication of the Call for Participation Feb. 28, 2021 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration. (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website). Mar. 14, 2021 Qualification announcement April 24, 2021 Robot model reception The qualification procedure consists of three simple steps: Step 1) Qualification Material Submission (mandatory) The team ***MUST*** send an email to the Organizing Committee ( oc(a)robocupathome.org) to participate in the qualification process for the RoboCup@Home 2021 event. Please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Rank in local tournaments: 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 (new teams only). *OR* Hereby team [Team Name] countersigns its qualification for RoboCup@Home 2021 (qualified teams only). The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2021-Qualification] (YourTeamName) Considerations: - Only one platform can be specified per team. - Only one team leader can be specified per team. - Only one team video url can be specified per team. - Only one contact email 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:* Teams qualified for the 2020 RoboCup@Home do *NOT* need to resubmit their TDPs. ***** Deadline: Sunday, February 28, 2021 23:59 GMT ****** Step 2) Participation confirmation Teams qualified do not require to confirm attendance. Step 3) Robot Model Submission (Open Platform League): Qualified teams ***MUST*** send the robot model to be used during the competition via email to the Organizing Committee (oc(a)robocupathome.org). Please follow the template below: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Virtual robot model attached to the email based on the official simulator. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2021-RModel] (YourTeamName) The Technical Committee will inspect the robot models to verify they are compatible with the simulator and that all sensing and actuation is performed at component level and not bypassed by reading the variables of simulator such as position, pixel collision, etcetera. *IMPORTANT:* OPL teams may opt to use the official robot models of any of the Standard Platform League. In these cases, instead of attaching the robot models, the email must state which model will be used by the team. ***** Deadline: Sunday, April 25, 2021 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Qualification Material Instructions for the Team Video: In order to proof a running virtual robot model, each team has to provide a qualification video. As a minimum requirement for qualification, the video must show the robot(s) successfully solving a task involving the following abilities: robust full-stack navigation (navigation, self localization, online mapping and collision avoidance), object manipulation, and object recognition. Is strongly advised to show a test of any of the RoboCup@Home RuleBooks from 2009 on. *Remarks:* - The shown task execution must look continuous, smooth, and robust. - When speeding-up video, the speed factor must be indicated. - The language spoken and shown in the video must be English. When using any other languages, translations must be included. - We strongly suggest upload videos to Youtube. - Videos sent will be uploaded/displayed in the league’s youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkdCpT0xrFMMt-_N8wSVew/playlists” <http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkdCpT0xrFMMt-_N8wSVew/playlists> - *Standard Platforms Only:* Teams are encouraged to use the standard robot in their Team Video. *Copyright note:*When sending videos for qualification, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, modify, distribute, upload, publish, and use the multimedia material to promote the event and the league at convenience. Instructions for the TDP The TDP is an 6-pages long scientific paper, detailing information on the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, while including also the following: - TDP - Group’s research focus and interests. - Innovative technology and scientific contribution - Please specify when your research is being used by other teams or research groups - Please specify when you are using software from other teams - Brief, general description of the system when solving a [domestic] task (portability to the real world) - The impact of your research must be clearly visible - Maximum length is *6 pages* (including figures and citations) - TDP length is *****6 pages***** (submissions over this hard limit will be discarded). 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 6 pages without altering margins or spacing (including references). You may download a template for the TDP from here <https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate>. *Remark: *The language for the TDP, its graphics, tables, images, and all additional content must be English. Content in other languages must be translated. *Copyright note:*All TDPs sent for qualification may be made publicly available in the RoboCup @Home Wiki for further reference. On submitting, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, distribute, upload, publish, and use the manuscript to promote the event and the league at convenience. ***** Exceeding the number of pages will automatically void your application *****. 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 virtual and/or real robot(s) - Videos of the virtual and/or real 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 - Participation and rankings in local RoboCup tournaments *Remark: *No IP addresses will be accepted as website. *Remark: *Only documented active software repositories are considered as contributions to the league. It must be clear and straightforward to other teams how to use your software. Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: - Team description paper (clarity, scientific contributions, re-usability by the league, applicability in real world) - Performance in local tournaments and previous competitions. - Qualification Video (number of demonstrated abilities, integration, difficulty of the task, portability to the real world) - 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. With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team online, The 2021 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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Call for Papers: Special Session on KR & Robotics (KR2021)
by Thanh Dinh 09 Feb '21

09 Feb '21

CALL FOR PAPERS **Special Session on Knowledge Representation and Robotics** at the 18th Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR2021) November 6-12, 2021, Hanoi, Vietnam https://kr2021.kbsg.rwth-aachen.de/ ------------------ Important Dates ------------------ Submission of title and abstract: March 24, 2021 Paper submission deadline: March 31, 2021 Author response period: May 24-26, 2021 Notification: June 15, 2021 Camera-ready papers: July 14, 2021 Conference dates: November 6-12, 2021 ------------------ Much progress has been made in robotics through the introduction of machine learning, often leading to autonomous systems that are effective but opaque with inexplicable behaviours. Many applications, however, require robots to explicitly capture knowledge and reason with it in order to achieve high-level cognitive skills. This special session is devoted to exploring the intersection of Knowledge Representation and Robotics. Papers are solicited in all areas of this intersection. In particular, we welcome papers that extend knowledge representation techniques to cope with the challenges posed by interacting with the physical world, such as: - dealing with uncertain, incomplete or contradictory information; - reasoning with time, space and perceptions; - grounding representations in the physical world; - combining discrete and continuous representations; - reasoning with bounded computational resources; - trustworthy and accountable robot behaviours; and - social intelligence for robots in human-centric environments. Robots are the archetypical integrated cognitive systems. Thus, we also welcome papers that address the integration of knowledge representation into whole robotic systems, such as: - integrating knowledge representation and machine learning; - integrating symbolic and sub-symbolic approaches; - integrating reasoning about actions and control; or - cognitive robot architectures. Finally, we welcome papers that show concrete examples where real robotic systems benefit from knowledge representation, for instance in: - sensor interpretation and understanding; - human-robot interaction; - multi-robot planning and coordination; or - dealing with errors and unexpected situations. ------------------ Information for Authors ------------------ The Special Session on KR & Robotics will allow contributions of both regular papers (9 pages) and short papers (4 pages), excluding references, prepared and submitted according to the instructions on the KR2021 website. The special session emphasizes KR & Robotics, and welcomes contributions that extend the state of the art at the intersection of KR & Robotics. Therefore, KR-only or Robotics-only submissions will not be accepted for evaluation in this special session. Submissions will be rigorously peer reviewed by PC members who are active in KR & Robotics. Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of the overall quality of their technical contribution, including criteria such as originality, soundness, relevance, significance, quality of presentation, and understanding of the state of the art. ------------------ Remote Participation Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic ------------------ We understand that the global public health situation may make it difficult or impossible for some, if not all, participants to travel to Hanoi. For this reason, we commit to allowing authors of accepted papers to present virtually and will work hard to enable the best possible experience for all conference participants. ------------------ Chairs ------------------ Alessandro Saffiotti (University of Orebro, Sweden) Mary-Anne Williams (University of New South Wales, Australia) ------------------

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Call for Papers: Special Session on KR & Machine Learning (KR2021)
by Thanh Dinh 07 Feb '21

07 Feb '21

Call for Papers **Special Session on Knowledge Representation and Machine Learning** at the 18th Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR2021) November 6-12, 2021, Hanoi, Vietnam https://kr2021.kbsg.rwth-aachen.de ------------------ Important Dates ------------------ Submission of title and abstract: March 24, 2021 Paper submission deadline: March 31, 2021 Author response period: May 24-26, 2021 Notification: June 15, 2021 Camera-ready papers: July 14, 2021 Conference dates: November 6-12, 2021 ----------- Description ----------- Over the last two decades, Machine Learning (ML) has made incredible progress and become very effective at solving specific tasks while being robust across many experimental learning applications. Deep learning, statistical (relational) learning, reinforcement learning and logic-based and/or probabilistic learning are among the many ML approaches that are witnessing such advancements. On the other hand, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR) has continued to be at the core of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research providing solutions for explicit declarative representation of knowledge and knowledge-based inference, which have theoretical and practical relevance in many aspects of AI as well as in new emerging fields outside AI. The synergy between these two areas of AI has the potential to lead to new advancements on the foundations of AI that offer novel insights into open fundamental challenges including, but not limited to, learning symbolic generalisations from raw (multi-modal) data, using knowledge to facilitate data-efficient learning, supporting interpretability of learned outcomes, federated multi-agent learning and decision making. This year, for the second time, KR2021 will host a special session on "Knowledge Representation and Machine Learning". This special session aims at providing researchers and industrial practitioners with a dedicated forum for presentation and discussion of new ideas, research experience and emerging results on topics related to computational learning and symbolic knowledge representation and reasoning. This special session provides the opportunity for fostering meaningful connections between researchers from these two main areas of AI and, at the same time, offering the possibility to learn about progress made on these topics, share their own views and learn about approaches that could lead to effective cross-fertilisation among research in ML and KR and new innovative solutions to key AI research challenges. ---------------------- Expected contributions ---------------------- The Special Session on KR and ML at KR2021 invites submissions of papers across KR and ML on advancements in one of these areas for the purpose of addressing open research challenges in the other, integration of computational learning and knowledge representation and reasoning, and the application of combined KR and ML approaches to solve real-world problems, including case studies and benchmarks. We welcome papers on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: -- Learning ontologies and knowledge graphs -- Learning action theories -- Learning common-sense knowledge -- Learning spatial and temporal theories -- Learning preference models -- Learning causal models -- Learning tractable probabilistic models -- Probabilistic reasoning and learning -- Graphical models for knowledge representation and reasoning -- Reasoning and learning over knowledge graphs -- Logic-based learning algorithms -- Neural-symbolic learning -- Interplay between logic & neural and other learning paradigms (e.g., logics for reasoning about neural networks, embedding of logical reasoning in neural paradigms) -- Statistical relational learning -- Multi-agent learning -- Machine learning for efficient knowledge inference -- Symbolic reinforcement learning -- Learning symbolic abstractions from unstructured data -- Machine-learning-driven reasoning algorithms -- Explainable AI -- Transfer learning -- Multi-agent learning -- Expressive power of learning representations -- Knowledge-driven natural language understanding and dialogue -- Knowledge-driven decision making -- Knowledge-driven intelligent systems for internet of things and cybersecurity -- Application of knowledge-driven ML to question answering and story understanding -- Application of knowledge-driven ML to Robotics --------------------------------------------- Submission Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria --------------------------------------------- The special session emphasizes KR and ML, and welcomes contributions that extend the state of the art at the intersection of KR and ML. Therefore, KR-only or ML-only submissions will not be accepted for evaluation in this special session. Submissions will be rigorously peer reviewed by PC members who are active in KR and ML. Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of the overall quality of their technical contribution, including criteria such as originality, soundness, relevance, significance, quality of presentation, and understanding of the state of the art. In this special session, the selection process of the highest quality papers will apply the following criteria: * Importance and novelty of using knowledge representation and reasoning to advance machine learning, or novelty of using machine learning solutions to advance knowledge representation and reasoning. * Applicability of the proposed solutions in real-world. * Reusability of datasets, case studies and benchmarks for systems and/or application papers. * Proved theoretical or empirically demonstrated practical advancement of the proposed solution with respect to baseline pure KR or ML approaches. Details on formatting and submission can be found on the KR21 website. -------------------------------------------------- Remote Participation Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic -------------------------------------------------- We understand that the global public health situation may make it difficult or impossible for some, if not all, participants to travel to Hanoi. For this reason, we commit to allowing authors of accepted papers to present virtually and will work hard to enable the best possible experience for all conference participants. ------ Chairs ------ Vaishak Belle (University of Edinburgh, UK) Luc De Raedt (KU Leuven, Belgium)

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Call for Papers - 9th ICAPS Workshop on Planning and Robotics (PlanRob 2021)
by Iman Awaad 29 Jan '21

29 Jan '21

[apologies for multiple copies] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ** CALL FOR PAPERS ** 9th ICAPS Workshop on Planning and Robotics (PlanRob‚ 2021) https://icaps21.icaps-conference.org/workshops/PlanRob/ International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling ICAPS 2021  Guangzhou, China  June 7-8, 2021 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Topics and Objectives ********************* AI Planning & Scheduling (P&S) methods are key to enabling intelligent robots to perform autonomous, flexible, and interactive behaviors. Researchers in the P&S community have continued to develop approaches and produce planners, representations, as well as heuristics that robotics researchers can make use of. However, there remain numerous challenges complicating the uptake, use and successful integration of P&S technology in robotics, many of which have been addressed by robotics researchers with novel solutions. Strong collaboration and synergy between researchers in both communities is vital to the continued growth of the fields in a way that provide mutual benefits to the two communities. To foster this, the PlanRob workshop aims to provide a stable, long-term forum (having been held annually at ICAPS since 2013) where researchers from both the P&S and Robotics communities can openly discuss relevant issues, research and development progress, future directions and open challenges related to P&S when applied to Robotics. In addition to the usual paper submissions, the workshop’s format naturally lends itself to preliminary results, position papers as well as to work focused on challenges in using and integrating planners in robotics systems. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following: - real-world planning applications for autonomous and intelligent robots; - optimizing behavior in large scale automated or semi-automated systems; - integrated planning and execution in robotic architectures; - planning domain representations for robotics applications; - P&S methods for optimization and adaptation in robotics; - mission, path, and motion planning for robots; - planning and coordination methods for multi-robot teams; - mixed-initiative planning and sliding autonomy for robotic systems; - human-aware planning and execution in human-robot interaction; - adversarial action planning in competitive robotic domains; - formal methods for robot planning and control; - challenges and solutions in using P&S technology in robotics; - open problems for P&S in robotics, - benchmark planning domains for robots. Important Dates **************** Paper submission: March 7, 2021 Notification of acceptance: April 1, 2021 Camera-ready version due: May 1, 2021 Workshop Date: June 7-8, 2021 The reference time-zone for all deadlines is UTC-12: Your submissions will be on time so long as there is still some place in the world where the deadline has not yet passed. Submissions *********** There are two types of submissions: short position papers and regular papers. Position papers are a maximum of four pages long while regular papers may be up to ten pages long. Papers may have an additional page containing references. Regular papers may be scheduled with more time in the final program. A poster session may be considered to provide a further presentation opportunity. The guidelines for formatting are the same as is used for ICAPS 2021 papers (typeset in the AAAI style as described at: http://www.aaai.org/Publications/Author/author.php), but with the AAAI copyright removed. The papers must be submitted in PDF format via the EasyChair system (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=planrob2021). Please note that papers under review (e.g. which have been submitted to IJCAI-2021) are also welcome, however, in order to avoid potential conflicts, these manuscripts should be prepared as anonymous submissions for a double blind reviewing process. Accepted papers will be published on the workshop’s website. The organizers are investigating the availability of journal editors in order to invite a selection of accepted papers from the workshop to a special issue or post-proceedings volume. Organizers ********** Iman Awaad, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany iman.awaad(a)h-brs.de Alberto Finzi, Università di Napoli "Federico II", Italy alberto.finzi(a)unina.it AndreA Orlandini  Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC-CNR), Italy andrea.orlandini(a)istc.cnr.it The ICAPS PlanRob Workshop is partially supported by TAILOR "Foundations of Trustworthy AI - Integrating Reasoning, Learning and Optimization", a project funded by the European Commissione (EU H2020 ICT-48 G.A. 952215). -- Iman Awaad Researcher, Autonomous Systems Group Assistant director & Study advisor, Master's Programme in Autonomous Systems Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (b-it) Friedrich Hirzebruch-Allee 5, 53115 Bonn, Germany www.b-it-center.de Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences | Department of Computer Science Grantham Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany Phone +49 (0) 2241 865-295 iman.awaad(a)h-brs.de mas-group.inf.h-brs.de www.facebook.com/AutonomousSystemsProgram

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RoboCup@Home 2021 Edition
by Maxime St-Pierre 11 Jan '21

11 Jan '21

Dear RoboCup@Home Community, After discussion with the RoboCup Federation and the Executive Committee, this year RoboCup@Home (2021) will be held in a simulated environment. All teams that were qualified last year (2020), will be automatically qualified for this year's competition (2021). The Technical Committee is currently writing a special version of the Rulebook to accommodate this new requirement. The discussion for these new change is going to happen on the discussions tab on the RoboCup@Home Rulebook GitHub Repository ( https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook/discussions). I highly suggest that everyone follow the development and contribute to the discussion since they will impact your team. If you have any suggestions or comments please submit them on the Rulebook GitHub repository. We will send out more information as they become available. Maxime St-Pierre OC Chair RoboCup@Home

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Call for Papers: Special Session on KR & Machine Learning (KR2021)
by Thanh Dinh 07 Jan '21

07 Jan '21

CALL FOR PAPERS **Special Session on Knowledge Representation and Robotics** at the 18th Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR2021) November 6-12, 2021, Hanoi, Vietnam https://kr2021.kbsg.rwth-aachen.de/ ------------------ Important Dates ------------------ Submission of title and abstract: March 24, 2021 Paper submission deadline: March 31, 2021 Author response period: May 24-26, 2021 Notification: June 15, 2021 Camera-ready papers: July 14, 2021 Conference dates: November 6-12, 2021 ------------------ Much progress has been made in robotics through the introduction of machine learning, often leading to autonomous systems that are effective but opaque with inexplicable behaviours. Many applications, however, require robots to explicitly capture knowledge and reason with it in order to achieve high-level cognitive skills. This special session is devoted to exploring the intersection of Knowledge Representation and Robotics. Papers are solicited in all areas of this intersection. In particular, we welcome papers that extend knowledge representation techniques to cope with the challenges posed by interacting with the physical world, such as: - dealing with uncertain, incomplete or contradictory information; - reasoning with time, space and perceptions; - grounding representations in the physical world; - combining discrete and continuous representations; - reasoning with bounded computational resources; - trustworthy and accountable robot behaviours; and - social intelligence for robots in human-centric environments. Robots are the archetypical integrated cognitive systems. Thus, we also welcome papers that address the integration of knowledge representation into whole robotic systems, such as: - integrating knowledge representation and machine learning; - integrating symbolic and sub-symbolic approaches; - integrating reasoning about actions and control; or - cognitive robot architectures. Finally, we welcome papers that show concrete examples where real robotic systems benefit from knowledge representation, for instance in: - sensor interpretation and understanding; - human-robot interaction; - multi-robot planning and coordination; or - dealing with errors and unexpected situations. ------------------ Information for Authors ------------------ The Special Session on KR & Robotics will allow contributions of both regular papers (9 pages) and short papers (4 pages), excluding references, prepared and submitted according to Authors Guidelines for KR2021. The special session emphasizes KR & Robotics, and welcomes contributions that extend the state of the art at the intersection of KR & Robotics. Therefore, KR-only or Robotics-only submissions will not be accepted for evaluation in this special session. Submissions will be rigorously peer reviewed by PC members who are active in KR & Robotics. Submissions will be evaluated on the basis of the overall quality of their technical contribution, including criteria such as originality, soundness, relevance, significance, quality of presentation, and understanding of the state of the art. ------------------ Chairs ------------------ Alessandro Saffiotti (University of Orebro, Sweden) Mary-Anne Williams (University of New South Wales, Australia) ------------------

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