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[jobs] Research Associate Intelligent Adaptive Systems (e.g neural networks, nlp or robotics)
by Wermter, Stefan 06 Dec '18

06 Dec '18

The Knowledge Technology Research Institute at the University of Hamburg invites applications for a Research Associate (Postdoc or postdoc-level/ final year PhD candidate) in accordance with Section 28 subsection 2 of the Hamburg Higher Education Act (Hamburgisches Hochschul- gesetz, HmbHG). The position commences on 1 Feb 2019 or as soon as possible and is for three years plus a three year extension option subject to the availability of resources. Responsibilities: Duties include teaching and research in the knowledge technology institute. Research associates can also pursue independent research and further academic qualifications as well as acquire teaching experience. These duties are intended to promote academic achieve- ment. Therefore, at least one-third of set working hours will be made available for the associate's own academic work. Specific Duties: The successful candidate will manage the international Master Programme in Computer Science (Intelligent Adaptive Systems) as well as contribute to teaching (4hrs/teaching week). Furthermore, the candidate is expected to conduct research in the area of Knowledge Technology and Intelligent Systems. Requirements: A university degree in a relevant subject plus doctorate prefered. Academic degree preferably in computer science qualifying the post holder to carry out the above-mentioned responsibilities. In particular, an MSc or PhD in Artificial Intelligence or Computer Science is essential. This post is open to Postdocs or experienced PhD candidates. Your demonstrated research interests should be in the areas of Knowledge Technology and Intelligent Systems (e.g. Neural Networks, Robotics, Natural Language Processing, Vision, or Knowledge Representation etc). You should have published in a field relevant to this post. We are also looking for very good communication skills and teamwork; a very good command of both German and English is a requirement. Experience with teaching or organisation of MSc programmes is considered an advantage. The job is remunerated at the salary level TV-L 13. The position is full-time and comprises 39 hours per week. The fixed-term nature of this contract is based upon Section 2 of the Academic Fixed-Term Labor Contract Act (Wissenschaftszeitver- tragsgesetz, WissZeitVG). The initial fixed term is three years. The contract provides for a maximum extension of another three years de- pending on the associate's achievements during the first stage. The University aims to increase the number of women in research and teaching and explicitly encourages women to apply. Equally qualified female applicants will receive preference in accordance with the Hamburg Equality Act (Hamburgisches Gleichstellungsgesetz, HmbGleiG). Severely disabled applicants will receive preference over equally qualified non-disabled applicants. For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Stefan Wermter, Head of Knowledge Technology Institute or consult our website at https://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/wtm/ https://www.inf.uni-hamburg.de/en/inst/ab/wtm/about/job/files/open-position… Applications should include an application letter, full curriculum vitae, pdf of best international publications, copies of degree certificates, evidence for required German and English language. The application deadline is 19 Dec 2018. Please email applications in a single pdf file to: Ms Katja Koesters, katja.koesters(a)informatik.uni-hamburg.de *********************************************** Professor Dr. Stefan Wermter Director of Knowledge Technology Department of Informatics University of Hamburg Vogt Koelln Str. 30 22527 Hamburg, Germany Email: wermter AT informatik.uni-hamburg.de http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~wermter/ http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/WTM/ ***********************************************

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Call for Participation: RoboCup German Open (May 3-5, 2019), Registration Deadline Nov 30, 2018!
by Sven Wachsmuth 22 Nov '18

22 Nov '18

Dear teams, please note that the deadline for the registration of major teams is *Nov 30, 2018*! There is no qualification procedure, but you should propose a web-link where we can find information about your team. RoboCup German Open 2019 Call for Participation https://robocupgermanopen.de 3 - 5 May 2019 MESSE MAGDEBURG, Germany The RoboCup German Open 2019 will be the 17th open RoboCup competition held in Germany. The event will take place in Magdeburg at MESSE MAGDEBURG. -- RoboCup Major Leagues (international teams) ---------------------- Competitions are offered in the following leagues: - RoboCupSoccer Standard Platform League - RoboCupSoccer Humanoid League (Kid-Size) - RoboCupRescue Robot League - RoboCup@Home League - RoboCupIndustrial Logistics League - RoboCupIndustrial RoboCup@Work League The registration opens *** 15 October 2018 ***. The registration deadline is *** 30 November 2018 ***. Visithttps://robocupgermanopen.de to register your RoboCup Major League team. Details on the registration (fee, accommodation, rules) are available on the web site. Booking of blocked accommodation with special rates is possible after your registration. The Major Leagues Organizing Committee: - Thomas Röfer (Standard Platform League) - Reinhard Gerndt (Humanoid League) - Johannes Pellenz, Stefan May (Rescue Robot League) - Sven Wachsmuth, Raphael Memmesheimer (RoboCup@Home League) - Ulrich Karras (Logistics League) - Sebastian Zug (RoboCup@Work League) -- RoboCup Junior ---------------------------------------------------- The German RoboCup Junior qualification for RoboCup 2019 is performed in two steps. German teams qualify in eight local tournaments in Bad Zwischenahn, Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover, Kassel, Mannheim, Sankt Augustin and Vöhringen for the final of the 19th German RoboCup Junior Championship which is held within the RoboCup German Open 2019. The best Junior teams will qualify for RoboCup 2019 in Australia. -- Important dates -------------------------------------------------- 15.10.2018 Registration start 30.11.2018 Registration deadline RoboCup Major teams 15.02.2019 Invoices are sent to team leaders 15.03.2019 Registration deadline names of team members 15.04.2019 Registration fee due 01.05.2019 Set-up day Major League teams (venue opens 12:00) 02.05.2019 Set-up day Major League teams 03.05.2019 Competition day (open to the public) 04.05.2019 Competition day (open to the public) 05.05.2019 Competition day, finals (open to the public) Please contactinfo(a)robocupgermanopen.de for any questions. See you all again at the 17th RoboCup German Open 2019! Best regards, Ansgar Bredenfeld (Chair RoboCup German Open) RoboCup German Open is organized on behalf of the German RoboCup Committee by Landeshauptstadt Magdeburg and Dr. Bredenfeld UG.

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Call for Participation (DSPL · OPL · SSPL)
by Mauricio Matamoros 16 Oct '18

16 Oct '18

First Call for Participation RoboCup@Home 2019 (DSPL · OPL · SSPL) July 02 - July 08, 2019 (Sydney, Australia) http://www.robocup2019.org http://www.robocupathome.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 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 Behaviors, Behavior Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. This message describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home League 2019. Important dates: Sept. 15, 2018 Publication of the Call for Participation Sept. 30, 2018 Deadline for Intention of Participation Oct. 28, 2018 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration. (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website). Nov. 15, 2018 Qualification announcement Jan. 20, 2019 Deadline for Participation Confirmation 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 2019 event, including the following basic information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Web site: Only one team leader can be specified per team. Please provide only one e-mail for contact purposes and double-check you can receive emails there. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2019-Participation] (YourTeamName) Please check the email is encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. ***** Deadline: Sunday, 30th Sept. 2018 23:59 GMT ****** Step 2) 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 2019 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. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2019-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. ***** Deadline: Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018 23:59 GMT ****** Step 3) Participation confirmation (mandatory) All qualified teams ****MUST**** send an email to the Organizing Committee ( oc(a)robocupathome.org) to confirm (or cancel) their participation in the RoboCup@Home 2019 event. Confirming attendance implies that the team has sufficient resources to register, and commits to attend to the event. To confirm participation, please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Hereby [Team Name] of [Country] [confirms | forfeits] participation in the the RoboCup@Home [League]. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2019-Confirmation] (YourTeamName) *Remark: *Qualified teams who miss the participation confirmation will be disqualified automatically and the participation slots freed for the Second Call for Participation. ***** Deadline: Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Team Video ============================ In order to proof a running hardware, 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 integration of at least 5 different abilities, such as: environmental reasoning, high-level task planning, human-robot interaction, localization, manipulation, object recognition, people recognition, etc. Is strongly advised to show at least one Stage 2 test of the current or last year's rulebook. *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 allowed to use any robot in the Team Video. However, using the standard platform one is advised. *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 8-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 (applicability in the real world) - The impact of your research must be clearly visible - Maximum length is *8 pages* (including figures and citations). - Annex - Photo(s) of the robot - Brief, compact list of the 3rd party robot's software (e.g. MoveIt/YOLO should be included, but not OpenCV.). - Brief, compact description of all external computing devices, if any. - Brief, compact description of the robot's hardware (OPL Only). - Please mark with an asterisk home-made software solutions. - Annex should be appended after the References. - There is no page limit for annex, but a maximum of one page is strongly encouraged. - TDP length is *8 pages + annex*. - *DSPL and SSPL:* The robot depicted in the TDP or Team Video must be the league's standard one. 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 (including references but excluding the annex). You may download a template for the TDP from here <https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate>. *Exceeding the number of pages will automatically void your application*. *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. 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 - 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 and evaluation criteria: ================================ In this first Call for Participation, up to 8 teams per league can be assigned a participation slot. In order to qualify, a team must meet the minimum selection requirements approved by the Executive Committee. However, meeting the minimum requirements won't automatically grant a participation slot. Only the top 8 teams meeting the selection criterion will qualify for participation. Rejections are strongly advised to improve their qualification materials and apply in the second CFP. Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: - Team description paper (clarity, completeness, innovation (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, applicability in 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. *Note to experienced competitors:* Major changes are being done in the rulebook. You may download the latest version from: https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook. You're encouraged to be part of the discussion of its ongoing development. Step 4) Robot Acquisition (Standard Platform Leagues): ================================================== Qualified Teams must contact the supplier as soon as the Qualification Notification arrives to start the acquisition procedure. Teams selected to receive Standard-Platform robots have to make an agreement with the supplier in compliance with the supplier's instructions. The suppliers are not allowed to sell, export, lease and/or ship their products to natural or legal persons and to entities and countries which are subject to international sanctions or prohibitions. Since Selection Committee cannot answer this issue, please ask the supplier directly ( spl-sc(a)robocupathome.org). *Remark: *Failing to acquire a Standard-Platform will void the qualification of the SSPL/DSPL. It won't not possible for SSPL/DSPL to change to OPL. With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team in Sydney, The 2019 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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[journal][CFP] Special Issue of Interaction Studies - Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems Journal
by Alessandra Rossi 01 Oct '18

01 Oct '18

A Special Issue of *Interaction Studies - Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems Journal* https://benjamins.com/catalog/is/main <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__benjamins.com_catalog_…> based on the *Social Cues in Robot Interaction, Trust and Acceptance* - SCRITA Workshop @ IEEE RO-MAN 2018 *http://scrita.herts.ac.uk <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__scrita.herts.ac.uk_&d=D…>* *DESCRIPTION* This Special Issue will focus on human users trust in robots. We aim to explore difference aspects of Human-Robot Interaction that can affect, enhance, undermine and recovery of humans’ trust in robots, such as the use of social cues, behaviour transparency (goals and actions), etc.. In particular, this session will bring together leading researchers in the fields to share ideas and findings to guide the design and development of robots that human users would accept and trust. *INTENDED AUDIENCE* Authors of the accepted papers to the workshop will be invited to submit an extended/revised version. We also strongly encourage submissions from leading researchers in the fields including, but are not limiting to, the following topics of interest: - Impact of Social Cues on Trust in Human-Robot Interaction; - Measuring Trust in Human-Robot Interaction; - Trust Violation and Recovery Mechanism in HRI; - Effects of Humans’ Acceptance on Trust of Robots; - Humans Sense of Control and Trust in Robots; - Trust and Assistive Robotics; - Overtrust in Robots; - Antecedent of Trust and Robot Trust; - Enhancing Humans Trust in Robots; - Enhancing Trust in a Robot Companion; - User Profiling and Trust in Human-Robot Interaction *HOW TO SUBMIT & TO HAVE MORE INFO* Interested authors should please contact the guest editors at *scrita(a)herts.ac.uk <scrita(a)herts.ac.uk>* or Alessandra Rossi at *a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk <a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk>*. For more information, please visit the website *http://scrita.herts.ac.uk <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__scrita.herts.ac.uk_&d=D…>* or contact the guest editors at the above emails. Each paper will receive three reviews, including one by the guest editors. *GUEST EDITORS* *Name *Alessandra Rossi *Affiliation *University of Hertfordshire *Email address *a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk *Name *Kheng Lee Koay *Affiliation *University of Hertfordshire *Email address *k.l.koay(a)herts.ac.uk *Name *Sílvia Moros *Affiliation *University of Hertfordshire *Email address *s.moros(a)herts.ac.uk *Name *Patrick Holthaus *Affiliation *University of Hertfordshire *Email address *p.holthaus(a)herts.ac.uk *Name *Marcus Scheunemann *Affiliation *University of Hertfordshire *Email address *m.scheunemann(a)herts.ac.uk

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[@Home2019] Call for Participation (DSPL · OPL · SSPL)
by Mauricio Matamoros 17 Sep '18

17 Sep '18

First Call for Participation RoboCup@Home 2019 (DSPL · OPL · SSPL) July 02 - July 08, 2019 (Sydney, Australia) http://www.robocup2019.org http://www.robocupathome.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 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 Behaviors, Behavior Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. This message describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home League 2019. Important dates: Sept. 15, 2018 Publication of the Call for Participation Sept. 30, 2018 Deadline for Intention of Participation Oct. 28, 2018 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration. (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website). Nov. 15, 2018 Qualification announcement Jan. 20, 2019 Deadline for Participation Confirmation 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 2019 event, including the following basic information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Web site: Only one team leader can be specified per team. Please provide only one e-mail for contact purposes and double-check you can receive emails there. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2019-Participation] (YourTeamName) Please check the email is encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. ***** Deadline: Sunday, 30th Sept. 2018 23:59 GMT ****** Step 2) 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 2019 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. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2019-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. ***** Deadline: Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018 23:59 GMT ****** Step 3) Participation confirmation (mandatory) All qualified teams ****MUST**** send an email to the Organizing Committee ( oc(a)robocupathome.org) to confirm (or cancel) their participation in the RoboCup@Home 2019 event. Confirming attendance implies that the team has sufficient resources to register, and commits to attend to the event. To confirm participation, please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Hereby [Team Name] of [Country] [confirms | forfeits] participation in the the RoboCup@Home [League]. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2019-Confirmation] (YourTeamName) *Remark: *Qualified teams who miss the participation confirmation will be disqualified automatically and the participation slots freed for the Second Call for Participation. ***** Deadline: Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Team Video ============================ In order to proof a running hardware, 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 integration of at least 5 different abilities, such as: environmental reasoning, high-level task planning, human-robot interaction, localization, manipulation, object recognition, people recognition, etc. Is strongly advised to show at least one Stage 2 test of the current or last year's rulebook. *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 allowed to use any robot in the Team Video. However, using the standard platform one is advised. *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 8-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 (applicability in the real world) - The impact of your research must be clearly visible - Maximum length is *8 pages* (including figures and citations). - Annex - Photo(s) of the robot - Brief, compact list of the 3rd party robot's software (e.g. MoveIt/YOLO should be included, but not OpenCV.). - Brief, compact description of all external computing devices, if any. - Brief, compact description of the robot's hardware (OPL Only). - Please mark with an asterisk home-made software solutions. - Annex should be appended after the References. - There is no page limit for annex, but a maximum of one page is strongly encouraged. - TDP length is *8 pages + annex*. - *DSPL and SSPL:* The robot depicted in the TDP or Team Video must be the league's standard one. 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 (including references but excluding the annex). You may download a template for the TDP from here <https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate>. *Exceeding the number of pages will automatically void your application*. *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. 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 - 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 and evaluation criteria: ================================ In this first Call for Participation, up to 8 teams per league can be assigned a participation slot. In order to qualify, a team must meet the minimum selection requirements approved by the Executive Committee. However, meeting the minimum requirements won't automatically grant a participation slot. Only the top 8 teams meeting the selection criterion will qualify for participation. Rejections are strongly advised to improve their qualification materials and apply in the second CFP. Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: - Team description paper (clarity, completeness, innovation (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, applicability in 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. *Note to experienced competitors:* Major changes are being done in the rulebook. You may download the latest version from: https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook. You're encouraged to be part of the discussion of its ongoing development. Step 4) Robot Acquisition (Standard Platform Leagues): ================================================== Qualified Teams must contact the supplier as soon as the Qualification Notification arrives to start the acquisition procedure. Teams selected to receive Standard-Platform robots have to make an agreement with the supplier in compliance with the supplier's instructions. The suppliers are not allowed to sell, export, lease and/or ship their products to natural or legal persons and to entities and countries which are subject to international sanctions or prohibitions. Since Selection Committee cannot answer this issue, please ask the supplier directly ( spl-sc(a)robocupathome.org). *Remark: *Failing to acquire a Standard-Platform will void the qualification of the SSPL/DSPL. It won't not possible for SSPL/DSPL to change to OPL. With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team in Sydney, The 2019 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) 2018: 2nd Call For Participation
by Asad Norouzi 07 Sep '18

07 Sep '18

######################## Call for Participation ######################### The 2nd RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP 2018) Competition and Symposium 5 – 9 December 2018, Competition 10 December 2018, Symposium Kish, Iran http://www.robocupap2018.org ###################### RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2018 ###################### The 2nd RoboCup Asia Pacific (RCAP) Competition and Symposium will be held in Kish, Iran, 5-10 December 2018. This is the second official RoboCup Super Regional event in the Asia Pacific region. *Leagues* The RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2018 (RCAP 2018) competition leagues are as follows: *RoboCupSoccer:* - Humanoid Leagues - Kid Size - Teen Size - Adult Size - Middle Size League - Small Size League - Standard Platform League - Simulation League 2D - Simulation League 3D *RoboCupRescue:* - Rescue Robot League - Rescue Simulation League - Rescue Simulation Agent - Rescue Simulation Virtual Robot *RoboCup@Home:* - RoboCup@Home Open Platform - RoboCup@Home Social Standard Platform - RoboCup@Home Domestic Standard Platform *RoboCupIndustrial:* - RoboCup@Work - RoboCup Logistics *RoboCupJunior:* - Soccer - Lightweight Primary - Lightweight Secondary - Open - Rescue - Rescue Line - Rescue Maze - CoSpace - Primary - Secondary - OnStage - Primary - Secondary *RoboCup Asia Pacific (RCAP) Challenges* The RCAP 2018 Organizing Committee will be organizing RCAP Industry Sponsored Leagues and RCAP Challenges. The RCAP Challenges will be as follows: - RCAP CoSpace Grand Prix Challenge - Primary - Secondary - RCAP CoSpace Rescue Challenge - Primary - Secondary - University - RCAP CoSpace Logistics Challenge - Primary - Secondary - University - RCAP SSL Challenge - Secondary - University - RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) Trial Leagues - UAV - ROV *Participation* All teams (including RC Junior teams) are required to pre-register through the online form available in the website ( https://robocupap2018.org/?page_id=10). The pre-registered teams should then submit the relevant qualification materials as per the leagues requirements. Teams are requested to contact their league’s technical committee for more information about submission of qualification materials. Junior teams must take note that they should also submit a Team Description Paper (TDP). More details can be found in the website soon. *Important dates* - Pre-Registration: 21 August – 21 September, 2018 - Announcement of qualified teams: 01 October, 2018 - Early Registration: 01 October – 15 October, 2018 (not available for RC Junior teams) - Regular Registration: 16 October – 16 November, 2018 - Late Registration: 17 November – 30 November, 2018 NOTE: No team registration will be accepted after 16 November 2018 For further information please visit our official website at http://www.robocupap2018.org For inquiries please contact us via the hereunder email addresses: General Enquiries: info(a)robocupap2018.org Registration, Competition, Leagues, Travel Support: registration(a)robocupap.org Regards, RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) Office RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2018 (RCAP 2018) Organizing Committee

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SciRoc: 1st Smart CIties RObotics Challenge
by Luca Iocchi 05 Sep '18

05 Sep '18

Dear @Home teams, I am sure this new competition within the framework of European Robotics League has challenges that are very close to your research focus and is a good opportunity to improve participations in robot competitions and maximize the investment of setting up a team. We hope to receive many potentially interested teams from the RoboCup community as well. Best regards, Luca ====================================================== Call for Expression of Interest The 1st Smart CIties RObotics Challenge (The 1st SciRoc challenge) as part of the European Robotics League (ERL) Smart Cities Sept 16th to Sept 22nd 2019 The Centre:MK, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom Web: http://sciroc.eu/the-sciroc-challenge/ ====================================================== Smart cities are an innovative urban paradigm aiming at improving the city’s services and the citizens’ quality of life using a variety of technological infrastructures. The ERL Smart Cities introduces a new robotics challenge, focusing on showing how robots will integrate in the cities of the future as physical agents living in them. Leveraging the functionalities developed within the other challenges of the European Robotics League (ERL Consumer, ERL Professional and ERL Emergency), robots will cooperate with the smart city infrastructure and interact with its citizens -- assisting customers, providing professional services and supporting during emergency situations. The 1st Smart CIties RObotics Challenge (The SciRoc challenge) will be held in Milton Keynes (UK) from Sept 16th to Sept 22nd 2019. The challenge will be divided into *several episodes*, each consisting in a task to be performed through addressing specific research challenges. Teams are expected to participate in one or more episodes according to their research interests. We solicit teams interested in taking part to the 1st SciRoc challenge to provide*their input on the design and format of the competition. *A preliminary set of episodes has been identified by the SciRoc’s consortium, as listed below. In order to maximise attendance, we invite all interested teams to express their preferences on the episodes they would be willing to compete in, through submitting their EoI via the online form at *http://sciroc.eu/expression-of-interest/***. *List of episodes* E01 - Attract a customer : https://sciroc.eu/e01-attract-a-customer/ E02 - Shopping guide : http://sciroc.eu/e02-shopping-guide/ E03 - Delivering of coffee shop orders : http://sciroc.eu/e03-delivering-coffee-shop-orders/ E04 - Take the elevator : http://sciroc.eu/e04-take-the-elevator/ E05 - Unattended item : http://sciroc.eu/e05-unattended-item/ E06 - Wiping a poured drink : http://sciroc.eu/e06-wiping-a-poured-drink/ E07 - Serving goodies : https://sciroc.eu/e07-serving-goodies/ E08 - At the checkout desk : https://sciroc.eu/e08-at-the-checkout-desk/ E09 - Cart push : https://sciroc.eu/e09-cart-push/ E10 - Open the door : https://sciroc.eu/e10-open-the-door/ E11 - Finding a lost dog with a drone : https://sciroc.eu/e11-finding-a-lost-dog-with-a-drone/ E12 - Fast delivery of emergency pills : https://sciroc.eu/e12-fast-delivery-of-emergency-pills/ *Important dates * Expression of interest: Sep 01 - Oct 10, 2018 Rulebook publication: Dec 15, 2018 Qualification process: Dec 15, 2018 - Jan 31, 2019 Notification to teams: Feb 15, 2019 Registration: Mar 01 - Mar 31, 2019 For any further enquiries: info(a)sciroc.eu

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[Meetings] [ICSR 2018] Robot Design Competition 2018 - Second Call for Entries and deadline extension
by Amit Kumar PANDEY 05 Sep '18

05 Sep '18

Dear Colleagues, Apologies for any cross-postings. Based on various requests, the deadline for ICSR 2018 Robot Design Competition has been extended to *15th September 2018* (firm deadline). The authors of already submitted entries, if they wish, can refine and update their submissions by the revised deadline with the subject line [ICSR 2018 Competition] Submission update <Submission ID>. Please refer below for the details of the call for entries. 10th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2018) ( http://uconf.org/ICSR2018) invites entries for its flagship Robot Design Competition (http://uconf.org/ICSR2018/competition.html). The International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) brings together researchers and practitioners working on the interaction between humans and robots and on the integration of robots into our society. This year the conference will be held on November 28th-30th, 2018, Qingdao, China The ICSR Robot Design Competition 2018 (http://uconf.org/ICSR2018/com petition.html) ================================== How can the robots be part of our life to assist, serve, accompany, educate or entertain us? What is the next “Big Thing” and the next “Killer App” for robots? Where is the new generation of social robots heading and what could be the innovative societal applications? Have a solid idea/working prototype, send your entries to ICSR 2018 Robot Design Competition. Whatever your background or experience, this competition is a great way to present your work to an international multidisciplinary R&D community as well as representatives from robotics and AI industries, and get their valuable feedback, and above all get recognized. Submission ========= The ICSR 2018 robot design competition welcomes applicants from any background. Each submission should have a (maximum) 2 page summary including a concise abstract/synopsis of a maximum of 50 words. Additionally a single link of related video be included (maximum duration of the video is 3 minutes). Competition chairs, with the help from experts and reviewers, will select the finalists. Each finalists is supposed to present their entry at a dedicated event in the conference, which will be evaluated by the Jury of peers. Finalists will also get opportunity to exhibit during the conference (optional). Email your submission to Amit Kumar Pandey, akpandey(a)softbankrobotics.com and Ali Meghdari meghdari(a)sharif.edu with the subject line starting with: [ICSR 2018 Competition] The authors of already submitted entries, if they wish, can refine and update their submissions by the revised deadline with the subject line starting with [ICSR 2018 Competition] Submission update <Submission ID>. Submission ID can be found in the acknowledgement of the original submission. Dates ===== Submission deadline (revised): September 15, 2018 (firm) Notification: September 30, 2018 Categories & Prizes =============== The winners certificates will be awarded in two categories: - Innovation in software, applications and interaction modalities - Innovation in hardware, design and interfaces All the submissions will be considered for both the categories. ============= Thanks & Regards, Amit Kumar Pandey and Ali Meghdari ICSR 2018 Competition chairs ---- ========================= Amit Kumar Pandey (Ph.D.) Head Principal Scientist (Chief Scientist) (R&D) Scientific Coordinator- Collaborative Projects (Human Robot Interaction, Socially Intelligent Robots, AI) SoftBank Robotics (formerly Aldebaran Robotics) Paris, France Founding coordinator of euRobotics Topic Group on- Socially Intelligent Robots and Societal Applications (SIRo-SA) http://fr.linkedin.com/in/amitkrpandey http://amitkpandey.com https://www.ald.softbankrobotics.com/en https://www.eu-robotics.net/sparc/topic-groups/index.html ========================== -- *This email and any attachment thereto are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this email is strictly prohibited. In such case, please immediately advise the sender, and delete all copies and attachment from your system. This email shall not be construed and is not tantamount to an offer, an acceptance of offer, or an agreement by SoftBank Robotics Europe on any discussion or contractual document whatsoever. No employee or agent is authorized to represent or bind SoftBank Robotics Europe to third parties by email, or act on behalf of SoftBank Robotics Europe by email, without express written confirmation by SoftBank Robotics Europe’ duly authorized representatives. * *Ce message électronique et éventuelles pièces jointes sont confidentiels, et exclusivement destinés à la personne ou l'entité à qui ils sont adressés. Si vous n'êtes pas le destinataire visé, vous êtes prié de ne pas divulguer, copier, distribuer ou prendre toute décision sur la foi de ce message électronique. Merci d'en aviser immédiatement l'expéditeur et de supprimer toutes les copies et éventuelles pièces jointes de votre système. Ce message électronique n'équivaut pas à une offre, à une acceptation d’offre, ou à un accord de SoftBank Robotics Europe sur toute discussion ou document contractuel quel qu’il soit, et ne peut être interprété comme tel. Aucun employé ou agent de SoftBank Robotics Europe n'est autorisé à représenter ou à engager la société par email, ou à agir au nom et pour le compte de la société par email, sans qu’une confirmation écrite soit donnée par le représentant légal de SoftBank Robotics Europe ou par toute autre personne ayant reçu délégation de pouvoir appropriée. * **

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RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) 2018: Call For Participation
by Asad Norouzi 28 Aug '18

28 Aug '18

######################## Call for Participation ######################### The 2nd RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP 2018) Competition and Symposium 5 – 9 December 2018, Competition 10 December 2018, Symposium Kish, Iran http://www.robocupap2018.org ###################### RoboCup Asia Pacific 2018 ###################### The 2nd RoboCup Asia Pacific (RCAP) Competition and Symposium will be held in Kish, Iran, 5-10 December 2018. This is the second official RoboCup Super Regional event in the Asia Pacific region. *Leagues* The RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2018 (RCAP 2018) competition leagues are as follows: *RoboCupSoccer:* - Humanoid Leagues - Kid Size - Teen Size - Adult Size - Middle Size League - Small Size League - Standard Platform League - Simulation League 2D - Simulation League 3D *RoboCupRescue:* - Rescue Robot League - Rescue Simulation League - Rescue Simulation Agent - Rescue Simulation Virtual Robot *RoboCup@Home:* - RoboCup@Home Open Platform - RoboCup@Home Social Standard Platform - RoboCup@Home Domestic Standard Platform *RoboCupIndustrial:* - RoboCup@Work - RoboCup Logistics *RoboCupJunior:* - Soccer - Lightweight Primary - Lightweight Secondary - Open - Rescue - Rescue Line - Rescue Maze - CoSpace - Primary - Secondary - OnStage - Primary - Secondary *RoboCup Asia Pacific (RCAP) Challenges* The RCAP 2018 Organizing Committee will be organizing RCAP Industry Sponsored Leagues and RCAP Challenges. The RCAP Challenges will be as follows: - RCAP CoSpace Grand Prix Challenge - Primary - Secondary - RCAP CoSpace Rescue Challenge - Primary - Secondary - University - RCAP CoSpace Logistics Challenge - Primary - Secondary - University - RCAP SSL Challenge - Secondary - University - RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) Demonstrations - UAV - ROV *Participation* All teams (including RC Junior teams) are required to pre-register through the online form available in the website ( https://robocupap2018.org/?page_id=10). The pre-registered teams should then submit the relevant qualification materials as per the leagues requirements. Teams are requested to contact their league’s technical committee for more information about submission of qualification materials. Junior teams must take note that they should also submit a Team Description Paper (TDP). More details can be found in the website soon. *Important dates* - Pre-Registration: 21 August – 7 September, 2018 - Announcement of qualified teams: 15 September, 2018 - Early Registration: 15 September – 15 October, 2018 (not available for RC Junior teams) - Regular Registration: 16 October – 16 November, 2018 - Late Registration: 17 November – 30 November, 2018 NOTE: No team registration will be accepted after 16 November 2018 For further information please visit our official website at http://www.robocupap2018.org For inquiries please contact us via the hereunder email addresses: General Enquiries: info(a)robocupap2018.org Registration, Competition, Leagues, Travel Support: registration(a)robocupap.org Regards, RoboCup Asia Pacific (RCAP) Office RoboCup Asia Pacific 2018 (RCAP 2018) Organizing Committee

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Please help our RoboCup@Home research - RSVP by Tuesday
by Justin W Hart 23 Aug '18

23 Aug '18

Dear RoboCup@Home teams, One of the advantages of working in the RoboCup@Home domain is that so many of us around the world are motivated by, and working on, the same challenging problem. With this message, we're asking for a small amount of your time (but with some urgency) to help our research and to magnify our community as a whole. In particular, we're writing a paper that we plan to submit to AAAI on our knowledge representation system, and as part of our discussion we would like to explore the differences between how systems in RoboCup@Home model EEGPSR tasks. We're including the survey below, and we hope that you can take 5-10 minutes to let us know how your system would handle a particular utterance. If possible, we would like you to run a query through the top of your EEGPSR system, however this isn't necessary. If your system does not handle the command, please also respond saying so. ================================================================= EEGPSR Command: Could you navigate to the kitchen, spot the apple, and give it to Patricia at the couch. At a high level, please summarize the steps your system takes to resolve the query... 1. ... in the case that the apple is on the counter. 2. ... in the case that there is not an apple on the counter. In your responses, please describe how you model the problem, what your plan looks like (if your system generates a plan), and how the robot would behave while executing it (assuming that perception, navigation, and manipulation work perfectly). Please send your response to jiangyuqian(a)utexas.edu ================================================================= If you're able to do this, we'll acknowledge your support in the paper. Please let us know if you would like your system named specifically, or identified anonymously as "Participant X". Regardless, of course we'll be more than happy to help you with any similar requests about our system. Thanks in advance! Justin Hart, Yuqian Jiang, Nick Walker, & Peter Stone

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