- RoboCup-athome - lists.robocup.org

RO-MAN 2017 Intention in Social Robotics Special Session
by Mary-Anne Williams 05 Mar '17

05 Mar '17

26th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2017 <http://www.ro-man2017.org/>, will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 28 to 31 of August 2017. We are organizing a special session on *Intention in Social Robotics <http://www.ro-man2017.org/site/node/12>. * The *submission* *due date is March 26*. If you would like to submit a paper to our special the session, please use the code (588fb) in the paper submission system. Submission instructions are available at the main RO-MAN conference website <http://www.ro-man2017.org/>. Imagine an intelligent robot with social skills that was fun to work with and that could help you achieve tasks efficiently, i.e. a social robot. Social robots are a disruptive technology, poised to have a profound impact on business, society and the global economy. This exciting RO-MAN Special Session on Intention in Social Robotics <http://www.ro-man2017.org/site/node/12> will focus on predicting and exploiting Intention in Social Robotics. A self-driving vehicle is a social robot, not only does it need to drive on the road safely but it must communicate with and anticipate the behaviour of nearby cars and people; a delivery robot has to anticipate the behaviour of people in workplaces. Understanding human intention is critical to anticipating human behaviour. The critical research question is how can we design social robots able to understand human intention and anticipate human motion and desires. Conversely, the question of how robots can indicate intention to help humans is also important. The purpose of this special session is to explore how social robots can understand and predict people's intention without requiring humans to explicitly indicate or express what they are trying to do or about to do next. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: ● Human-robot interaction and collaboration ● Human and/or Robot attention and intention ● Natural low cognitive load methods for signaling intention ● Privacy and security ● Legal and ethical implications of social robots The goal of special sessions at RO-MAN is to provide a forum for oral presentations that are highly specialized in some particular theme, focused on new topics or innovative applications of established approaches. A special session consists of four to six papers, which, addresses a particular theme or consist of work done in some particular international project. Best wishes, *Tony Cohn* (Leeds University) *William Judge* (Commonwealth Bank of Australia) *Reid Simmons* (Carnegie Mellon University) *Mary-Anne Williams* (University of Technology Sydney) *Professor Mary-Anne Williams <http://mary-annewilliams.com>* *Director, Disruptive Innovation* University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Founder and Director, Innovation and Enterprise Research Lab <http://themagiclab.org/> (The Magic Lab) Fellow, Stanford University <https://law.stanford.edu/directory/mary-anne-williams/> Twitter: @SwizzleFish <https://twitter.com/swizzlefish>

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[@Home2017] Third Call For Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

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

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[jobs] Last Call: Postdoc position in Robotics and AI at Orebro University
by Alessandro Saffiotti 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

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

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

06 Feb '17

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

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

06 Feb '17

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

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

27 Jan '17

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

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

26 Jan '17

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

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

26 Jan '17

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

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

20 Jan '17

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

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

18 Jan '17

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

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

11 Jan '17

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

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

09 Jan '17

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

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[RoboCup@Home2017] First Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 06 Jan '17

06 Jan '17

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

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[RoboCup@Home2017] First Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 05 Jan '17

05 Jan '17

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

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[RoboCup@Home2017] First Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 05 Jan '17

05 Jan '17

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

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[RoboCup@Home2017] First Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 04 Jan '17

04 Jan '17

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

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CFP PAAMS 2017- Special Session on Computer vision in Multi-Agent Robotics
by António J. R. Neves 02 Jan '17

02 Jan '17

* Special Session on Computer vision in Multi-Agent Robotics * 15th International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Polytechnic of Porto - Porto (Portugal) 21st-23rd June, 2017 http://paams.net/special-sessions/rv ***************************************** [Apologies for any cross-posting] Dear Colleague, The 15th International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (PAAMS -http://www.paams.net/) will take place next June in Porto, Portugal, and will include several special sessions, namely one on Computer Vision in Multi-Agent Robotics. This thematic session will provide an opportunity to bring together researchers with interests in computer and robot vision applied to multi-agent systems. This special session aims to receive contributions relevant to the use of vision and related sensors in robotics, as well as all issues related to robot perception. As chairs of that special session, we would like to invite you to submit papers in the following and related areas: * distributed sensing * multimodal sensor fusion * real-time and efficient solutions for multi-agent robotics * localization and mapping * vision based control * object detection, segmentation and categorization * semantic scene understanding and categorization * perceptual strategies for human robot interaction * robustness and generalization of algorithms to conditions and environments * sensor calibration *PRELIMINARY DATES* Paper submission: 6th February, 2017 Notification of acceptance: 13th March, 2017 Camera ready: 27th March, 2017 * REVIEW PROCESS * PAAMS welcomes the submission of application papers with preference to the topics listed in the call for papers. All submitted papers will undergo a thorough review process; each paper will be refereed by at least three experts in the field based on relevance, originality, significance, quality and clarity. The papers must consist of original, relevant and previously unpublished sound research results related to any of the topics of the conference * SUBMITTING PAPERS * PAAMS papers must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS Template, with a maximum length of 12 pages in length, including figures and references. All proposed papers must be submitted in electronic form (PDF format) using the Paper Submission Page. * PUBLICATION * Accepted papers will be included in PAAMS Proceedings. At least one of the authors will be required to register and attend the symposium to present the paper in order to include the paper in the conference proceedings.All accepted papers will be published by LNCS/LNAI series of Springer Verlag. * SPECIAL ISSUES * Authors of selected papers from PAAMS 2017 will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to special issue in diffetent journals. - Special Issue on Journal of Data Science and Analytics Authors of selected papers from PAAMS 2017 and Co-located Events will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to a special issue published on Journal of Data Science and Analytics. - Authors of selected papers from PAAMS 2017 and Co-located Events will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to a Special Section published in Neurocomputing (JCR Impact Factor: 2.392). - Authors of selected papers from PAAMS 2017 and Co-located Events will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to a Special Issue published in the International Journal of Knowledge and Information Systems -KAIS- (JCR Impact Factor: 1.702). Our best Regards, Antonio J. R. Neves <an(a)ieee.org> Angel D. Sappa <sappa(a)ieee.org>

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Postdoc and PhD Positions in Deep Learning and Robotics @ University of Bonn
by Sven Behnke 30 Dec '16

30 Dec '16

The Autonomous Intelligent Systems Group of University of Bonn invites applications for multiple Postdoctoral and fully funded PhD positions. Candidates should have a background in one of the following research areas: * Deep learning, * Computer vision, * Pattern recognition, * Machine learning, * Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), * Manipulation and locomotion planning, * Human-robot interaction, * Micro aerial vehicles, * Service robots, * Humanoid robots, or * Search and rescue robots. Candidates for Postdoctoral positions must hold a PhD with very good results in computer science, robotics, electrical engineering or a related field. Top-level publications and good organizational skills are important. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to develop their own research agenda and at the same time contribute to the ongoing projects linked below, guiding PhD students and master students. Payment will be according to TV-L-E14 (52,000-66,000 Euros per annum, depending on experience). Candidates for PhD positions must hold a very good university Master's degree in computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering, or a related field. A strong mathematical background and programming skills are necessary. Successful candidates will conduct focused research towards a PhD in Computer Science and contribute to one of the ongoing projects linked below, guiding master and bachelor students. Payment will be according to TV-L-E13 (44,000- 51,000 Euros per annum, depending on experience). Applications in PDF format should be sent by email to behnke @ ais . uni-bonn . de with the subject line "Postdoc Application AIS" or "PhD Application AIS". Please indicate in your cover letter your main achievements, the research area or project where you want to contribute, and your availability date. A list of publications and transcripts must be included. There is no application deadline. Positions will be filled as soon as possible. Autonomous Intelligent Systems Group: The University of Bonn has a long tradition in computer vision and robotics research and multiple outstanding groups in these areas. The Autonomous Intelligent Systems Group, headed by Sven Behnke, has developed award-winning cognitive robot systems, including domestic service robots, autonomous micro aerial vehicles, humanoid soccer robots, robots for mobile manipulation in rough terrain, bin-picking robots, and robots for intuitive human-robot interaction. Contributions include deep learning architectures and algorithms, efficient methods for RGB-D and laser-based SLAM, semantic environment perception, robot navigation, object manipulation and tool use, bipedal walking, multimodal human-robot interaction, and learning from demonstrations and own experience. Useful links: * Ongoing projects in Autonomous Intelligent Systems group: http://www.ais.uni-bonn.de/jobs.html * Autonomous Intelligent Systems group: http://www.ais.uni-bonn.de * Robotics in Bonn: http://robotics.uni-bonn.de * Bonn Computer Science: https://www.informatik.uni-bonn.de/en * University of Bonn: https://www.uni-bonn.de/startpage?set_language=en * Federal City of Bonn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonn

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[jobs] Two Postdoctoral Positions: NICT Japan
by Komei Sugiura 20 Dec '16

20 Dec '16

Advanced Speech Technology Lab. at NICT, Japan has two open positions for *Postdoctoral Researchers*. ## ABOUT NICT-UCRI (NICT Universal Communication Research Institute) NICT is a Japanese national research institute that focuses on information and communications technology. NICT employs 900 researchers/engineers/staffs, and has ten research centers. NICT-UCRI is one of them, and is situated 30km south of Kyoto, a historical city of Japan. ## ABOUT THE POSITIONS - The positions are offered at a one-year basis, and are renewable until March 2021. - The salary will depend on qualifications and experience. - The successful candidates will have access to our software engines and large-scale corpora for spoken dialogue studies. ## HOW TO APPLY http://www.nict.go.jp/en/general_affairs/employment/index-e-top2016-10.html Closing date: Jan 12, 2017. ## POSITIONS (1) Reference: 2017R-30 * Research Topic: "Spoken Language Understanding and Motion Generation Using Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Information for Domestic Service Robots" * Abstract: The objective of this project is to investigate spoken language understanding methods using linguistic and non-linguistic information for domestic service robots. As a successful candidate, you will focus on applying machine learning methods to train probabilistic models with large-scale linguistic and non-linguistic data obtained from physical/cyber spaces, as well as on language understanding, dialogue, and motion generation that are dependent on the situations and users. * Minimum Qualifications - Ph.D. in computer science, informatics, robotics, or a related field - Strong publication record in the fields related to robot learning, machine learning, spoken language processing, computer vision, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence - Good communication skills in spoken and written English * Preferred Qualifications - Extensive programming skills in Python/JavaScript/MATLAB/C++ - Independent and persistent personality, as well as a team player * Details http://www2.nict.go.jp/employment/tempstaffinfo/exr-e/H29/2017R-30.pdf (2) Reference: 2017R-29 * Research topic: "Scene understanding and situated dialogues with robots" * Abstract: The objective of this project is to investigate scene understanding and situated dialogues as the fundamental spoken dialogue technologies for receptionist agents or service robots that can communicate in multiple languages. As a successful candidate, you will focus on scene understanding in multiparty conversations such as the estimation of speakers' positions and roles, as well as spoken dialogue systems with situated spoken language understanding and recommendation capabilities. * Minimum Qualifications - Ph.D. in computer science, signal processing, robotics, or a related field - Strong publication record in the fields related to robot audition, multimodal interaction, spoken language processing, dialogue systems, machine learning, computer vision, human-computer interaction, or artificial intelligence - Good communication skills in spoken and written English * Preferred Qualifications - Extensive programming skills in Python, C++, or others - Independent and persistent personality, as well as a team player * Details http://www2.nict.go.jp/employment/tempstaffinfo/exr-e/H29/2017R-29.pdf ***************************************************************** Komei Sugiura, Ph.D. Senior Researcher, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology 3-5 Hikaridai, Seika, Soraku, Kyoto 619-0289, Japan Email: komei.sugiura(a)nict.go.jp URL: http://komeisugiura.jp/index_en.html *****************************************************************

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LU4R now out!
by Danilo Croce 16 Dec '16

16 Dec '16

========================================== RELEASE OF LU4R *http://sag.art.uniroma2.it/lu4r.html <http://sag.art.uniroma2.it/lu4r.html>* ========================================== We are happy to announce the release of LU4R, an adaptive spoken Language Understanding system For(4) Robots, that is the result of the collaboration between the Semantic Analytics Group (*SAG*) at the University of Roma, Tor Vergata, and the Laboratory of Cognitive Cooperating Robots (*Lab.Ro.Co.Co <http://Lab.Ro.Co.Co>.*) at Sapienza, University of Rome. LU4R receives as input one or more transcriptions of a spoken command and produces a logical form made of one or more linguistic predicates reflecting the actions intended by the user. Predicates, as well as their arguments, are consistent with a linguistically motivated representation and coherent with the environment perceived by the robot. The interpretation process is sensitive to different configurations of the environment (possibly synthesized through a Semantic Map or different approaches) that represent the whole information about possible entities populating the operating context. LU4R consists of a cascade of morphological, syntactic and semantic processes relying on external libraries (e.g. Stanford NLP chain) and statistical semantic role labeling specific components. It is actually released for English ([1]) but a version for Italian is already available ([2]). The language understanding components have been trained using realistic robotic commands, which are also derived from the RoboCup@Home Corpus [3]. The chain is fully implemented in Java and released according to a Client/Server architecture, in order to decouple the chain from the specific robotic platform that will use it. The robot engineer just needs to initialize the LU4R server and communication is supported through standard HTTP requests. The current release contains additional facilities to use third-party state-of-the-art speech to text services. These make the integration of a ROS operated robot and a full operational chain very simple: LU4R can be also invoked from a smartphone! LU4R has been presented at IJCAI 2016 [1] and at the International Conference of the Italian Association on Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA), 2016. [2], i.e., [1] "*A Discriminative Approach to Grounded Spoken Language Understanding in Interactive Robotics*", *Emanuele Bastianelli, Danilo Croce, Andrea Vanzo, Roberto Basili, Daniele Nardi*, Proceedings of IJCAI '16, NY (USA), 2016. [2] "*Spoken Language Understanding for Service Robotics in Italian*", *Andrea Vanzo, Danilo Croce, Giuseppe Castellucci, Roberto Basili, Daniele Nardi*, Proceedings of AI*IA 2016: 477-489. [3] “RoboCup@Home Spoken Corpus: Using Robotic Competitions for Gathering Datasets <http://fei.edu.br/rcs/2014/SpecialTrackDev/robocupsymposium2014_submission_…>”, *Emanuele Bastianelli, Luca Iocchi, Daniele Nardi, Giuseppe Castellucci, Danilo Croce, Roberto Basili, *Proceedings of the RoboCup Symposium (2014). You can find more information about LU4R and download it at: *http://sag.art.uniroma2.it/lu4r.html <http://sag.art.uniroma2.it/lu4r.html>* For any question or support, please refer to: croce(a)info.uniroma2.it <croce(a)info.uniroma2.it?Subject=LU4R%20support> or vanzo(a)dis.uniroma1.it Enjoy! The LU4R team -- Danilo Croce Department of Enterprise Engineering AI Research Group University of Roma, Tor Vergata Via del Politecnico 1 00133 Roma, Italy Tel. +39-06-72597721

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CLAWAR 2017 - 20th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots
by Manuel Silva 14 Dec '16

14 Dec '16

======================================================================= *** 1st CALL FOR PARTICIPATION *** ======================================================================= [Apologies for any cross-posting] CLAWAR 2017 20th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile Machines, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Portugal 11-13 September 2017 (https://clawar.org/clawar2017/) Dear colleague, We are pleased to inform you that CLAWAR 2017 will be held within the premises of Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Portugal, during 11-13 September 2017. The conference will feature technical and social programs. The technical program will comprise plenary, regular, and special/invited sessions. All articles submitted for inclusion in the conference will be peer reviewed before acceptance. It is envisaged that all accepted papers will appear in the conference proceedings, to be published by World Scientific Publishing Company and indexed in SCOPUS, as well as on CD/flash drive, subject to registration of at least one author for presenting the work. A selection of presented papers will also be recommended for possible publication in reputable ISI-indexed scientific journals. CLAWAR 2017 will also feature Robot Competition and Industrial Robot Exhibition. == Scope == Original contributions in the general area of mobile robotics, covering climbing, walking, flying robots with assistance and service provided to humans and machines are welcome. The conference will cover analysis (modelling and simulation) techniques, design approaches and developed robotic systems. Support technologies for realisation of such systems, associated economic, ethical and social considerations are integral part of the conference theme. == Key dates == 21 Dec 2016: Proposals for workshops/ special sessions 01 Feb 2017: Submission of full draft papers 15 Mar 2017: Notification of paper acceptance 12 Apr 2017: Submission of final (accepted) papers 03 May 2017: Early bird registration (reduced fee) 05 Jul 2017: Preliminary program 11-13 Sep 2017: Conference We would like to invite you to submit your contributions according to the key dates given above. == Submission of Papers == The technical program of the conference will feature Regular Papers, Special Session Papers, and Poster presentations. Authors are invited to submit their full draft papers in PDF format using the URL (https://www.softconf.com/g/clawar2017) or from the paper submission page of the conference web-site by the indicated deadline for consideration for nclusion in the relevant category (special/regular paper). Please note that you should first register to create an account on the system, if not done so yet, before submitting your contribution. All papers will be peer reviewed before acceptance, and all accepted papers (subject to registration) will be published in the conference proceedings. Final accepted papers will be limited to 8 pages in length in the prescribed style and format given in the paper submission web page. A selection of presented papers will also be recommended for possible publication in reputable international journals. == Workshop and Special Session Proposals== Proposals should be submitted to the Conference Secretariat and a copy sent to Professor Gurvinder S. Virk (gsvirk(a)clawar.org). Each proposal should be limited to one A4 page in length and must include title, aims/objectives, brief outline/scope, name and affiliation of the organizer(s). == Exhibition == Organisations and research groups can promote their robots and robotics research work by exhibiting these at the conference. Those wishing to participate in the exhibition programme of the conference are invited to seek relevant information via the conference web-site. == Robot competition == The conference will feature a "Climbing Robot Competition". Research groups wishing to take part in the competition are invited to seek relevant information via the conference web-site. == Sponsorship == Organisations wishing to sponsor the conference in any way and gain the corresponding benefits, by promoting themselves and their products to the robotics community through conference publications, conference web-site and conference publicity, are invited to view relevant information on the conference web-site and further to contact the conference secretariat to discuss the terms of sponsorship and necessary arrangements. Conference web-site: https://www.clawar.org/clawar2017 Secretariat: CLAWAR 2017 Secretariat Email: clawar2017(a)clawar.org Kind regards Manuel F. Silva and Gurvinder S. Virk, Conference Co-Chairs M. Osman Tokhi, International Scientific Committee Chair Benedita Malheiro, Local Organising Chair Manuel Silva Professor Adjunto Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica [http://www2.isep.ipp.pt/assinatura_email/EMAIL_ISEP.png] ISEP | Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 431 4249-015 Porto - PORTUGAL tel. +351 228 340 500 | fax +351 228 321 159 mail(a)isep.ipp.pt | www.isep.ipp.pt<http://www.isep.ipp.pt>

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[CFP] SIGNAL 2017 - Time-constrained Signal, Image and Video Processing in Robotics
by António J. R. Neves 12 Dec '16

12 Dec '16

* Time-constrained Signal, Image and Video Processing in Robotics * SIGNAL 2017, May 21 - 25, 2017 - Barcelona, Spain The Second International Conference on Advances in Signal, Image and Video Processing - from Sensing to Applications http://www.iaria.org/conferences2017/SIGNAL17.html ***************************************** [Apologies for any cross-posting] Dear Colleague, The Second International Conference on Advances in Signal, Image and Video Processing, SIGNAL 2017 (http://www.iaria.org/conferences2017/SIGNAL17.html) will take place next May in Barcelona, Spain and will include several special sessions, namely one on Time-constrained Signal, Image and Video Processing in Robotics. This thematic track will provide an opportunity to bring together researchers with interests in signal processing applied to robots and autonomous systems. This special session aims to receive contributions regarding innovative concepts, methodologies and techniques in the field of robotics, computer vision and signal processing, as well applications of these developments to solving practical problems. As chair of that special session, I would like to invite you to submit papers in the following and related areas: * human-robot interaction * localization, mapping and navigation * vision based control * object detection, segmentation and categorization * semantic scene understanding and categorization * robustness and generalization of algorithms to conditions and environments * multimodal sensor fusion * sensor calibration * Signal Processing Architectures * real-time and efficient solutions for applications *PRELIMINARY DATES* * Paper submission: 3rd January, 2017 * Notification of acceptance: 3rd March, 2017 * Camera ready: 9th April, 2017 * CONTRIBUTION TYPES * * Regular papers [in the proceedings, digital library] * Short papers (work in progress) [in the proceedings, digital library] * Posters: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] * Posters: slide only [slide-deck posted on www.iaria.org] * Presentations: slide only [slide-deck posted on www.iaria.org] * Demos: two pages [posted on www.iaria.org] * REVIEW PROCESS * PAAMS welcomes the submission of application papers with preference to the topics listed in the call for papers. All submitted papers will undergo a thorough review process; each paper will be refereed by at least three experts in the field based on relevance, originality, significance, quality and clarity. The papers must consist of original, relevant and previously unpublished sound research results related to any of the topics of the conference * PUBLICATION * * See: http://www.iaria.org/format.html * Before submission, please check and comply with the editorial rules: http://www.iaria.org/editorialrules.html * Submission site: www.iariasubmit.org/conferences/submit/newcontribution.php?event=SIGNAL+201… * SPECIAL ISSUES * Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended versions to one of the IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org Print proceedings will be available via Curran Associates, Inc.: http://www.proceedings.com/9769.html Articles will be archived in the free access ThinkMind Digital Library: http://www.thinkmind.org Best Regards, Antonio Neves -- -- António J. R. Neves, Ph.D. Assistant Professor DETI / IEETA, University of Aveiro, Portugal http://sweet.ua.pt/an/

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RoboCup German Open 2017: Call for Participation (DEADLINE 15 DECEMBER)
by Sven Wachsmuth 12 Dec '16

12 Dec '16

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: RoboCup German Open 2017: Call for Participation (DEADLINE 15 DECEMBER) Datum: Sun, 11 Dec 2016 19:49:18 +0100 Von: Ansgar Bredenfeld <ansgar.bredenfeld(a)dr-bredenfeld.de> Organisation: Dr. Bredenfeld UG An: robocup-worldwide(a)cc.gatech.edu Dear RoboCuppers, just a reminder of the STRICT Major League registration deadline for the RoboCup German Open 2017. *** It is December 15th, 2016 *** The registration deadline for Junior was November 30. 500 RoboCup Junior teams registered for the six qualification tournaments. The best teams of these tournaments will take part in the German RoboCup Junior Final during the RoboCup German Open 2017. See you all there. Best regards, Ansgar --------------------------------------------------------------------- RoboCup German Open 2017 Call for Participation https://www.robocupgermanopen.de 5 - 7 May 2017 MESSE MAGDEBURG, Germany The RoboCup German Open 2017 will be the 15th 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 2016 ***. The registration deadline is *** 15 December 2016 ***. Visit http://www.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 Organising Committee: - Thomas Röfer (Standard Platform League) - Reinhard Gerndt (Humanoid League) - Johannes Pellenz (Rescue Robot League) - Sven Wachsmuth (RoboCup@Home League) - Ulrich Karras (Logistics League) - Sebastian Zug (RoboCup@Work League) -- Important dates -------------------------------------------------- 15.09.2016 Publication of Call for Participation 15.10.2016 Registration opens 15.12.2016 Registration deadline RoboCup Major teams 15.02.2017 Registration deadline team members with names 15.04.2017 Registration fee due 03.05.2017 Set-up day Major League teams 04.05.2017 Set-up day Major League teams 05.05.2017 Competition day (open to public) 06.05.2017 Competition day (open to public) 07.05.2017 Competition day, finals (open to public) Please contact info(a)robocupgermanopen.de for any questions.

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ERL Service Robots - Call for Participation in Robot Competition - Peccioli Italy 30/1-3/2/2017
by Luca Iocchi 08 Dec '16

08 Dec '16

Dear RoboCup@Home teams, you probably have already received the call below. Please let me add some useful information about this event that we believe would be very useful for RoboCup@Home teams. 1) Teams are not required to participate to all the tests (although it is preferable) and the final ranks and prizes will be for each TBM/FBM. Two tests (TBM4 and TBM5) are shared with RoboCup@Home 2016 rules. 2) Since RoboCup 2016 also counted as part of the ERL-SR, some RoboCup@Home teams have a good position in the rank. However, to get the prizes, a team needs to attend to least two tournaments (see the current standings in https://sites.google.com/a/dis.uniroma1.it/erl-sr-peccioli/competition). 3) Prizes will be publicly awarded at the European Robotic Forum 2017 (http://www.erf2017.eu/) It is a great opportunity for the best teams in each TBM/FBM. 4) The local tournament includes also some Software Integration sessions where we provide teams with software components that are useful for @Home/Service robots. In Peccioli we are planning to help teams to install, configure and test on their robots the following software components: navigation and speech understanding More information will be updated soon in https://sites.google.com/a/dis.uniroma1.it/erl-sr-peccioli/resources 5) A limited number of teams will be accepted and travel support will be provided. Deadline for application: ***December 15, 2016*** If you have any question, do not hesitate to contact me. Best regards, Luca. ================================================================== Call for Participation European Robotics League (ERL) Service Robots 3rd Local Tournament 30.1 - 3.2.2017 Echord++ RIF in Peccioli Peccioli (Pisa), Italy ================================================================== The European Robotics League is an innovative concept for robot competitions which focuses on tasks that service robots execute in a real home environment and is composed of multiple "Local tournaments", held in different research labs across Europe. More information about this tournament:http://tinyurl.com/h6ngwoh Important dates: * 15 Dec 2016 - Deadline for application and request for travel support * 23 Dec 2016 - Qualification announcement Extended call for participation attached. Best regards, Luca Iocchi (on behalf of ERL-SR organizing committee)

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[Competitions] RoboCup IranOpen 2017
by Asad Norouzi 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

*Apologies for duplicate messages* *Call For Participation* *RoboCup IranOpen 2017* *April 03 - 07* The 12th RoboCup IranOpen competitions will be held in April 03-07, 2017. Having had the experience of 11 years successful organization of these competitions, we look forward to an even more glorious event with more teams competing in this major robotics event from all over the world. Last year, we had 272 teams from Afghanistan, Canada, China, Germany, Iran, South Korea, Peru, UK, and USA. RoboCup IranOpen is an attempt to further promote AI and Robotics research. These competitions will provide a chance for all researchers to present and share their experiences and achievements. The RoboCup IranOpen 2017 competitions leagues are as follows: - RoboCupSoccer - Humanoid (Kid Size, Teen Size, Adult Size) - Middle Size - Small Size - Standard Platform - Soccer 3D Simulation - Soccer 2D Simulation - RoboCupRescue - Rescue Robot - Rescue Simulation - Rescue Virtual Robot - RoboCup@Home - RoboCupIndustrial - RoboCup@Work - RoboCupJunior - Junior Soccer Open - Junior Soccer B Light Weight - Junior Rescue A Primary - Junior Rescue A Secondary - Junior Rescue B - Junior CoSpace Rescue The following leagues will be also be organized in conjunction with RoboCup IranOpen 2017: - Middle Size Intelligent Deminer Robots - Small Size Intelligent Deminer Robots - Tele-operated Deminer Robots - Deminer Technical Challenge - IranOpenROV (Radio Operated Vehicles - underwater robots) - IranOpenUAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Indoor and Outdoor) - Major Demo - Junior Demo Common Challenge - Junior Demo Open Challenge Participation: All teams are required to pre-register through the online form available in the website. The pre-registered teams should then submit the relevant qualification materials. Last year 316 teams were qualified from 624 pre-registered teams. Important dates: - Pre-Registration: November 21, 2016 - January 22, 2017 - Submission of qualification materials: refer to leagues pages in the website - Qualification: January 23 - February 19, 2017 - Early Registration: February 20 - March 12, 2017 - Late Registration: March 13 - 31, 2017 For further information please visit our official website at http://2017.iranopen.ir For inquiries please contact us via the below email addresses: - General Inquiries: info(a)iranopen.ir - Registration: registration(a)iranopen.ir - Visa & International Affairs: visa(a)iranopen.ir - Travel Support (for international teams): asadollah_norouzi(a)sp.edu.sg Regards On behalf of, Iranian RoboCup Regional Committee RoboCup IranOpen 2017 Organizing Committee

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RoboCup@Home mailing list moved to new server
by Luca Iocchi 04 Dec '16

04 Dec '16

Dear all, this mailing list has been moved to a new server and all the settings and users have been copied (except passwords). Since the e-mail address has not changed, you can continue using the list as before. To edit your settings (including password), go to http://lists.robocup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/robocup-athome enter your e-mail address in the Subscribers section in the textfield close to the button 'Unsubscribe or edit options' click the button and follow the instructions in the next page. The old list (with old passwords) is reachable at http://oldlists.robocup.org/admin.cgi/robocup-athome-robocup.org You can read and backup old messages, but the list cannot be used anymore to send/receive e-mails. During navigation of the old lists, you may need to manually replace lists.robocup.org with oldlists.robocup.org in some URLs. If you have any question or problem, do not hesitate to contact me. Best regards, Luca.

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