February 2022 - RoboCup-worldwide

Reminder: RoboCup 2022 SPL Call for Participation
by Stefan Seering 06 Feb '22

06 Feb '22

Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <http://spl.robocup.org/> Monday 11th July through Sunday 17th July 2022 Bangkok, Thailand 2022.robocup.org <https://2022.robocup.org> RoboCup <https://www.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. *The Standard Platform League (SPL)* is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots, i.e., robots that operate with no external control. The SPL at RoboCup 2022 will use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics <https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao>. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2022 will be played indoor and outdoor between teams of five robots on a 6m x 9m playing surface. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned indoor or outdoor field within one hour. The RoboCup 2022 SPL will host: * A 5 vs. 5 team competition as the main competition of the event. * A 7 vs. 7 competition. * A visual referee technical challenge. * A dynamic ball handling technical challenge. * A video analysis and statistics open research challenge. The 5 vs. 5 team competition will consist of a similar number of games for most teams compared to recent years. The structure from 2019 will be used to allow all teams to play games against teams with similar skill levels. See Appendix A.4 of the preliminary rulebook <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/> for more details. The teams participating in the team competition should also compete in some of the additional technical challenges. The 7 vs. 7 side competition extends the ideas from the mixed team competition, and 1 vs. 1 remote challenge from RoboCup 2021 to a standardized 7 vs. 7 NAO V6 on-site competition. Its goal is to encourage more collaborative game play and offer a chance for teams to work together more closely. Participating in 7 vs. 7 is recognized as participation in a technical challenge. Additional technical challenges offered at the competition are the visual referee challenge and the dynamic ball handling challenge. The open research challenge aims to provide the SPL with long term performance statistics based on video analysis. Please note that the open research challenge comes with additional deadlines as mentioned in the rulebook. All challenges will be detailed further with the release of the SPL rules document. To assist in adoption of V6 Robots source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website <https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code working with V6 Robots in the code released by participating teams. These examples allow teams to adapt their competition code from recent years more easily to encourage use of V6 Robots. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Survey The RoboCup Federation is committed to supporting an in-person event in Thailand from July 11th-17th, as long as the LOC in Thailand decides it is possible. For this purpose, the RoboCup Federation plans to send a survey to all teams considering to apply for RoboCup 2022. If you are considering to apply for participation this year, please send an email stating your interest in RoboCup SPL to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org by 12th of January 2022 in addition to your regular application. Qualification All interested teams must submit an original qualification document. For the qualification document to be considered, it must (1) be no longer than *6 pages* and (2) include all the following information in *sections with the specified headings*: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2022. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *Past History:* provide game results in RoboCup Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2018 onward. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2022. 5. *Impact:* What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. *Video presentation:* Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2019 or any challenge at RoboCup 2021 *must* include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. 7. *Other:* Present any other information that you believe supports your application. If your application mentions more than one e-mail address, please specify which one should be used to contact your team regarding your application. Pre-Qualification Teams are given the chance to pre-qualify based on their performance at RoboCup 2019 and 2021. Teams will be pre-qualified for RoboCup 2022, if they submit the following original qualification document. Teams able to pre-qualify include: * B-Human * UNISABANA Herons SPL * rUNSWift * HULKs * Bembelbots * Berlin United- Nao TH * Nao Devils * HTWK Robots * UT Austin Villa The original qualification document must include: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2020. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *TRR:* a link to a team research report describing their work for RoboCup 2019 or 2021 or both (which must be published in a publicly available location) 5. *Code Release:* a link to a public code release as detailed in the 2019 SPL rulebook If a joint 2019 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2022 (please, indicate which one). Qualification for Regional Opens Only Teams may also submit a short intent to participate in a regional open if they do not wish to participate in the 2022 RoboCup competition. Although teams may participate in regional opens without submitting this intent to participate, teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced as soon as offers and conditions are finalized. Teams must submit the following information by 15th of February 2022: (1) The team name, leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team and (2) a short statement describing the status/progress of the team. A link to a short video showing robot soccer behaviours and/or game play (using robots or in simulation) may be included if available. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2022*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2022 SPL. The organizing committees are aware of the ongoing COVID situation and assume that all applications are subject to withdrawal due to COVID. Applications are not required to mention uncertainties related to COVID to avoid negative effects on future applications. We would rather encourage teams to plan optimistically and sign up with the possibility of withdrawing if situation requires it. For situations other than COVID: If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated to consider a variety of components including: 1. Potential to play competitive games at RoboCup 2022 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by 29th of February 2022. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. /RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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CFP: (Extended Deadline) DEI HRI Workshop on Inclusive HRI @ HRI 2022
by Frank Broz 04 Feb '22

04 Feb '22

Call for Papers DEI HRI 2022 Workshop (https://sites.google.com/view/dei-hri-2022/) We are inviting submissions for the workshop Inclusive HRI: Equity and Diversity in Design, Application, Methods, and Community (DEI HRI 2022), to be held virtually within the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2022) on March 11th, 2022. Important Dates * Extended Deadline for Paper Submission: February 11th, 2022 * Paper Acceptance Notification: February 25th, 2022 * Camera Ready Paper: March 4th, 2022 * Workshop date: March 11th, 2022 Statement of Objectives Although being a pressing issue, an understanding of how robotic systems can replicate and amplify inequalities and injustice among underrepresented communities is still to be achieved within the HRl community. This workshop contributes to filling this gap by exploring the research questions: What do Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mean in the context of HRI? How can we promote DEI in HRI? Our goal is to raise awareness on the importance of including DEI aspects in HRI to avoid exacerbating existing or creating new biases. This workshop will center around the themes of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Human-Robot Interaction. An additional goal of this workshop is to build community and solidarity among researchers in HRI who work on and are affected by these various and related issues. More information on the workshop can be found on the dedicated website<https://sites.google.com/view/dei-hri-2022/>. Submission Guidelines We invite authors to submit extended abstracts (up to 2 pages, excluding references) and short papers (up to 4 pages, excluding references) on a range of topics relevant to these questions and to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in HRI in general. Submissions may present current or in-progress research, position papers, critical essays, and summaries of already published research from all areas of HRI. Since we hope to learn from other fields of knowledge and form new connections with related research communities, we also welcome submissions from researchers outside of the HRI community. Authors should submit their papers on EasyChair<https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=deihri2022>. Papers should be formatted according to the IEEE two-column format<https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html>. Submissions will be evaluated according to their fit to the workshop theme, and their adherence to the scientific standards of the discipline of origin. The workshop proceedings will be made publicly available on our website. List of Topics Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: * Accessibility * Bias in AI/ML algorithms * Disability and Ableism * Gender issues * LGBTQIA+ issues * Inclusive education * Intersectional feminism * Issues of representation * Neurodiversity * Racism * The global south The topics above can address one or more of the following domains: * HRI design * HRI applications * HRI research methods * HRI community Organizers More information on the workshop can be found on the workshop website<https://sites.google.com/view/dei-hri-2022/>. For any further questions, please feel free to reach out at our email addresses! * Dr. Maartje de Graaf - Utrecht University - m.m.a.degraaf(a)uu.nl<mailto:m.m.a.degraaf@uu.nl> * Dr. Giulia Perugia - Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) - g.perugia(a)tue.nl<mailto:g.perugia@tue.nl> * Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga (corresponding) - Leiden University - e.fosch.villaronga(a)law.leidenuniv.nl<mailto:e.fosch.villaronga@law.leidenuniv.nl> * Dr. Angelica Lim - Simon Fraser University - angelica(a)sfu.ca<mailto:angelica@sfu.ca> * Dr. Frank Broz - Delft University - f.broz(a)tudelft.nl<mailto:f.broz@tudelft.nl> * Dr. Elaine Short, Tufts University, elaine.short(a)tufts.edu<mailto:elaine.short@tufts.edu> * Prof. dr. Mark Neerincx, Delft University and TNO, m.a.neerincx(a)tudelft.nl<mailto:m.a.neerincx@tudelft.nl> Since we acknowledge that we are a fairly homogeneous group of organizers, we would like to diversify our group composition. If you want to join the DEI HRI 2022 community and be part of the programme committee of the DEI HRI 2022 workshop, please let us know by filling out this form<https://forms.gle/fXxPiUJYBcJzSS2V9>.

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[robocup-athome] Call for Participation: Simulation
by Mauricio Matamoros 04 Feb '22

04 Feb '22

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[robocup-athome] Second Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 04 Feb '22

04 Feb '22

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[meetings][cfp](RO-MAN 2022) Special Session on Theory of Mind for social HRI
by Alessandra Rossi 04 Feb '22

04 Feb '22

Dear colleagues, It is my pleasure to invite you to submit your works at the special session on Theory of Mind for social HRI that will be held in conjunction with the IEEE RO-MAN conference in the beautiful Naples, Italy. The special session aims to define and explore the needed level of shared mental models between people and robots for effectively planning, navigating, manipulating objects and the environment, and transparently communicating. We welcome submissions from experts in the fields of Theory of Mind, cognitive and behavioural robotics, and social HRI. Please find attached below the call for papers. For any questions and information, do not hesitate to contact us (emails below). Kind regards, Alessandra Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy ================================================================================== *** SPECIAL SESSION Theory of Mind for social HRI *** Submission Code: 1y123 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2022) August 29th - September 2nd, 2022 Naples, Italy http://ro-man2022.org The ability of understanding and acknowledging others' mental states is known as Theory of Mind (ToM). Theory of Mind is a multi-modal system used by people to naturally communicate and understand each other. A growing group of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research focuses on investigating whether people form ToM towards robots, and what level of ToM a robot should have to communicate transparently with the humans in their shared environment in a sociable and accepted way. In this session, we want to probe deeper in the principal lines that can contribute towards this research direction. In particular, we aim to define and explore the needed level of shared mental models between people and robots for effectively planning, navigating, manipulating objects and the environment, and transparently communicating. The topics covered in this special session include, but are not limited to: • Cognitive robotics • Mental models in HRI • Robot etiquette • Theory of Mind in HRI • XAI in HRI • Cooperation and collaboration in human-robot teams • Detection and understanding human activity • Monitoring of behaviour and internal states of humans • Motion planning and navigation in human-centred environments • Multi-modal situation awareness and spatial cognition • Social intelligence for robots in interactive and non-interactive tasks TEMPLATES AND SUBMISSION PROCEDURE Authors should submit their papers electronically in PDF format via Papercept using the code for the special issue: 1y123 For the first submission, a manuscript can be of 6-8 pages including references. For the final submission, a manuscript should be of 6 pages, with 2 additional pages allowed at an extra charge. Authors will have to declare that the research presented in the submitted papers complies with the IEEE Code of Ethics. Authors should use the templates provided by the electronic submission system. The templates for US Letter format paper should be used. The manuscript submission website will require that you submit your abstract and make any final changes to the author list and title of the paper before uploading the paper. Use the following templates to create the paper and generate or export a PDF file: LaTeX or MS-Word. ORGANISERS Dr. Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II (IT), alessandra.rossi(a)unina.it Dr. Patrick Holthaus, University of Hertfordshire (UK), p.holthaus(a)herts.ac.uk Dr. Shruti Chandra, University of Waterloo (CA), shruti.chandra(a)uwaterloo.ca

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Call for Papers ICARSC'2022 - International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions
by Pedro Neto 03 Feb '22

03 Feb '22

[Our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Call for Papers ICARSC'2022 - IEEE(*) International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions <https://festivalnacionalrobotica.pt/icarsc/> https://festivalnacionalrobotica.pt/icarsc/ / April 29-30, Santa Maria da Feira Portugal (*) IEEE co-sponsorship pending approval ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Dear colleague We are pleased to inform you that ICARSC2022 IEEE(*) International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions will be held in Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal, on April 29-30, 2022. The conference is organized within ROBOTICA 2022 - 22nd Portuguese Robotics Open, a RoboCup-sponsored local event, and it is promoted by the Portuguese Robotics Society. (*) IEEE co-sponsorship pending approval == Conference Scope == ICARSC gathers participants from academia and industry working in the field of autonomous robotics and related areas. ICARSC is a well-established IEEE conference that has been growing continuously for over a decade and is nowadays a truly international forum attracting worldwide quality research papers. ICARSC has long been an IEEE co-sponsored event and its proceedings are indexed in IEEExplore and Scopus. Moreover, similarly to previous editions, extended versions of selected best papers will be invited for publication at relevant indexed journals. == Invited Speakers == George Nikolakopoulos, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden Jorge Dias, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE == Important Dates == Submission Feb 21, 2022 Notification Mar 22, 2022 Camera Ready Mar 29, 2022 Registration Apr 14, 2022 Conference Apr 29-30, 2022 == Conference Topics == The conference aims to gather researchers from the industry and academia to present and discuss the latest trends in research and technology in the fields of robotics and related areas. Contributions from researchers, industry, and outputs from collaboration between industrial and academic R&D units are welcome in, but not limited to, the following topics. - Agricultural Robotics - Applications of Autonomous Intelligent Robots - Artificial Intelligence - Autonomous Robotic Systems - Computer Vision and Image Processing - Control Architectures and Programming - Cooperative Perception - Cooperative Planning and Task Allocation - Dexterous Manipulation and Grasping - Educational Robotics - Entertainment Robots - Evolutionary Robotics - Humanoid Robotics - Human-Robot Interaction - Localization, Mapping, and Navigation - Locomotion and Actuation Systems - Multi-Robot Coordination - Multi-Robot Systems - Planning, Reasoning and Modelling - Recognition and Tracking - Robot Learning - Robotic Competitions - Robotic Simulation - Sensors and Sensor Integration - Swarm Robotics - Space Robotics - Underwater Robotics == Paper Submission == Authors are invited to submit original research contributions in English. Six pages in the standard IEEE format ( <http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.htm l> http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html ) are allowed for each paper, including tables and figures. Full draft papers should be submitted electronically, in PDF format, using the URL: <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icarsc2022> https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icarsc2022. For evaluation purposes, authors must remove their names from the submitted papers, and should take reasonable care not to indirectly disclose their identity. Accepted papers will be scheduled for presentation, which requires that at least one of the authors should register at the Conference and present the paper. If the authors of an accepted paper do not show up at the conference, the corresponding paper will not be submitted to IEEExplore. == ICARSC2022 General/Program Chairs == Pedro Fonseca, University of Aveiro, Portugal Rodrigo Ventura, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal Luís Louro, University of Minho, Portugal Pedro Neto, University of Coimbra, Portugal

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Final Call for proposals: RCF and MathWorks Support for Research Projects 2022
by Gerald Steinbauer-Wagner 03 Feb '22

03 Feb '22

Call for proposals: RCF and MathWorks Support for Research Projects 2022 The RoboCup Federation (RCF) and MathWorks, a Global Sponsor of RoboCup, are pleased to announce this call for proposals to support research projects in RoboCup. RCF-MathWorks Support for Research Projects 2022 aims at funding robotics research projects that use MATLAB and Simulink software. The goal is to enable collaboration between RoboCup researchers and MathWorks engineers to foster progress of RoboCup and its leagues. The RoboCup Federation and MathWorks hosted a webinar to discuss the details of the call, describe expected results and MathWorks tools, showcase previously sponsored projects, and answer questions. Link to the webinar: https://youtu.be/znZSFBWAWhg For more info or clarification on the details of this call, please contact info(a)robocup.org Proposal Requirements Proposals in this category must meet *ALL* of the following requirements: 1. Work must be associated with one or more of the research topics listed below. 2. Work must primarily utilize MathWorks software such as MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow, and other add-on products. Preference may be given if using one or more of the development methods listed below. 3. Project team will be assigned MathWorks contacts, and must arrange and participate in at least 3 progress check-in meetings with them during the course of the project. The team is encouraged to reach out to their MathWorks contacts whenever they have questions. 4. Final deliverables shall be posted publicly after review by MathWorks contacts. Research Topics 1. Navigation and Planning a. Motion Planning for Manipulators and Mobile Robots b. Motion planning for humanoid robots c. Collision avoidance 2. Perception and Sensor Fusion a. Object detection and tracking b. Lidar and vision-based SLAM c. Point cloud processing d. Fusing IMU with other sensors for localization and state estimation 3. Control systems a. Control of humanoid robots b. Hybrid systems and behavior c. Multi-agent systems d. Robot Manipulation and Grasping 4. Human-Robot Interaction a. Natural language processing b. Signal and audio processing NOTE: teams are encouraged to apply machine learning techniques (deep learning, reinforcement learning, etc.) toward these research topics Development Methods 1. Development Tools a. User interfaces and Web applications b. Hardware initialization and calibration tools 2. Modeling and simulation a. Model-based design of software components b. Physical system simulation and design c. Behavior modeling: finite-state machines, behavior trees, etc. d. Multi-agent simulation 3. Embedded systems a. Implementation to reduce memory, power consumption, etc. b. Targeting microcontrollers, FPGAs, and GPUs c. Real-time and hardware-in-the-loop simulation 4. Interfaces to standard platforms a. Robots, e.g., Toyota, SoftBank, FESTO b. Software frameworks, e.g., ROS Support Support will be given as a gift between 5,000 and 10,000 USD depending on quantity and quality of accepted proposals in this category. Teams will be notified of the exact amount awarded upon their proposal being accepted. Funding will be provided directly by RCF after the RoboCup Symposium 2022 if the research and deliverables are completed in a satisfactory manner. Submission A single PDF file should be submitted through the easychair system https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcfsupport2022 under the Category: RCF and MathWorks Support for Research Projects 2022 The proposal (MAX 6 pages) must include: 1. description of the project, 2. motivations and goals, 3. intended use of MATLAB and/or Simulink software, 4. benefits for RoboCup and for the RoboCup League (not for a single or a few teams), 5. implementation plan and budget. Evaluation Application materials will be evaluated by a committee of RoboCup Trustees and MathWorks engineers. The evaluation of the proposals will be based on (i) the quality of the proposed research; (ii) the research contributions of the applicants, particularly in relation to RoboCup; (iii) the usage of MATLAB and/or Simulink software; and (iv) the impact of the proposed plan on the advancement and visibility of RoboCup. A limited number of awards is expected to be assigned. Deadlines Submission Deadline: February 6th, 2022 Notification: February 8th, 2022 Completion of the action: Preliminary work expected to be presented during the RoboCup 2022 Research Symposium, and official content publication by October 2022 Exceptions to this rule must be submitted for approval to the evaluation committee. ** For more information about the call for projects, please contact: info [at] robocup.org **

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Final Call for proposals: RCF Project Support 2022
by Gerald Steinbauer-Wagner 03 Feb '22

03 Feb '22

Call for proposals: RCF Project Support 2022 The RoboCup Federation (RCF) is pleased to announce this call for proposals to support activities for promoting the development of RoboCup Leagues. RCF Project Support aims at funding activities for the development of the RoboCup Leagues or the promotion of RoboCup in general. The main goal of these projects is to research and develop activities that support significant advancements of the RoboCup leagues and/or the RoboCup community which are difficult to achieve otherwise. This includes support for short-term visits for a collaboration between teams (e.g. joint team development, integration of research agendas) and/or RoboCup camps on special or novel topics. This year the RCF particularly encourages proposals in the following areas: * Human-Robot-Interaction (HRI), any type interaction of a human with a robot within one of the RoboCup leagues * Low-Cost Standard Robots, any ideas to lower the entry bar to a RoboCup league or to allow to scale the number of robots in a team * Unified Game Controllers, development of game controllers that can be shared between RoboCup leagues easily and with minor re-configuration * Data Sets from Competitions, any concept for automated collecting and annotating data (i.e. ground truth) from competitions in order to support statistical analysis or machine learning Support Support will be provided in the form of reimbursement upon receipts of direct expenses (e.g., hardware devices or costs for organization of events) or of a grant for the applicants. In case of hardware acquisition, it must be specified how the league (e.g. other teams) will benefit from this hardware. A detailed list of expenses must be described in the proposal. Funds from RCF are limited, partial funding may be also considered. Submission A single PDF file should be submitted through the easychair system https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcfsupport2022 under the Category: Projects for League Developments The proposal (MAX 4 pages) must include: 1. description of the project, 2. motivations and goals, 3. benefits for RoboCup and RoboCup leagues (not for a single or a few teams), 4. implementation plan and budget. Evaluation Application materials will be evaluated by a committee of RoboCup Trustees or RoboCup Exec members. The evaluation of the proposals will be based on (i) the quality of the proposed research; (ii) the research contributions of the applicants, particularly in relation to RoboCup; and (iii) the impact of the proposed plan on the advancement and visibility of RoboCup (e.g. high ranked publications). A limited number of awards is expected to be assigned. Deadlines Submission Deadline: January 30th, 2022 Notification: February 8th, 2022 Completion of the project: Preliminary work expected to be presented during the RoboCup Symposium 2022, the project needs to be finished by end of 2022 and a final report submitted by January 2023. Exceptions to this rule must be submitted for approval to the evaluation committee.

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Neural Computing and Applications (NCAA) - Call for Topical Collectionon (Deadline March 31, 2022)
by Pub Conference 01 Feb '22

01 Feb '22

Neural Computing and Applications <https://www.springer.com/journal/521/> Topical Collection on Interpretation of Deep Learning: Prediction, Representation, Modeling and Utilization https://www.springer.com/journal/521/updates/19187658 Aims, Scope and Objective While Big Data offers the great potential for revolutionizing all aspects of our society, harvesting of valuable knowledge from Big Data is an extremely challenging task. The large scale and rapidly growing information hidden in the unprecedented volumes of non-traditional data requires the development of decision-making algorithms. Recent successes in machine learning, particularly deep learning, has led to breakthroughs in real-world applications such as autonomous driving, healthcare, cybersecurity, speech and image recognition, personalized news feeds, and financial markets. While these models may provide the state-of-the-art and impressive prediction accuracies, they usually offer little insight into the inner workings of the model and how a decision is made. The decision-makers cannot obtain human-intelligible explanations for the decisions of models, which impede the applications in mission-critical areas. This situation is even severely worse in complex data analytics. It is, therefore, imperative to develop explainable computation intelligent learning models with excellent predictive accuracy to provide safe, reliable, and scientific basis for determination. Numerous recent works have presented various endeavors on this issue but left many important questions unresolved. The first challenging problem is how to construct self-explanatory models or how to improve the explicit understanding and explainability of a model without the loss of accuracy. In addition, high dimensional or ultra-high dimensional data are common in large and complex data analytics. In these cases, the construction of interpretable model becomes quite difficult and complex. Further, how to evaluate and quantify the explainability of a model is lack of consistent and clear description. Moreover, auditable, repeatable, and reliable process of the computational models is crucial to decision-makers. For example, decision-makers need explicit explanation and analysis of the intermediate features produced in a model, thus the interpretation of intermediate processes is requisite. Subsequently, the problem of efficient optimization exists in explainable computational intelligent models. These raise many essential issues on how to develop explainable data analytics in computational intelligence. This Topical Collection aims to bring together original research articles and review articles that will present the latest theoretical and technical advancements of machine and deep learning models. We hope that this Topical Collection will: 1) improve the understanding and explainability of machine learning and deep neural networks; 2) enhance the mathematical foundation of deep neural networks; and 3) increase the computational efficiency and stability of the machine and deep learning training process with new algorithms that will scale. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following: - Interpretability of deep learning models - Quantifying or visualizing the interpretability of deep neural networks - Neural networks, fuzzy logic, and evolutionary based interpretable control systems - Supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning - Extracting understanding from large-scale and heterogeneous data - Dimensionality reduction of large scale and complex data and sparse modeling - Stability improvement of deep neural network optimization - Optimization methods for deep learning - Privacy preserving machine learning (e.g., federated machine learning, learning over encrypted data) - Novel deep learning approaches in the applications of image/signal processing, business intelligence, games, healthcare, bioinformatics, and security Guest Editors Nian Zhang (Lead Guest Editor), University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, USA, nzhang(a)udc.edu Jian Wang, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, China, wangjiannl(a)upc.edu.cn Leszek Rutkowski, Czestochowa University of Technology, Poland, leszek.rutkowski(a)pcz.pl Important Dates Deadline for Submissions: March 31, 2022 First Review Decision: May 31, 2022 Revisions Due: June 30, 2022 Deadline for 2nd Review: July 31, 2022 Final Decisions: August 31, 2022 Final Manuscript: September 30, 2022 Peer Review Process All the papers will go through peer review, and will be reviewed by at least three reviewers. A thorough check will be completed, and the guest editors will check any significant similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any published paper or submitted manuscripts of which they are aware. In such case, the article will be directly rejected without proceeding further. Guest editors will make all reasonable effort to receive the reviewer’s comments and recommendation on time. The submitted papers must provide original research that has not been published nor currently under review by other venues. Previously published conference papers should be clearly identified by the authors at the submission stage and an explanation should be provided about how such papers have been extended to be considered for this special issue (with at least 30% difference from the original works). Submission Guidelines Paper submissions for the special issue should strictly follow the submission format and guidelines ( https://www.springer.com/journal/521/submission-guidelines). Each manuscript should not exceed 16 pages in length (inclusive of figures and tables). Manuscripts must be submitted to the journal online system at https://www.editorialmanager.com/ncaa/default.aspx. Authors should select “TC: Interpretation of Deep Learning” during the submission step ‘Additional Information’.

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