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[meetings] [news] 2nd CfP: 2nd Benchmark for Autonomous Robot Navigation (BARN) Challenge -- ICRA 2023 Competition
by Xuesu Xiao 07 Mar '23

07 Mar '23

IROS deadline is behind us, so it’s time to start your submission to the 2nd BARN Challenge at ICRA 2023! Submission Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYKxIZ2HYSDMLx3BxlYkxugmpy1OrrewY… Competition Website: https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/BARN_Challenge/BARN_Challenge23.html Participation Instructions: https://github.com/Daffan/nav-competition-icra2022 Lessons Learned from The BARN Challenge 2022 Last Year: https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/barn22_report.pdf Dear roboticists, are you interested in agile robot navigation in highly constrained spaces with a lot of obstacles around, e.g., cluttered households or after-disaster scenarios? Do you think mobile robot navigation is mostly a solved problem? Are you looking for a hands-on project for your robotics class, but may not have (sufficient) robot platforms for your students? If your answer is yes to any of the above questions, we sincerely invite you to participate in our (2nd) ICRA 2023 BARN Challenge (https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/BARN_Challenge/BARN_Challenge23.html)! The BARN Challenge aims at evaluating state-of-the-art autonomous navigation systems to move robots through highly constrained environments in a safe and efficient manner. The task is to navigate a standardized Clearpath Jackal robot from a predefined start to a goal location as quickly as possible without any collision. The challenge will take place both in the simulated BARN dataset and in physical obstacle courses at ICRA2023. 1. The competition task is designing ground navigation systems to navigate through all 300 BARN environments (https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/BARN/BARN.html) and physical obstacle courses constructed at ICRA2023 as fast as possible without collision. 2. The 300 BARN environments can be the training set for learning-based methods, or to design classical approaches in. During the simulation competition, we will generate another 50 unseen environments unavailable to the participants before the competition. 3. We will standardize a Jackal robot in the Gazebo simulation, including a Hokuyo 2D LiDAR, motor controller of 2m/s max speed, etc. 4. Participants can use any approaches to tackle the navigation problem, such as using classical sampling-based or optimization-based planners, end-to-end learning, or hybrid approaches. We will provide baselines for reference. 5. A standardized scoring system is provided on the website. 6. We will invite the top teams in simulation to compete in the real world. The team who achieves the fastest collision-free navigation in the physical obstacle courses wins. If you are interested in participating, please submit your navigation system at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYKxIZ2HYSDMLx3BxlYkxugmpy1OrrewY… Co-Organizers: Xuesu Xiao (George Mason University / Everyday Robots) Zifan Xu (UT Austin) Garrett Warnell (US Army Research Lab / UT Austin) Peter Stone (UT Austin / Sony AI) Sponsor: Clearpath Robotics, https://clearpathrobotics.com/ Thanks Xuesu ----------------------- Xuesu Xiao, Ph.D. -- Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science George Mason University xiao(a)gmu.edu<mailto:xiao@gmu.edu> https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/

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[robotics-worldwide] RoboCup 2023 Virtual Robot Competition - Call for Participation
by AMIRREZA KABIRI 03 Mar '23

03 Mar '23

*RoboCup Rescue Simulation Virtual Robot Competitions 2023* *Bordeaux * *, France**July 04-10, 2023* https://robocup-rsvrl.github.io/ <https://www.robocup.org/leagues/27>https://2023.robocup.org *IMPORTANT DATES* Team Qualification Materials Submission Deadline..: March 20, 2023 (23:55 GMT) Qualified Teams Announcement…………....................…: March 31, 2023 Team registration deadline…….………….......................…: May 31, 2023 Camera-ready TDP submission………....................….….: June 9, 2023 If you are interested or considering participating please take the time to fill the RoboCup 2023 Virtual Robot Competition - intent letter form <https://forms.gle/f5wispMSi5VnfnYUA> as soon as possible, so that we can inform you about the latest developments and updates. *(1) RoboCup Rescue Simulation League and Virtual Robot Competition* ——————— The RoboCup Rescue Simulation League is a socially relevant part of the RoboCup event. Its main purpose is to provide emergency decision support by integration of disaster information, prediction, planning, and human interface. A generic urban disaster simulation environment is constructed on network computers. Heterogeneous intelligent agents such as firefighters, commanders, victims, volunteers, etc. conduct search and rescue activities in this virtual disaster world. Agents can sense their environment and make decisions on the basis of the perceived data. Mission-critical human interfaces support disaster managers, disaster relief brigades, residents, and volunteers to decide their actions to minimize the disaster damage. Addressing this problem involves advanced and interdisciplinary research themes. AI/robotics research, for example, behavior strategy (e.g., multi-agent planning, real-time/anytime planning, heterogeneity of agents, robust planning, mixed-initiative planning) is a challenging problem. For disaster researchers, RoboCup Rescue works as a standard basis in order to develop practical comprehensive simulators adding necessary disaster modules. The Virtual Robot Competition is based on ROS/Gazebo, an advanced robot simulator in which users can simulate multiple agents whose capabilities closely mirror those of real robots. ROS/Gazebo currently features several ground and air robots, as well as a wide range of sensors and actuators. Moreover, by exploiting ROS, users can easily develop their robot systems integrating standard modules. Currently addressed research topics include but are not limited to - Human-robot interfaces - Autonomous navigation - Sensor fusion - Image processing - Speech processing - 2D and 3D mapping - Distributed planning - Distributed learning *(2) Major changes to this year (2023)* ——————- Last year, we had a server migration to ROS2 bringing a great opportunity for roboticists to learn ROS2 in a tested environment via challenges. This new server could be accessed on "The Construct sim <https://www.theconstructsim.com/>" as this league will provide the remote participation option. *(3) Intention of participation* ——————- If you are interested or considering participating please take the time to fill the RoboCup 2023 Virtual Robot Competition - intent letter form <https://forms.gle/f5wispMSi5VnfnYUA> as soon as possible, so that we can inform you about the latest developments and updates. *(4) Qualification material* ————————- Besides sending the intention of participation, please prepare before Mar 20, 2023, a Team Description Paper describing the most innovative contributions or scientific results your team is intended to provide. The TDP is limited to 8 pages and must be formatted according to the LNCS format: http://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gui… <https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/ln…> And the tex template file of the TDP can be found on the overleaf: https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrcfnpygskyx <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrcfnpygskyx&sa=…> The Team Description Paper is an overview of the methodologies you use or intend to use to control your robots inside the Virtual Robot Competition. If applicable, include a reference to your latest publications. The qualification material should be placed on a dedicated web page on the team’s home page. Please include the link to the qualification material on the intention of participation information. *(5) Useful links* ———– - Virtual Robot Competition 2023 Rule (draft) <https://docs.google.com/document/d/13an-jYeI0ybWrIkIHKim3FOXokRhgAZ3l1ZOVh2…> - Virtual Robot Competition Wiki <https://robocup-rsvrl.github.io/> - Virtual Robot Competition 2022 Server <https://github.com/RoboCup-RSVRL/RoboCup2022RVRL_Demo> - Official RoboCup Rescue Simulation website <https://rescuesim.robocup.org/> Kind regards, Amirreza Kabiri on behalf of RoboCup Rescue Simulation Executive, Technical, and Organizing Committees

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[meetings] LAST CALL - ROS Mobile Manipulators In-Person Training in Barcelona
by Yuhong Lin 01 Mar '23

01 Mar '23

(apologies for cross-posting) * Call for Participation* Last Call for Early Bird - Mastering Mobile Manipulators Hands-on Training March 22 - 24, 2023, Barcelona, Spain - Registration website: https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-mobile-manipulators-training/ <https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-mobile-manipulators-training/?utm_sourc…> - Only 15 spots - Early-bird registration deadline: March 8, 2023 =========================================================== This training is organized by The Construct <http://www.theconstructsim.com/> in cooperation with Robotnik <https://robotnik.eu/> We wanted to remind you that this is the last week to take advantage of our early bird discount for our upcoming Mastering Mobile Manipulators in-person training. This hands-on training will teach you how to create ROS applications for autonomous mobile manipulators. With our early bird discount, you can save 29% on your registration. At the training, you'll get hands-on experience with real robots, and you'll learn from industry experts who have years of experience in the field. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced programmer, you'll gain valuable skills that can help you advance your career. *Here's what you'll learn:* - Robot Navigation - Robot Perception: Object Detection - Motion Planning for Robotic Manipulators - Pick & Place Objects with MoveIt - Robot Behavior Design using FlexBe - Creating a Complete App that Integrates all Behaviors into a Single ROS App - Creating a Web Interface for End Users to Use Don't wait too long to sign up - our early bird discount ends on March 8, 2023. After that, the cost of the program will increase, so act fast to secure your spot and save money. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…> Benefits - In-person instruction from industry professionals - Hands-on experience with real robots - Exercises with simulated robots, working along with the instructors - Complete a real-world project with a real RB-KAIROS+ mobile manipulator - Access to a supportive community of like-minded learners <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Robots Used RB-KAIROS+ Mobile Manipulator <https://robotnik.eu/products/mobile-manipulators/rb-kairos/> by Robotnik <https://robotnik.eu/> <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Training Curriculum <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Part 1 - Set Up the Navigation System for a Mobile Manipulator - Create a map of an environment - Robot Localization - Path planning with obstacle avoidance - Send a sequence of waypoints and execute those movements Hands-on challenge: Make an RB-KAIROS+ autonomously navigate in an indoor environment. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Part 2 - Moving the Arm - Configure MoveIt for your robot - Program the moveit_commander to send trajectories to the robot arm Hands-on challenge: Program the arm to reach any location in its action space. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Part 3 - Do Motion Planning Programmatically After completing this chapter, you can create a Python program that performs motion planning on your robot. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Part 4 - Grasping the Object - Object detection - Pick an object - Add perception to avoid obstacles - Visualize the detections in RVIZ - Create a pick & place task Hands-on challenge: Make the arm grasp objects from the shelf while avoiding obstacles. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Part 5 - Use FlexBe to Program the Robot Behavior - Create FlexBe states - Create an entire state machine that communicates with the robot Hands-on challenge: Define the behavior of the warehouse robot for a pick & place application. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Part 6 - Design Web Interfaces for ROS robots - Set up the server in the robot - Create and run a web page that shows relevant robot information - HTML and CSS on the web page - Set up a JavaScript framework - Understand the lifecycle of the web page - Add an online Joystick to your web page - Show the robot’s cameras on the page - Show your custom map on the page Hands-on challenge: Create a web interface for non-experts to command the robot, and know its status. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-mobile-manipulators-in-person-training/2982…>Part 7 - Real Robot Project: Make a Full Manipulator Application to Autonomously Clean a Space Throughout this training, you will build a complete robot app for mobile manipulators that look at and serve objects from shelves in a warehouse environment. The robot will to go to the shelf’s location, look for the object, grasp it, and bring it to the operator’s boxes. =========================================================== Enroll now to take advantage of our early bird discount and start your journey towards a career in robotics. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact us at info(a)theconstructsim.com. The Construct team

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Call for Participation: RoboCup ARM Challenge
by Jose Avendano Arbelaez 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

Call for Participation: RoboCup ARM Challenge The RoboCup ARM Challenge will be hosted again for the 2023 RoboCup season. This year the finalists will have a chance to attend the RoboCup finals in Bordeaux, France to program a real Franka Emika robot as they compete for several prizes and learning certificates. Registrations are open until May 2023. The challenge is centered around autonomous robot manipulation and grasping and organized in two phases: 1) on-line for submitting solutions that will be tested in a simulated scenario, 2) during RoboCup 2023 in Bordeaux for the best teams to run the task in a real scenario. You can find more information on the challenge website below along with the registration form. https://arm.robocup.org/

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Second Call for Participation: RoboCup 2023 Soccer Simulation 3D competition
by Klaus Dorer 22 Feb '23

22 Feb '23

Hello all, please apologize if you receive multiple copies. This is a gentle reminder that the deadline for team qualification material submission is February 28th (next Tuesday). If you consider participation, but are not sure if you can come, you still have to submit qualification material by 28th. A later qualification will not be possible. We hope to see you in Bordeaux! Web version at https://ssim.robocup.org/ Greetings Marco, Hannes, Klaus OC 3D soccer simulation »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Call for Participation RoboCup 2023 Soccer Simulation 3D League July 4 – July 9, 2023 Bordeaux (France) https://2023.robocup.org/ »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» The RoboCup Soccer Simulation 3D Competition provides a great opportunity to experiment with humanoid robots without the need for investing in robot hardware. It facilitates experimenting using different learning and optimization techniques by providing a simulated environment. Since the games are played with teams of 11 players, the league is also a very good environment for experimenting on multi-robot coordination methodologies. We would like to invite you to participate in the RoboCup 2023 Soccer Simulation League 3D competition in Bordeaux, France. If you are interested in participating, please register your team and follow the procedure as outlined below. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Important Dates »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» February 28, 2023 (23:59 AoE): Team Qualification Materials Submission Deadline March 20, 2023: Qualified Teams Announcement July 4 – 9 2023: Competition »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Waiver of the team fee for NEW Teams »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» The RoboCup Federation is pleased to continue with a waiver of the team fee for the 2022 International RoboCup competition for NEW teams in the major leagues. A NEW team is defined as a team with a new name and all of whose team members have never participated in an annual international RoboCup competition. The waiver concerns only the team fee and does not imply any waiver of fees for team members. In addition, the 3D soccer simulation league will issue a certificate to the best NEW team in the 3D competition. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Qualification »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Qualification is based on a team’s current performance, previous achievements in RoboCup, and scientific contributions in relevant areas in past years, cooperation in the 3D mailing list, and development of the simulator. Also, up to six slots will be assigned in priority to new teams. In RoboCup 2023, up to 24 teams will participate in the 3D Soccer Simulation Competition. The top three teams from RoboCup 2022 (FC Portugal, magmaOffenburg and UT Austin Villa) are automatically qualified after submitting an appropriate Team Description Paper (TDP). The other 21 teams will be selected through a qualification process. Qualification material consists of: 1. Team Description Paper (TDP) The TDP should describe your research focus and ideas implemented in the team. It should clearly describe your own work and your contributions in addition to explicitly specifying what you have used from others’ efforts (including, but not limited to, any source code released by other teams or their scientific work). In qualification, teams must be judged based on their own work, so failing to acknowledge the work of others could result in immediate disqualification. The length of the TDP must be at least four (4) pages and should not exceed twelve (12) pages in Springer LNCS Style. Please do not include TDPs that you submitted to RoboCup in previous years. Please submit the TDP only as a PDF document, with the name of your team in the filename, i.e. Teamname_TDP.pdf . 2. A List of Publications and Achievements on previous RoboCup Symposia and in other relevant international journals and conferences. Please also include your team’s achievements in RoboCup and related events of previous years. If you are new to the RoboCup 3D community, you may also include references to relevant research done by your team that shows its potential. Please submit the contribution list as a PDF document, with the name of your team in the filename, i.e. Teamname_list.pdf . 3. Binary All teams should submit a working binary of their team. The OC will use these binaries to play 11 vs 11 matches, under the rules and with the simulator used during the 2022 competitions. Submitted binaries should adhere to the following: – Two scripts should be included: a startup script, called start.sh, to run a full team of agents, and a kill script, called kill.sh, to fully kill all agents of the team. The requirements and examples of these scripts can be found on the rules page. – All necessary external libraries should be included and be used locally by the binary. The OC will not make an effort to install extra libraries on the qualification systems. A Java runtime can be assumed to be available. – The binaries should not create any output, be it through standard output or to files and no graphical (debugging) interface should be used. – The binary should be compiled for 64 bit systems and should work on a modern GNU/Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu 18.04. You may also send 32-bit binaries, but it is your responsibility to make sure that it runs correctly on 64-bit distributions. You can assume that basic 32-bit libraries (e.g. libc) are installed on the 64 bit OS. To summarize: the binary should run out of the box on a standard, clean, headless system in a restricted sandbox environment with the simulation server (possibly) running on a different machine. The OC will not try to fix errors. When a binary fails to run, the respective team will be notified and will have to resubmit their material, before the deadline. Please put all qualification material in a folder with your team name, create a tarball named teamname.tar.gz and upload it to the registration form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5EYsPI4wSnu2vNLQVqTZo6YhN1LI91Xi… You should upload only one file including all your qualification materials. If everything works fine, you will receive a confirmation. If you did not receive any confirmation within two (2) days, please contact the Organizing Committee. If you encounter any problem sending your qualification materials please don’t hesitate to contact the OC. Teams will be qualified based on the submitted materials as described in this CfP. The following general qualification limitations will also be considered: – One-Third-Rule: The so-called One-Third-Rule rule states that only up to 1/3 of the participants in a competition may be from the same country. – One-Team-Per-Institute-Rule: The One-Team-Per-Institute-Rule states that only one team from each university or research institute is allowed to participate in a competition. Note that it is okay for different teams from the same institute to participate in different competitions, e.g. 2D and 3D soccer. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» 3D Soccer Simulation League Resources »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» https://ssim.robocup.org/ Resources with more information on 3D Simulation League and how to enter as new team using existing base codes. Best Regards, RoboCup 2023 3D Soccer Simulation Organizing Committee _______________________________________________ Sserver-three-d mailing list Sserver-three-d(a)lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sserver-three-d

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[IEEE RO-MAN 2023] Call for Competitions
by info＠ro-man2023.org 22 Feb '23

22 Feb '23

IEEE RO-MAN 2023 August 28-31, 2023, Paradise Hotel, Busan, Korea www.ro-man2023.org   Dear Esteemed Colleagues,   It is our great pleasure to cordially invite you to take part in 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (IEEE RO-MAN 2023), which will be held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 28 to 31 August 2023. This conference is an annual event where state-of-the-art innovative results, the latest developments and future perspectives relating to robot and human interactive communication are presented and discussed.   The theme of the IEEE RO-MAN 2023 is  “Design a New Bridge for H-R-I”, with [H] for Human Health, Happiness and Hope, [R] for Robotic Recovery and Reconnection, and [I] for Intelligent Interface and Interaction.   Above all, RO-MAN 2023 Organizing Committee determined to run RO-MAN 2023 as Hybrid Conference. (In-Peron/Online) Therefore, participants can attend the conference through 'Online' as well as through 'In-Person'. We look forward to your active interest and participation. Competitions We are inviting submissions to the Robot Design Competition. Building upon this year’s conference theme of Designing a New Bridge for H-R-I, participating teams will develop interactive robotic objects that enhance any level of H (health, happiness, and hope), R (recovery and reconnection), and/or I (interface and interaction). We encourage participants to identify and focus on a particular interaction context, develop their own interactive robotic objects, and create scenarios that illustrate how their robots fit within the lives of the humans involved. Read more at: http://ro-man2023.org/program/competitions Important Dates Submission Deadline: June 10, 2023 Notification of Acceptance: June 20, 2023 Final versions Submission: June 30, 2023   Keynote Speakers Prof. Alessandra Sciutti (Italian Institute of Technology, Italy) / Title : Human-in-the-Core Cognitive Robotics Dr. Sangok Seok (NAVER LABS, Korea) / Title : New Connections between Humans, Spaces, and Information – Robotics, Autonomous Driving, AI, Digital Twin Prof. Tomohiro Shibata (Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan) / Title: [To Be Announced]   Call for Papers The conference covers a wide range of topics related to Robot and Human Interactive Communication, involving theories, methodologies, technologies, empirical and experimental studies. Papers related to the study of the robotic technology, psychology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, human factors, ethics and policies, interaction-based robot design and other topics related to human-robot interaction are welcome.   Read more at http://ro-man2023.org/paperSubmission/callForPapers about Topics of interest.   Important Dates  [Full Papers (Regular)] Initial Paper Submission Deadline: March 17, 2023 Notification of Acceptance: May 26, 2023 Camera-Ready Deadline: June 30, 2023  [Full Papers (for proposed special sessions)] Initial Paper Submission Deadline: March 17, 2023 Notification of Acceptance: May 26, 2023 Camera-Ready Deadline: June 30, 2023 [IEEE RA-L Submission] To be eligible for RO-MAN 2023, your RA-L paper's final accepted manuscript must be submitted to RA-L for proofing between September 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023. Please use the RA-L submission page on PaperCept for IEEE RA-L submission and select submission for RA-L and RO-MAN 2023. Late Breaking Results RO-MAN 2023 brings the Late Breaking Results as the interactive sessions. The venue aims to provide a great opportunity for the researchers to present recent results and work-in-progress, be part of the conference, get visibility and still retain the copyrights of the work. Read more at: http://ro-man2023.org/paperSubmission/lateBreakingResults Important Dates LBR Submission Deadline: June 2, 2023 Notification of Acceptance: June 30, 2023 We are sure to say that this conference will be productive and very informative with new updates and features even more after the pandemic. We hope that our findings can be of practical use to you and you find this experience very rewarding. We look forward to welcoming you in Busan.   General Chair  JongSuk Choi Program Chairs  Ki-Uk Kyung  Kazuhiro Nakadai  Emilia Barakova   IEEE RO-MAN 2023 Secretariat Paper and General Inquiries  Tel. +82-2-2088-8979  Email. info(a)ro-man2023.org Exhibition and Sponsorship Inquiries  Tel. +82-2-2088-8849  Email. info(a)ro-man2023.org Registration and Tour Inquiries  Tel. +82-2-2038-6482  Email. reg(a)ro-man2023.org Website. www.ro-man2023.org 본메일은 2023-02-22 18:00:01 기준, 회원님의 수신동의 여부를 확인한 결과 회원님께서 수신동의를 하셨기에 발송되었습니다. 메일 수신을 원치 않으시면 [수신거부]를 클릭하세요.If you don't want this type of information or e-mail, please click the [unsubscription] Tess International#1005, 7, Beobwon-ro 8-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, Republic of KoreaTel. +82-2-3414-0205 / Fax. +82-2-6008-6695Email. info(a)tess-intl.com

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Call for Participation 2023 RoboCup Logistics League (RCLL)
by Wataru UEMURA 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Dear RoboCuppers, Call for Participation 2023 RoboCup Logistics League (RCLL) Venue: Bordeaux, France Tuesday, July 4th through Monday, July 10th, 2023 https://2023.robocup.org https://ll.robocup.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Important Deadlines* * Pre-Registration: March 31, 2023 * TDP Submission: March 31, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT RCLL With both competitive and research aspects, the RoboCup Logistics League aims to demonstrate the possibilites of a future Smart Factory. With the concept of "Industry 4.0“ in mind, production steps have to be divided into actions executable by robots, thus making their automation possible. These actions have to be planned and coordinated fully autonomously by the robots. The RCLL strives to promote research and development on the intralogistic challenges of future production processes. For this purpose the competition is held in an exemplary factory setting where an abstract product consisting of bases, rings and caps can be produced. There are 3 separate competitions in the RCLL: * Main Track * Challenge Track * Open Challenge The Main Track is a competition similar to prior years, with games that replicate a full production scenario. The Challenge Track focuses on the individual skills that are required to succeed in the RCLL and thus is a great opportunity for newcomers to gradually progress in the domain. The Open Challenge is an invitation for teams to shine with their own innovative ideas on how to tackle the challenges arising in a Smart Factory. QUALIFICATION All interested teams must submit a Team description paper (TDP) in order to qualify. The TDP is limited to 8 pages and must be formatted according to the LNCS format: http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0 Deadline for Submission is March 31, 2023. Optional Qualification Materials include a Team Video and a Team Poster to encourage exchange between teams. SUBMISSION AND REGISTRATION Registration must be done via Email to: robocup-logistics-oc(a)lists.kbsg.rwth-aachen.de and must not include the Qualification Material, but a link to access the qualification material. The registration must include: 1. Team Name 2. Country 3. Affiliation 4. Team Leader Name 5. Team Contact Info (Email) 6. Team Website address The subject of the Email should be: /[RoboCupLogisticsLeague2023-Participation] (YourTeamName)/ We hope to see you around, the RoboCup Logistics League Organizing and Technical Committee Best Regards, Wataru. ==================== Wataru UEMURA, Dr. Eng. Associate Professor, Ryukoku University Executive Director, RoboCup Japanese Regional Committee http://friede.elec.ryukoku.ac.jp/~wataru ====================

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[meetings][CFP] RO-MAN 2023 - Special Session "To err is robotic: Understanding, preventing and resolving robots' failures in HRI"
by Alessandra Rossi 15 Feb '23

15 Feb '23

*Apologies for any cross-posting* Dear colleagues, We are very pleased to invite you to the Special Session called *To err is robotic: Understanding, preventing and resolving robots' failures in HRI *( code u3f1h)*.* This special session welcomes works: 1) focusing on how people from perceive robot's failures in short- and long-term interactions, and highlight how different failures influence their perceptions and emotions toward the robots, and 2) exploring different techniques (e.g. inner speech, predictability and transparency of robotic behaviours, Theory of Mind, robot etiquette, Verification Methods, explanations) can foster a natural human-robot communication to reduce the perception of failures and/or help people understand the implications, risks, and goals of robot behaviour. This Special Session is organised within the 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (IEEE RO-MAN 2023) will be held at Paradise Hotel in Busan, South Korea from August 28 to 31, 2023. Please find attached the full call for papers for the Special Session "*To err is robotic: Understanding, preventing and resolving robots' failures in HRI*". Kindest regards Alessandra Rossi, Kheng Lee Koay, Kerstin S. Haring ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL SESSION To err is robotic: Understanding, preventing and resolving robots' failures in HRI Code u3f1h Robots placed in human-oriented dynamic environments, such as private homes, shopping malls, healthcare facilities, are likely to exhibit occasional behaviours which are perceived by people as unexpected, failures, or actual errors. Robots' errors can negatively affect people's perception of the robotic behaviours, in terms of usefulness, functionalities and capabilities, trustworthiness and acceptability. Robotics errors and how these are perceived by people do not only depend on robot self, but they are also a consequence of other factors. For example, they may be a consequence of human errors, or an unclear and non-transparent communication, or they may depend on a misunderstanding and miscommunication of the social, psychological and cognitive conventions expected by people. Moreover, there are also some cases in which these behaviours may be perceived as if robots intentionally deceive or cheat people. As a consequence, these may result in people wrongly interpreting and predicting the robots’ intents and behaviours, and negatively affecting Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). This session will focus on examine how people from perceive robot's failures in short- and long-term interactions, and highlight how different failures influence their perceptions and emotions toward the robots. This will help with subject related to classifying of robot errors from the aspect of human (e.g. intentional, voluntarily, perceived vs. real errors -- recklessness, forgetfulness, poor motivation --) and robot dimensions (e.g. actual error - algorithms, sensors, actuators). Moreover, while dealing with robotic failures, it is fundamental to consider two different strategies. The first one is oriented to prevent robots from exhibiting unintended behaviours, which in some extreme cases may even endanger people’s, pets’ safety, or break objects. Some examples are meant to enable robots to adapt and recover from any erroneous behaviour, such as the use of Software Verification Methods, Theory of Mind, robot etiquette. Others are focused on mitigating the effects of robot errors with apologies, promises or creating transparent robotic behaviours. This session will explore how different techniques can be used to enhancing natural human-robot communication (such as inner speech, legibility, predictability and transparency of robotic behaviours, explicit and non-explicit strategies) to help people understand the implications, risks, and goals of robots' behaviours and to mitigate the perception of the failures. In this session, we also want to explore strategies both to prevent robots from exhibiting unintended behaviours, and to mitigate the effects of robot errors on human-robot interaction. The topics covered in this special session are in line with the main theme of the conference (i.e., “Design New Bridge for H-R-I”). In particular, we want to start by fostering the [R] Robotic Recovery and Reconnection to allow [I] Intelligent Interface and Interaction for the [H] Human Health, Happiness and Hope. Notably, accepted topics include, but are not limited to: - Explainable AI (XAI) in HRI - Multi-modal situation awareness and spatial cognition - Social intelligence for robots in interactive and non-interactive tasks - Verifications Methods for autonomous agents - Legibility, Predictability and Transparency in HRI - Cognitive robotics - Deception in HRI - Robot cheating in HRI - Theory of Mind, Mental models in HRI - Robot etiquette - Modelling Trust and Acceptance in HRI Important Dates All dates are in UTC Time Standard Initial Paper Submission Deadline: March 17, 2023 Notification of Acceptance: May 26, 2023 Final Paper Submission: June 30, 2023 How to submit Authors should submit their papers electronically in PDF format via the Papercept submission site. For the initial 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 with an extra charge (TBA). All papers are reviewed using a single-blind review process. All papers are reviewed using a single-blind review process: authors declare their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers do not know each other's identities, nor do the authors receive information about who has reviewed their manuscript. Authors should use the templates provided by the electronic submission system. The templates for US Letter format paper should be used. Please use the following templates: Templates: LaTeX <https://ras.papercept.net/conferences/support/tex.php> or MSWord <https://ras.papercept.net/conferences/support/word.php> Papers should be submitted on http://ras.papercept.net/ under the "Submit a contribution to RO-MAN 2023", by selecting special session paper, and use the code: u3f1h Do not forget the code and to select the special session paper. Organisers Dr. Alessandra Rossi - University of Naples Federico II, Italy - alessandra.rossi(a)unina.it Kheng Lee Koay - University of Hertfordshire, UK - k.l.koay(a)herts.ac.uk Kerstin Sophie Haring - University of Denver, USA - b.d.researcher(a)ieee.org For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us!

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RoboCup@Work 2023 Pre-registration Extended!
by Asad Norouzi 15 Feb '23

15 Feb '23

Hi RoboCuppers, The pre-registration for RoboCup 2023 - RoboCup@Work has been extended to February 22nd! More information here: https://atwork.robocup.org/2023/01/27/robocup-2023-call-for-participation/ Best Regards, Asad

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AI100 Essay Contest
by Peter Stone 29 Jan '23

29 Jan '23

AI100 Prize: Early Career Essay Competition The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) is a longitudinal study of progress in AI and its impacts on society. A key feature of the 2021 AI100 report was its commentary on what had changed since the first report published in 2016. As a way of laying the groundwork for the next report, planned for 2026, the AI100 Standing Committee invites original essay submissions that react directly to one or both of the AI100 reports. Essay application is now open and will close on March 31, 2023. Apply here: https://ai100.stanford.edu/prize-competition ___ Professor Peter Stone Truchard Foundation Chair in Computer Science University Distinguished Teaching Professor Director, Texas Robotics Associate Chair, Department of Computer Science office: 512-471-9796 The University of Texas at Austin mobile: 512-810-3373 2317 Speedway, Stop D9500 pstone(a)cs.utexas.edu Austin, Texas 78712-1757 USA http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~pstone

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