- RoboCup-worldwide - lists.robocup.org

[news] Announcing Verti-Wheelers: Toward Wheeled Mobility on Vertically Challenging Terrain
by Xuesu Xiao 07 May '23

07 May '23

Dear roboticists, the Verti-Wheelers project developed at the RobotiXX lab at George Mason University is officially open-sourced and public to the whole robotics community! In this project, we developed platforms, datasets, and algorithms to empower conventional wheeled robot platforms to move through off-road terrain with vertical protrusions from the ground, such as steep slopes, rocky outcroppings, and uneven surfaces. Without specialized hardware, the Verti-Wheelers project encourages the community to develop enhanced wheeled mobility on such vertically challenging terrain together. The build of our Verti-Wheelers (both hardware and software), hours of demonstrated crawling datasets, and three baseline algorithms are all open-sourced for the community’s use. With the Verti-Wheelers, we look forward to superior robot mobility that allows mobile robots to venture to many difficult spaces which are previously inaccessible to wheeled robots. Please feel free to use the Verti-Wheelers resources for your next research project and your education effort! Verti-Wheelers Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gffm4WHdNyg&t=1s Verti-Wheelers Website: https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/Verti-Wheelers/ Verti-Wheelers Preprint: https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/vw.pdf Verti-Wheelers Datasets: https://dataverse.orc.gmu.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.13021/orc20… Verti-Wheelers Resources: https://github.com/RobotiXX/Verti-Wheelers Thanks Xuesu ----------------------- Xuesu Xiao, Ph.D. -- Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science George Mason University xiao(a)gmu.edu https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/

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CFP: ICIST2023, December 8-14, 2023, Cairo, Egypt
by Pub Conference 28 Apr '23

28 Apr '23

*Call for Papers* *https://conference.cs.cityu.edu.hk/icist <https://conference.cs.cityu.edu.hk/icist>* Sponsor: British University in Egypt Co-Sponsors: City University of Hong Kong and Chongqing Three Gorges University Technical co-sponsor: IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society The 13th International Conference on Information Science and Technology (ICIST 2023) will be held in Cairo, Egypt during December 8-14, 2023. As a cradle of civilization, the conference site features long historical and rich cultural heritages. Following the successes of previous events, ICIST 2023 aims to provide a high-level international forum for scientists, engineers, and educators to present the state of the art of research and applications in related fields. The conference will feature preconference, tutorials, plenary speeches given by world-renowned scholars, regular sessions with broad coverage, and special sessions focusing on popular topics and pre-conference tutorials/workshops to warm up the main event. *Call for Papers and Special Sessions* Prospective authors are invited to contribute high-quality papers to ICIST 2023. In addition, proposals for special sessions within the technical scope of the conference are solicited. Special sessions, to be organized by internationally recognized experts, aim to bring together researchers on special focused topics. Papers submitted for special sessions are to be peer-reviewed with the same criteria used for the contributed papers. Researchers interested in organizing special sessions are invited to submit formal proposals to ICIST 2023. A special session proposal should include the session title, a brief description of the scope and motivation, names, contact information, and brief biographical information on the organizers. *Topic Areas* Topics of contributing papers include, but are not limited to, the following areas: *Computer Science and Engineering* Computer networks, computer vision, pattern recognition, virtual, reality, parallel and distributed computing, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, big data, cloud computing, database management systems, mobile agent computing, quality of services and communication protocol, mobile computing for e-commerce, cryptography and information security, scientific and engineering computing, hybrid computational methods, data visualization and virtual reality, web- and grid-based computing and simulation, possibility theory, Bayes network and hidden Markov models, computational intelligence, granular computing *Control and Automation* Autonomous systems, linear and nonlinear control, robust control, learning and adaptive control, intelligent control, optimization-based and optimal control, model predictive control, fault detection and identification, hybrid intelligent systems, neural control, fuzzy logic control, networked control, industrial automation, process control, robot control, mechatronic systems, vehicle control systems, intelligent transportation systems, environmental monitoring and control, intelligent manufacturing systems, microprocessor-based control, motor control, power control, vehicle control, aerospace control applications. *Signal Processing and Telecommunications* Adaptive filtering & signal processing, audio/speech processing and coding, compressive sensing and sparse representation, higher-order spectral analysis, nonlinear & blind signal processing, neural signal processing, component analysis, array signal processing, parallel and distributed processing, time series analysis, multimedia signal processing, design and implementation of signal processing systems, DSP Implementations and embedded systems, image and multidimensional signal processing, image processing & understanding, multimedia communications, next-generation wireless/wireline communications, communication signal processing, modulation and channel coding, network coding, sensor networks *Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering* Microarray data analysis, gene regulation, network, and pathway analysis, identification and classification of genes, protein structure prediction, next-generation sequencing and metagenomics, protein, DNA/RNA structure, function, and interactions, functional genomics and proteomics, molecular evolution and phylogeny, neuroinformatic, brain-computer interface, clinical engineering, rehabilitation engineering, neural engineering, biomedical signal analysis and modeling, bio-imaging, sensing, and data fusion, biomarker discovery, health informatics, healthcare data acquisition, analysis, and modeling, biomedical data knowledge extraction, biomedical data integration, modeling, and preprocessing, biological data mining, knowledge sharing, visualization, and knowledge utilization, biomedical data mining systems and computing platforms, electronic health record acquisition, analysis, and decision support, high performance computing for biomedical data analysis, smart clinical diagnosis and decision systems *Paper Submission* Authors are invited to submit full-length papers (the nominal number of pages is 10) by the submission deadline through the online submission system. Special session organizers are also invited to enlist six or more papers with cohesive topics to form special sessions. The submission of a paper implies that the paper is original and has not been submitted under review or is not copyright-protected elsewhere and will be presented by an author if accepted. All submitted papers will be refereed by experts in the field based on the criteria of originality, significance, quality, and clarity. The authors of accepted papers will have an opportunity to revise their papers and take into consideration of the referees' comments and suggestions. Accepted papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore subject to meeting IEEE Xplore’s scope and quality requirements. Selected high-quality papers will be included in several journal special issues. *Important Dates* Special session proposals deadline………………………………………………………………………….July 1, 2023 Paper submission deadline…………………………………………………………………...…………......... August 1, 2023 Notification of acceptance……………………….………………………………………...………………..September 1, 2023 Camera-ready copy and author registration………………………………………………..………………..…October 1, 2023

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[Meetings][CfP] Workshop on Multimodal, Interactive Interfaces for Education at ICMI 2023
by Lise Aubin 20 Apr '23

20 Apr '23

*** WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT *** [Apologies for multiple copies of this announcement] ****************************************************** Workshop on Multimodal, Interactive Interfaces for Education https://irecheck.github.io/icmi2023/ Paris, France October 13th, 2023 In conjunction with 25th ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction https://icmi.acm.org/2023/ ****************************************************** AIM AND SCOPE ------------------------------------------------------ From tablets to augmented reality, from virtual avatars, to social robots, multimodal, interactive interfaces emerged as interesting tools to facilitate learning in educational scenarios by improving the engagement and the motivation of students towards the learning activities. Research has also shown the potential of such technologies as convenient instruments for the personalization of teaching strategies to the learning styles of each student, proposing appropriate feedback and adapted levels of difficulty in a wider set of learning activities. Such kind of tailoring might become a new, particularly helpful resource to meet the demands of students with special needs. The development and the adoption of such interfaces in educational scenarios relies on new pedagogies and new didactics co-designed in an interdisciplinary effort involving engineers, psychologists, cognitive scientists, educators, students, and families. The aim of this workshop is to provide a venue for all the involved stakeholders to present scientific advances on the design, the development, and the adoption of multimodal, interactive interfaces for education, fostering discussions, ideas and interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers on the domain as well as industrial partners. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES ------------------------------------------------------ The workshop welcomes the submission of short papers (max 4 pages) matching the ACM Conference Template through the EasyChair submission system: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icmi2023miie All contributions will be subject to blind peer review by a minimum of two independent experts in the field. The Program Committee made of academic experts in social interfaces, education, and children with special needs will ensure the acceptance of high-quality contributions. Accepted papers will be published on the conference proceedings. - Workshop submission deadline, July 23rd, 2023 - Workshop acceptance notification, August 1st, 2023 - Workshop camera ready (hard deadline), August 14th, 2023 - Workshop day, October 13th, 2023 We kindly ask the authors to strictly follow the guidelines of the conference for the submissions: https://icmi.acm.org/2023/guidelines-for-authors/ LIST OF TOPICS ------------------------------------------------------ Topics of interest will include, but will not be limited to: - Theoretical and practical approaches to education with multimodal, interactive interfaces - Socially intelligent agents for education; - Multimodal, assistive interfaces for learning disabilities; - Educational interfaces for students with special needs; - Serious games and gamification; - Tailored education and personalization; - Teachers perception and trust on multimodal, interactive interfaces - Collaborative design for education; - Attention and engagement metrics; - Long-term interaction; - Affective interaction and emotional understanding; - Socio-cognitive skills training; - Verbal, non-verbal communication and backchannels; - Context aware social interaction; - Social interaction in joint activities; - Timing, synchrony and coordination; - Multi-party interaction in educational environments; - Multimodal perception for human intent estimation in the wild. INVITED SPEAKERS ------------------------------------------------------ - Denis Alamargot Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l’Éducation de l’académie de Poitiers, Université de Poitiers, France - Pierre Dillenbourg Computer-Human Interaction for Learning and Instructions Lab, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ------------------------------------------------------ - Daniel C. Tozadore, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland - Lise Aubin, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, France - Soizic Gauthier, Forward College, France - Barbara Bruno, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland - Salvatore M. Anzalone, Université Paris 8, France This workshop is sponsored and partially financed by the French ANR project iReCheck. CONTACTS ------------------------------------------------------ Email: https://irecheck.github.io/icmi2023/ Website: icmi2023miie (at) easychair.org

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[meetings] The 6th ROS Developers Day Call for Speakers
by Yuhong Lin 19 Apr '23

19 Apr '23

Call for Speakers - The 6th ROS Developers Day (ROSDevDay2023) Hi Roboticists, if you know something interesting about ROS and WOULD LIKE TO TEACH IT to the community, present your knowledge at ROS Developers Day (ROSDevDay) <https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-developers-day-2023/?utm_source=robocup…> ! *About ROS Developers Day (ROSDevDay)* The ROSDevDay is an annual conference organized by The Construct, a company that provides online education for ROS (Robot Operating System) developers. The conference brings together experts and enthusiasts in the field of robotics and ROS to share their knowledge and experiences with the community. ROS Developers Day features a series of hands-on presentations covering various aspects of ROS development, such as navigation, manipulation, perception, and control. The conference is designed for both beginners and advanced ROS developers, providing them with an opportunity to program robots with ROS experts in real-time. This year's ROSDevDay will be held on July 7th, 2022. From 7 am to 7 pm CEST. How to prepare & submit your proposal? Check out the instructions here: https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros- developers-day-2023-call-for-speakers/ <https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-developers-day-2023-call-for-speakers/?…> <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…>Presentation Requirements: - ROS-related topics are eligible, including ROS 1 & 2 and ROS basic, intermediate and advanced levels. - You can apply as long as the subject matter is interesting for the ROS community. - The presentation must be around a project that all the attendants can execute within a rosject Deadlines <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…> - Proposal submission deadline: May 5, 2023 - Evaluation period: May 5 – May 15, 2023 - Rosject preparation period: May 15 – June 15, 2023 - Final rosject submission: June 15, 2023 – <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…> For any questions please contact us at info(a)rosdevday.com. Yuhong Lin VP of Marketing The Construct [image: emailAddress] ylin(a)theconstructsim.com [image: website] www.theconstructsim.com <https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-developers-day-2023/?utm_source=email_s…>

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[meetings][CFP] EXTENDED Deadline for paper submission at the 26th RoboCup International Symposium
by Alessandra Rossi 17 Apr '23

17 Apr '23

Dear colleagues, *Apologies for any cross-posting* Please notice that the paper submission deadline has been extended to *01 May 2023*. The *26th RoboCup International **Symposium* will be held on 10 July 2023, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. *Conference website* https://2023.robocup.org/en/symposium/ *Submission link* https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023 *Submission deadline* May 1, 2023 Please find attached the full call for proposals and papers for *the International **Symposium 2023*. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi, Cédric Buche, Marco Simões, Ubbo Visser [image: image.png] The 26th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on *10 July 2023*, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. We are looking for submissions of papers reporting innovative and original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. A full list of topics welcomed to this year's symposium can be found below. Within the described scope of topics, we also encourage submissions of high-quality overview articles, papers describing real-world research, and papers reporting theoretical results. Researchers are invited to submit their work independently of whether they participate in the RoboCup competitions or have a RoboCup team. The symposium is planned to be held in person in Bordeaux, France. However, a hybrid version will be evaluated in case circumstances should require it. In addition to the *regular track* with regular research papers, the *development track* encourages reports on innovative hardware developments, software frameworks, and open-source releases of software components. A review of papers describing these contributions will be based on technical aspects and benefits to the practice of communities specifically working in RoboCup. *Submission deadline:* May 1st, 2023 List of Topics - Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robot system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators - sim2real learning - 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 modelling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localisation, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - neural systems and deep learning - complex motor skill acquisition - reinforcement learning and optimisation - motion and sensor model learning - Human-Robot Interaction - robot social intelligence - fluency of interaction - speech synthesis and natural language generation - natural language recognition - explainable robot behaviours - emotion recognition and reaction - understanding human intent and behaviour - safety, security and dependability - enabling humans to predict robot behaviour - Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy - Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment - Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robot surveillance service and social robots - robots at home, at work and in public spaces - robots in the real world - performance metrics - human-robot interaction Submission Guidelines All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium will be published and archived within the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) series by Springer-Verlag after the conference. Papers should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines ( *https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines* <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>) and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system ( *https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rcsymposium2023* <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023>). Submissions are limited to 12 pages including references. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf: *https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-science/kzwwpvhwnvfj* <https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-…> Invited Speakers - Laurence Devillers, Sorbonne University, France *(confirmed)* - Cynthia Breazeal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA *(confirmed)* Committees Organizing committee - Cédric Buche, CNRS/ENIB, France - cedric.buche(a)enib.fr - Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk - Marco Simões, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Brazil - msimoes(a)uneb.br - Ubbo Visser, University of Miami, USA - visser(a)cs.miami.edu Venue The conference will be held in the Bordeaux Exhibition Center (Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux), Bordeaux, France. Contact Please feel free to ask for further information by emailing Alessandra Rossi - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk

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Final Call for Participation - RoboCup ARM Challenge - Remote
by Jose Avendano Arbelaez 12 Apr '23

12 Apr '23

Final Call for Participation: RoboCup Autonomous Robot Manipulation (ARM) Challenge The RoboCup ARM Challenge will be hosted again for the 2023 RoboCup season and registrations are still open. 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. Submissions are due May 22nd 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 dynamic 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/ Best, Jose Avendaño Senior Robotics Technical Evangelist The MathWorks

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[jobs] One open position for Marie Skłodowska–Curie Doctoral Candidate Researcher (PhD student) in human-robot interaction - TRAIL project
by Alessandra Rossi 12 Apr '23

12 Apr '23

------ * Apologies for any cross-posting* ------- At the University of Naples Federico II (Italy), we are looking for one Marie Skłodowska–Curie Doctoral Candidate Researcher (PhD student) in human-robot interaction. Project: TRAIL: TRAnsparent InterpretabLe robots (Doctoral Network, EU MSCA Project) Start date: 1 September 2023, for 3 years Salary level: salary in accordance with the attractive EU MSCA Doctoral Network regulations for doctoral candidates Application deadline: 30 April 2023 The Doctoral Network TRAIL consists of 15 institutions including universities, research institutions and industry partners. The research area of TRAIL is neural network technology, intelligent robotics and transparency in artificial intelligence. The successful candidate will receive an attractive salary (around 3K) in accordance with the MSCA regulations for Early-Stage Researchers. The exact (net) salary will be confirmed upon appointment and is dependent on local tax regulations and on the country correction factor (to allow for the difference in cost of living in different EU Member States). The salary includes a living allowance, a mobility allowance and a family allowance (if applicable). Furthermore, TRAIL will offer to take advantage of joint scientific research trainings, transferable skills workshops, and international conferences. For more information about the project and consortium contact us (email below). The researcher will focus on the following topics: Researcher position: Using movements and emotions to express hidden intention The focus of the project is to investigate how body movements and emotions can be used as a natural mechanism to express the robot’s intentions, beliefs and understanding of the situational context (i.e., theory of mind), and how such effective behavioural cues can be learned through the interaction. The resulting behavioural and emotional model should be able to adapt with respect to the user preferences, making the approach platform-independent and in a domain including both interaction and autonomous task. Requirements: MSc or equivalent in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science or Engineering with a focus on Intelligent Systems, Intelligent Robotics, Machine Learning and Human-Robot Interaction is required. Excellent programming skills (Python, C++, Machine Learning Frameworks, ROS etc.) are needed. The posts involve substantial travelling within Europe. Each PhD student will be expected to spend secondments at other partner sites and travel to international conferences. According to EU mobility rules, the doctoral researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy for longer than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Applicants who already have a doctoral degree are not eligible. Excellent English communication skills are an important requirement. Application: Send your complete application documents to silvia.rossi(a)unina.it : - A 2-page motivation letter including a description of previous research experience (1page) and current research interest, outlining the fit to the desired ESR (1 page), - A full curriculum vitae with details about where you resided or carried out your main activity [work, studies, etc.], - Copies of degree certificate[s], including transcripts of grades obtained for B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees. In case, MSc is to be completed before the starting of this position, please provide expected final grade and completion date, - Names and email contacts for two referees who would be willing to write a letter of support for your application, - List of publications (if any), - Any English language and other relevant certificates. Shortlisted candidate will be invited for an interview in May. The successful candidate will be working in Naples, Italy. Naples (Italian: Napoli) is the third-largest city in Italy and is the capital of the Campania region. World-known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music, and gastronomy, Naples is a lively, exciting and bustling city situated on the southwest coast in a gorgeous gulf, and is surrounded by attractive tourist and archaeological sites such as Capri, Ischia, Amalfi Coast, Pompei, Ercolano, Mount Vesuvius. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples for further information. For more details on how to apply, please email Prof. Silvia Rossi at silvia.rossi(a)unina.it.

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Fwd: Call for Participation - IranOpen 2023 - Remote and Free
by Nader Zare 11 Apr '23

11 Apr '23

Call for Participation Soccer Simulation 2d league IranOpen2023 The 17th RoboCup IranOpen (IranOpen 2023) Competition will be held, in Tehran, Iran on *26-28 April*. (http://iranopenrobocup2023.ir/) As a member of the technical committee, I would be honored to invite you to participate in Soccer Simulation 2D League (Remote and Free). Registration Conditions: 1. This competition will be held remotely. 2. Participation cost in this Competition is free for Non-domestic teams. 3. There is no qualification round for Non-domestic teams, so you can participate without sending a TDP. 4. Non-domestic teams should also send their information in the form of an email with the subject of IranOpen2023 to keshavarzi.ashkan(a)gmail.com or Morteza.Noohpisheh(a)gmail.com before the deadline (*20 April*). 5. A participation certificate will be given to each team member. 6. It is possible for only one non-domestic team to be among the first three. (Imagine that 3 teams (A, B, C) participated as non-domestic teams, and the order is A, B, D, E, F, so the first team will be A, the second team will be D, and the third team will be E.) This information included : 1. Team Name: 2. Team Leader: 3. E-Mail: 4. Country: 5. Affiliation: 6. Team members: *Teams can upload a new binary before each round! Thank you for your consideration, and do not hesitate to contact us at this address if you have any further questions. We look forward to hearing back from you. Best regards, Ashkan Keshavarzi, Morteza Noohpisheh, Nader Zare

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[meetings] Get ROS2 Industrial Ready Training: ROS2 Basics + ROS2 Navigation + Manipulation with Movelt2
by Yuhong Lin 05 Apr '23

05 Apr '23

Dear Roboticists, The next 'Get ROS2 Industrial Ready' training will be held on April 24th – 26th, 2023. - *Duration*: 3 days. With daily classes from 9:00 to 17:00 CDT. - *Format*: Online with Remote Real Robot - *Website*: https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros2-industrial-workshop/ <https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros2-industrial-workshop/?utm_source=mailis…> This training will take you quickly and smoothly into all ROS2 elements you need to know to program robots with ROS2. You will learn the essential concepts and tools to be able to understand and create any basic ROS 2 industrial related projects, including navigation and arm grasping. *What You Will Learn:* - ROS2 basic elements - ROS2 topics - ROS2 Services - ROS2 Actions - How to manage basic multi-threading in ROS2 - How to use DDS in ROS2 - How to use Debugging tools in ROS2 - How to make a robot autonomously navigate (ROS2 Navigation) - How to control arm robots (MoveIt2) - How to make robots grasp objects *How you will learn:* - This training is a live ZOOM class led by ROS experts - Perform exercises with simulated robots, along with the instructors. - Get hands-on practice in applying ROS2 in an RB-1 BASE warehouse logistics robot and UR3e robotic arm. If you have any questions, please email us at info(a)theconstructsim.com. Yuhong Lin VP of Marketing The Construct [image: emailAddress] ylin(a)theconstructsim.com [image: website] www.theconstructsim.com <https://www.theconstructsim.com/instructor-led-training/?utm_source=email_s…>

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euROBIN 1st Open Call for Exchange Programme
by Paula Montoro 05 Apr '23

05 Apr '23

Dear colleagues, We want to inform you that the 1st Open Call of the project euROBIN is now running! This call is to add new methodical expertise to the network, requesting specific solutions which will be integrated with the partners and uploaded to EuroCore. Until the 10th May 2023, companies of any size, research organisations and academia-research groups can now apply to the 1st Open Call for Exchange Programme (https://eurobin-project.fundingbox.com/): - The access to a up to 12-month support programme with top-class technical experts to mentor to build transferable tech solutions to be included in the EuroCore repository. - A 60 000 Euro lump sum to cover the costs to deploy the digital twin solution. - With euROBIN cascade funding you will advance the code/method to the point that it can address at least one of the project applications and be deployed on other systems than your own. - To be part of a cutting-edge project and to increase networking at EU level with the aim to advance and demonstrate the transferability of robotics solutions across robots and application areas. Who can apply? Proposals should be submitted by the organisation within which a group of researchers/PhD students (endorsed by the organisation they belong to/work at) will be delegated to work in a laboratory. The entities have to be registered in: - The Member States of the European Union and its Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) or - Associated Countries (AC) to Horizon Europe - Other third countries Entities entitled to receive the grant should have the status of: - Company of any size - Research Organisation - Academia-Research Groups If you have doubts, go to the euROBIN Help Desk Community or write email to: info(a)eurobin-project.eu Best regards, Department of Communication euROBIN-project (https://www.eurobin-project.eu/)

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Call For Papers - BRACIS 2023 - 12th Brazilian Conference on Intelligent Systems
by Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi 03 Apr '23

03 Apr '23

Call For Papers - BRACIS 2023 - 12th Brazilian Conference on Intelligent Systems 12th Brazilian Conference on Intelligent Systems (BRACIS) Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, September 25th to 29th, 2023. https://www.bracis.dcc.ufmg.br/ >>>> Deadline for paper submissions: May 5th, 2023 <<< The Program Committee of the 12th Brazilian Conference on Intelligent Systems (BRACIS) invites submissions of original research papers for the conference to be held in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, from September 25th to 29th, 2023, at the UFMG. BRACIS is one of the most important events in Brazil for researchers interested in publishing significant and novel results related to Artificial and Computational Intelligence. The Brazilian Conference on Intelligent Systems (BRACIS) originated from the combination of the two most important scientific events in Brazil in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computational Intelligence (CI): the Brazilian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence - SBIA (21 editions), and the Brazilian Symposium on Neural Networks - SBRN (12 editions). The conference aims to promote theoretical aspects and applications of Artificial and Computational Intelligence and exchange scientific ideas among researchers, practitioners, scientists, and engineers. IMPORTANT DATES - Paper submission - May 5th, 2023. - Notification to authors - July 19th, 2023. - Camera-ready copy due - August 10th, 2023. SPECIAL ISSUES Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended versions of their work to be appreciated for publication in special issues after the conference. SUBMISSION DETAILS *Please, note that BRACIS submission is double-blind* This means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. To facilitate this, authors need to ensure that their manuscripts are prepared in a way that does not reveal their identity. Submissions should include significant and unpublished research on all aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Computational Intelligence (CI). Submitted papers must be written in English and not exceed 15 pages, including all tables, figures, references, and appendices. Formatting instructions, as well as templates for Word and LaTeX, are available at Conference Proceedings guidelines. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf. Submissions must be made online using the JEMS system: https://jems.sbc.org.br/bracis2023 All submitted papers will be reviewed by at least three experts in the field. Accepted papers will be included in the BRACIS proceedings and submitted for publication in Springer in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) / Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) series. Only PDF files can be uploaded to the submission system. TOPICS OF INTEREST Topics of interest include (but are not restricted to): - Agent-based and Multi-Agent Systems - Cognitive Modeling and Human Interaction - Constraints and Search - Foundations of AI - Distributed AI - Information Retrieval, Integration, and Extraction - Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (including Commonsense Reasoning, Model-Based Reasoning, Probabilistic Reasoning, and Approximate Reasoning) - Knowledge Representation and Reasoning in Ontologies and the Semantic Web - Logic-based Knowledge Representation and Reasoning - Natural Language Processing - Planning and Scheduling - Evolutionary Computation and Metaheuristics - Fuzzy Systems - Neural Networks - Deep Learning - Machine Learning and Data Mining - Meta-learning - Reinforcement Learning - Molecular and Quantum Computing - Pattern Recognition and Cluster Analysis - Hybrid Systems - Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering - Combinatorial and Numerical Optimization - Computer Vision - Education - Forecasting - Game Playing and Intelligent Interactive Entertainment - Intelligent Robotics - Multidisciplinary AI and CI - Foundation Models - Human-centric AI - Ethics GENERAL CHAIR Gisele Pappa (UFMG) Wagner Meira Jr (UFMG) PROGRAM CHAIRS Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi (Centro Universitário FEI) Murilo Nardi (UFSCAR) Esta mensagem, juntamente com qualquer outra informação anexada, é confidencial e protegida por lei. Somente os seus destinatários estão autorizados a usá-la. Se você não for o destinatário, por favor, informe o remetente e, em seguida, apague a mensagem, observando que não há autorização para usar, copiar, armazenar, encaminhar, imprimir ou tomar qualquer ação baseada no seu conteúdo.

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[meetings][CFP] Second call for papers at the 26th RoboCup International Symposium
by Alessandra Rossi 31 Mar '23

31 Mar '23

Dear colleagues, *Apologies for any cross-posting* We are very pleased to invite you to the *26th RoboCup International * *Symposium* will be held on 10 July 2023, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. *Conference website* https://2023.robocup.org/en/symposium/ *Submission link* https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023 *Submission deadline* *April 16, 2023* Please find attached the full call for proposals and papers for *the International **Symposium 2023*. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi, Cédric Buche, Marco Simões, Ubbo Visser [image: image.png] The 26th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on *10 July 2023*, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. We are looking for submissions of papers reporting innovative and original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. A full list of topics welcomed to this year's symposium can be found below. Within the described scope of topics, we also encourage submissions of high-quality overview articles, papers describing real-world research, and papers reporting theoretical results. Researchers are invited to submit their work independently of whether they participate in the RoboCup competitions or have a RoboCup team. The symposium is planned to be held in person in Bordeaux, France. However, a hybrid version will be evaluated in case circumstances should require it. In addition to the *regular track* with regular research papers, the *development track* encourages reports on innovative hardware developments, software frameworks, and open-source releases of software components. A review of papers describing these contributions will be based on technical aspects and benefits to the practice of communities specifically working in RoboCup. *Submission deadline:* April 16, 2023 List of Topics - Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robot system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators - sim2real learning - 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 modelling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localisation, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - neural systems and deep learning - complex motor skill acquisition - reinforcement learning and optimisation - motion and sensor model learning - Human-Robot Interaction - robot social intelligence - fluency of interaction - speech synthesis and natural language generation - natural language recognition - explainable robot behaviours - emotion recognition and reaction - understanding human intent and behaviour - safety, security and dependability - enabling humans to predict robot behaviour - Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy - Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment - Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robot surveillance service and social robots - robots at home, at work and in public spaces - robots in the real world - performance metrics - human-robot interaction Submission Guidelines All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium will be published and archived within the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) series by Springer-Verlag after the conference. Papers should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines ( *https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines* <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>) and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system ( *https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rcsymposium2023* <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023>). Submissions are limited to 12 pages including references. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf: *https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-science/kzwwpvhwnvfj* <https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-…> Invited Speakers - Laurence Devillers, Sorbonne University, France *(confirmed)* - Cynthia Breazeal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA *(confirmed)* Committees Organizing committee - Cédric Buche, CNRS/ENIB, France - cedric.buche(a)enib.fr - Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk - Marco Simões, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Brazil - msimoes(a)uneb.br - Ubbo Visser, University of Miami, USA - visser(a)cs.miami.edu Venue The conference will be held in the Bordeaux Exhibition Center (Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux), Bordeaux, France. Contact Please feel free to ask for further information by emailing Alessandra Rossi - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk

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[meetings] Call for Speakers - The 6th ROS Developers Day (ROSDevDay2023)
by Yuhong Lin 31 Mar '23

31 Mar '23

Call for Speakers - The 6th ROS Developers Day (ROSDevDay2023) Hi Roboticists, if you know something interesting about ROS and WOULD LIKE TO TEACH IT to the community, present your knowledge at ROS Developers Day (ROSDevDay) <https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-developers-day-2023/?utm_source=robocup…> ! ------------------------------ <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…>New this year: Speakers will be paid 300€ + 5% commission on rosject sales! We value the work of every ROS developer and want to reward developers for their work. To that end, each speaker at ROSDevDay2023 will receive 300€, plus 5% of their rosject’s total revenue from sales on TheConstruct <https://app.theconstructsim.com/Rosjects>‘s online learning platform. *Your rosject will permanently appear on The Construct for €39, the speaker will receive 5% of the total revenue from the rosject as a permanent revenue stream. ------------------------------ How to prepare & submit your proposal? Check out the instructions here: https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-developers-day-2023-call-for-speakers/ <https://www.theconstructsim.com/ros-developers-day-2023-call-for-speakers/?…> <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…>Presentation Requirements: - ROS-related topics are eligible, including ROS 1 & 2 and ROS basic, intermediate and advanced levels. - You can apply as long as the subject matter is interesting for the ROS community. - The presentation must be around a project that all the attendants can execute within a rosject <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…>[image: :white_check_mark:] Examples of successful projects: - A practical demonstration of Nav2 new features: Practical Demonstration of New User-Requested Nav2 Features | Steve Macenski | ROSDevDay 2021 - YouTube <https://youtu.be/BmyCi2lcdJY> - Multi-floor navigation: Multi-Floor Navigation with ROS Navigation Stack | Ammaar Solkar | ROSDevDay 2021 - YouTube <https://youtu.be/6lJurC3Tl-M> - Simulating and testing underwater robots: Simulating and Testing Underwater Robots in Gazebo - ROS2 | Arjo Chakravarty | ROSDevDay 2022 - YouTube <https://youtu.be/JMevncnfM0Y> - Building a planning scene for pick&place: Build a MoveIt's Planning Scene for a Pick & Place Application | María Beneyto | ROSDevDay 2022 - YouTube 1 <https://youtu.be/NgIsFPVfVNY> - Unix domain socket communication with ROS: #ROSDevCon19: Unix Domain Socket communication in ROS by TOMOYA FUJITA - YouTube 1 <https://youtu.be/VVaRyAyC4ck> <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…>[image: :x:] Examples that do not apply: - Something that can only be applied to an actual device and cannot be demostrated during the rosject - Something that it is at so low a level that attendees barely understand because they cannot relate the relation between that and robots - Something that cannot be executed inside a rosject <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…>REMEMBER: This conference is not about showing your latest results (you can if you want). Instead, it is about showing and sharing interesting subjects with ROS to the audience so they can practice, learn and apply it to their projects. <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…> Deadlines - Proposal submission deadline: May 5, 2023 - Evaluation period: May 5 – May 15, 2023 - Rosject preparation period: May 15 – June 15, 2023 - Final rosject submission: June 15, 2023 – <https://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-speakers-ros-developers-day-2023/30516…> For any questions please contact us at info(a)rosdevday.com.

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National Robotics Festival - Portugal
by Patricia Vergara 29 Mar '23

29 Mar '23

Hello good morning: We are almost ready for the 23rd edition of the National Robotics Festival - Portugal - FNR’2023 event. We are pleased to address this invitation to invite you to participate in the 2023 Portuguese Robotics Open (FNR'2023) which is promoted by the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT) and the Portuguese Robotics Society (SPR) and which will take place at the Municipal Pavilion of Tomar, from April 28 to 30, 2023. Categories: Major: DRAGSTAR FREEBOTS MANIPULADORES ROBÓTICOS ROBOT@FACTORY LITE ROBOT@FACTORY 4.0 CONDUÇÃO AUTÓNOMA LIGA DE SIMULAÇÃO 3D @HOME Junior: RCJ RESCUE SIMULATION ROBOT@FACTORY LITE FIRST CHALLENGER FREEBOTS JÚNIOR ONSTAGE BUSCA E SALVAMENTO – LINHA BUSCA E SALVAMENTO – LABIRINTO ROBOCUP SOCCER (MSL) The registration form is now available on the event's website! If you register before April 2nd, in addition to guaranteeing your spot, you are entitled to a discount on your team's registration. Click the button below for more details and access to our website! https://www.festivalnacionalrobotica.pt/2023/ If you have any questions, you can contact the organization through the official email: info(a)festivalnacionalrobotica.pt We look forward to your participation and present our best regards, The Organizing Committee -- Patrícia Vergara

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[news] Announcing MuSoHu: Multi-Modal Social Human Navigation Dataset
by Xuesu Xiao 28 Mar '23

28 Mar '23

Dear Roboticists, we are pleased to announce the publication of the Multi-Modal Social Human Navigation Dataset (MuSoHu), which contains ~50 km, 10 hours, 150 trials, 7 humans of data in the wild and allows future robots to learn socially compliant navigation from humans, natural-born experts at such a task! Website: https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/MuSoHu/ Paper: https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/musohu.pdf Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgsKAy_yR7w Dataset: https://dataverse.orc.gmu.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.13021/orc20… Thanks Xuesu ----------------------- Xuesu Xiao, Ph.D. -- Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science George Mason University xiao(a)gmu.edu https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/

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Call for Participation: RoboCup@Home Education Workshop & Challenge 2023
by Jeffrey Tan 22 Mar '23

22 Mar '23

Dear RoboCup Community, RoboCup@Home Education Challenge is an educational competition platform to cultivate beginner teams for RoboCup@Home challenges. The unique Workshop+Competition format effectively boosts novice participants for challenging service robot development and AI learning within an event time. This year, we are organizing the on-site event at the RoboCup 2023 Bordeaux in July 2023. The event comprises a series of robot building short courses for beginners via online classroom, hands-on workshop and face-to-face on-site competition in Bordeaux. The event details are as follows in the Call for Participation announcement. We are organizing a Kick-Off Webinar on 29/30 March 2023 to give an overview of the event. << Kick-Off Webinar 2023 >> Join either Session A or Session B = Session A = - 29 March 2023 (Wed) 14:00-15:30 (CET France/Italy) - 29 March 2023 (Wed) 21:00-22:30 (GMT+8 China/Malaysia) - 29 March 2023 (Wed) 09:00-10:30 (EDT New York) = Session B = - 30 March 2023 (Thu) 19:00-20:30 (CET France/Italy) - 30 March 2023 (Thu) 14:00-15:30 (EDT New York) - 30 March 2023 (Thu) 11:00-12:30 (PDT California) Join online: https://forms.office.com/r/r15VNvdkUQ ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** === Call for Participation: RoboCup@Home Education Workshop & Challenge 2023 === [ Venue ] RoboCup 2023 Bordeaux [ Date ] 4 – 10 July 2023 [ Web ] https://www.robocupathomeedu.org/challenges/robocup-2023-bordeaux << Supported by >> - RoboCup Federation - RoboCup 2023 LOC << Sponsors and Technical Partners >> - SoftBank Robotics - Jupiter Robot << Schedule and Rules >> - Kick-Off Webinar: 29 March 2023 - Fast Track Entry: 30 April 2023 (Last Submission) - Online Classroom: 1 April – 30 May 2023 (By Appointment) - Guided Track Entry: 31 May 2023 (Last Submission) - On-site Workshop & Challenge: 4 – 10 July 2023 (RoboCup) For the competition rules, please visit https://www.robocupathomeedu.org/rules << Categories >> Open Platform (OP) Custom Build Robots - Open category - Junior category (under 19) Standard Platform (SP) Pepper Robot - Open category - Junior category (under 19) << How to Participate >> Step 1 - Intend To Participate Step 1 - Kick-Off Webinar Step 2a - Fast Track Entry (without Online Classroom) Step 2b - Guided Track Entry (with Online Classroom) Step 3 - Workshop & Challenge For more details, please visit https://www.robocupathomeedu.org/challenges/robocup-2023-bordeaux You can contact us via oc(a)robocupathomeedu.org Best regards, RoboCup@Home Education Workshop & Challenge 2023 Organizing Committee

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[meetings] [news] Submission Deadline(s) Update: 2nd Benchmark for Autonomous Robot Navigation (BARN) Challenge -- ICRA 2023 Competition
by Xuesu Xiao 21 Mar '23

21 Mar '23

Based on multiple participants’ requests, we have updated The BARN Challenge 2023 submission deadline(s) to allow more time to make travel arrangement to London. April 20 2023: Soft Submission Deadline (to guarantee an invitation to the final physical competition given good navigation performance in simulation) May 1 2023: 1st Round Physical Competition Invitations (for participants to make travel plans) May 20 2023: Hard Submission Deadline (to participate in the simulation competition. However, final physical competition eligibility will depend on the available capacity and travel arrangement made beforehand) May 22 2023: 2nd Round Physical Competition Invitations All participants are encouraged to submit their current navigation system for evaluation as soon as possible and resubmit before the deadline(s) if needed. 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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Fall 2023 fully-funded Ph.D. positions in human-robot interaction (HRI) at the University of South Florida (USF), Tampa, FL, USA
by Zhao Han 21 Mar '23

21 Mar '23

(This posting is also available at https://zhaohanphd.com/phd-positions/.) Joining the University of South Florida<https://www.usf.edu/> (USF) in August, Dr. Zhao Han<https://zhaohanphd.com/> invites applications for up to two fully funded Ph.D. positions (Research Assistants) starting as early as Fall 2023 in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Ph.D. program<https://www.usf.edu/engineering/cse/graduate/phd-program.aspx> (catalog<https://catalog.usf.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=18&poid=7770>) at USF in Tampa, Florida, USA. The deadline for Fall 2023 admission is April 15. Strong candidates are highly motivated, comfortable with programming, eager to learn, hard-working, and demonstrate an interest in the emerging and interdisciplinary field of human-robot interaction (HRI), including robot explanation/transparency, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), collaborative mobile manipulation/robotics, robot platform and interaction design, AI, cognitive science/psychology, or an area related to Dr. Han’s expertise<https://zhaohanphd.com/expertise/>. Successful candidates will be mentored and trained as prolific and independent researchers, publishing at top-tier international conferences and journals. Dr. Han has a strong publication record<https://zhaohanphd.com/publications/> and extensive mentoring experience<https://zhaohanphd.com/cv/#mentoring> with an inclusive excellence and supportive approach. You will work on real robot platforms using popular robotics frameworks. Students from underrepresented and underserved groups that are traditionally disadvantaged are strongly encouraged to apply. This position includes tuition waivers and stipends. ________________________________ Dr. Zhao Han is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering department at the University of South Florida, joining the faculty in August 2023. He is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Colorado School of Mines. His research lies broadly in human-robot interaction (HRI), robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented reality (AR). He focuses on designing, developing, and evaluating novel robotic systems and interactions, for embodied robots to be more capable and understandable while interacting and collaborating with humans. He received the best long-paper award at INLG 2022 and the best late-breaking report third prize at HRI 2022. Previously, he had led teams to win multiple international and national robot competitions, including first place in the Panasonic Prototype 3D LiDAR Challenge and second place in the FetchIt Mobile Manipulation Challenge at ICRA 2019. In addition to research, he received a university-wide Mines Diversity, Inclusion, and Access (DI&A) Award in 2022. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UMass Lowell, advised by AAAI Fellow Dr. Holly Yanco. He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba in Canada. The University of South Florida (USF)<https://www.usf.edu/> is a high-impact global research university dedicated to student success and has an annual budget of 2.34 billion (2022-2023). Ranked top 100 in U.S. News & World Report’s national university rankings, no other public university in the US has risen faster than USF in the past decade. USF is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”, and according to the National Science Foundation, USF spent $568 million on research and development in 2019, ranking it 43rd in the US and 25th among public universities. Serving over 49,000 students, USF is designated as one of three Preeminent State Research Universities<https://admissions.usf.edu/blog/what-is-preeminence-and-why-it-matters-to-y…> by the Florida Board of Governors, receiving additional financial support from the state of Florida for student success and research. Learn more on USF’s about page<https://www.usf.edu/about-usf/index.aspx>. USF is located in the City of Tampa on the west coast of the Sunshine State of Florida. Full of opportunities and possibilities, the Tampa Bay area has around 3 million people and is one of the top places to live. Learn more about Florida Gulf Coast Living<https://www.usf.edu/admissions/freshmen/why-usf/our-campuses/gulf-coast-liv…> for why over 49,000 students have chosen USF as well as the US<https://www.visittheusa.com/destination/tampa-bay>, state<https://www.visitflorida.com/places-to-go/central-west/tampa/>, and local<https://www.visittampabay.com/> resources. ________________________________ A complete application package includes: * Unofficial Transcripts (including the grade sheet and diploma, if applicable) * If admitted, official transcripts and test scores will need to be submitted to Graduate Admissions but unofficial transcripts/scores can be used in reviewing the application. * PDF of GRE Scores * CV/Resume * Statement of Purpose * 3 Letters of Recommendation (Must be on official letterhead with recommender’s title and contact) * PDF of English Proficiency Scores, if applicable For consideration, please mention Dr. Zhao Han in your application materials and apply through the USF graduate student admission process<https://www.usf.edu/admissions/graduate/admission-information/>. The current admission cycle is Spring 2024. To be admitted to Fall 2023, you must also 1. Email your application package without the recommendation letters to zhaohan(a)mines.edu 2. Ask each of your three recommendation letter writers to email their letter to zhaohan(a)mines.edu By applying in the USF’s admissions portal, any other interested faculty member can also review your application. All applications and recommendation letters must be submitted to the USF admissions portal and emailed to Dr. Zhao Han by April 15. Applications will be considered starting immediately. International students should apply soon because visa applications require additional time. Once an admission offer is accepted, Research Assistantship offer decisions will be made once Dr. Zhao Han arrives at USF in August. --- Zhao Han, Ph.D.<https://zhaohanphd.com/> (he/him<https://pronouns.org/>) Post-Doctoral Fellow, Computer Science, Brown Hall, 280M Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA zhaohanphd.com<https://zhaohanphd.com/> | @hanzhao<https://twitter.com/hanzhao> <https://twitter.com/hanzhao>

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Last call: AI100 Essay Contest - due March 31st
by Peter Stone 21 Mar '23

21 Mar '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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ERRATUM: RoboCup Newsletter
by Ornella-Roxane Owoundi Bilounga 20 Mar '23

20 Mar '23

dear robocuper, After receiving the first edition of the newsletter it was revealed that there was an error in the registration and set up dates of the junior teams, I would like to apologize for this error which has been corrected in this new version. Indeed for the juniors the information is as follows: [Junior Registration Schedule] Registration March 24 - June 6 Late registration June 7 - June 30 [Junior League Schedule] Setup: July 05 (Wed.), 2023 Competition: July 06 (Thu.) -July 09 (Sun.), 2023 Symposium: July 10 (Mon.), 2023 We remain at your disposal for any further information. Best regards, the organizing committee [ https://www.u-bordeaux.fr/ ] Ornella OWOUNDI Cheffe de projet RoboCup 2023 RoboCup 2023 project manager Direction de la planification stratégique (DiPSi) Pôle Pilotage et aide à la stratégie (PAS) T. 05 40 00 61 36 P. 07 77 25 41 82 [ https://www.u-bordeaux.fr/ | https://www.u-bordeaux.fr ]

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Robotica2023: Tomar, Portugal - 3D Simulation Competition - Call for Participation
by Nuno Lau 17 Mar '23

17 Mar '23

============================================================= ---------------- CALL FOR PARTICIPATION ----------------- ============================================================= (Our apologies for any cross-posting) ROBOTICA 2023 - 22nd Portuguese Robotics Open https://www.festivalnacionalrobotica.pt/2023/en April 28 to 30, 2023 Tomar, Portugal The Portuguese Robotics Open is a RoboCup Event that aims at promoting Science and Technology among students from the 1st grade to university studies, as well among the general public, through robotic competitions. We would like to invite you to participate in the 22nd Portuguese Robotics Open which will take place from April 28 to 30, 2023, in Tomar, Portugal. If you are interested in participating, please register your team in one of the promoted competitions. 3D Simulation competition allows for the participation of remote teams. == 3D SIMULATION LEAGUE == Robot scientific competitions are a growing trend worldwide and particularly at the European level in the past few years. The 3D SIMULATION LEAGUE 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. --------- The official rules of this League for the 2023 edition, can be found at: https://ssim.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/3D-Rulebook2022.pdf --------- --------- Important resources for the 3D Simulation League, including mailing lists, an installation guide for the server and 3D viewer, team binaries, source-code releases, game replays and other documents can be found at: https://ssim.robocup.org/3d-simulation/3d-tools/ --------- == Schedule == Early Registration deadline (250 euros): April 2, 2023 Late Registration deadline (300 euros): April 16, 2023 Remote Team Late Registration deadline (100 euros): April 16, 2023 Portuguese Robotics Open: April 28-30, 2023 All deadlines are 23:59 GMT. == Registration == Registration is performed through the on-line form at: https://forms.gle/7WnmRiTnLAmHLTxj8 == Description and History == The Portuguese Robotics Open (also known as Festival Nacional de Robótica) had its 1st edition in 2001. The event has had an enormous growth since the 1st edition, both in the number of teams, participants and visitors and also includes an international IEEE conference where national and international researchers present their latest work in the field of Robotics (https://www.festivalnacionalrobotica.pt/icarsc/). The Portuguese Robotics Open is currently an initiative of the Portuguese Robotics Society. Hoping to see you at the Portuguese Robotics Open! Kind Regards, The Portuguese Robotics Open Organizing Committee

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IROBOT'2023 - 12th International Thematic Track on Intelligent Robotics, Azores, Portugal
by Nuno Lau 17 Mar '23

17 Mar '23

(apologies for cross-posting) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IROBOT'2023 CALL FOR PAPERS 12th International Thematic Track on Intelligent Robotics To be held at EPIA 2023, September 5-8, 2023 Faial Island, Azores, Portugal https://epia2023.inesctec.pt/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The EPIA Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a well-established European conference in the field of AI. The 22nd edition, EPIA 2023, will take place in Horta, Faial Island (Azores) between September 5th-8th, 2023. As in previous editions, this international conference is hosted with the patronage of the Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence (APPIA). The purpose of this conference is to promote research in all areas of AI, covering both theoretical/foundational issues and applications, and the scientific exchange among researchers, engineers, and practitioners in related disciplines. EPIA 2023 will feature a set of thematic tracks, covering a wide spectrum of AI topics. Accepted papers will be published in a Springer's Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence volume. ## Important Dates 16 Apr 2023: Paper Submission Deadline 9 May 2023: Author Notification/Registration Open 15 Jun 2023: Camera-Ready Deadline 5-8 Sep 2023: EPIA'2023 Conference ## IROBOT Description IROBOT'2023 poses itself as a follow-up on the previous nine International Thematic Tracks/Workshops on Intelligent Robotics held at EPIA since 2005. Its main purpose is to bring together researchers, engineers and other professionals interested in the application of AI techniques in real/simulated robotics to discuss current work and future directions. Robotics, from the point of view of AI, has been an important application field, from which AI has also gained. Namely, the dynamic and unforeseen nature of the environment, especially for mobile robots, has fostered research in these aspects of AI. Together with the developments in Robotics Research, the use of Robotics in industry and services has changed a lot in recent years. New paradigms and approaches for industrial robots and service robots have emerged, for example, on mobile robots learning, localization, mapping and navigation in unstructured environments. IROBOT 2023 will discuss will discuss these new developments on industrial and service robotics with focus on robotic assistive platforms/solutions and robotics application related to nature (ocean, florest, agriculture, etc.). ## Topics of Interest The Thematic Track will be structured around the following themes: - Adaptive and flexible industrial robotics - Agriculture robots - AI Planning for robotics - Autonomous vehicles - Cognitive robotics - Computer vision and object recognition - Coordination in robotics - Evolutionary robotics and reactive intelligence - Human-robots interface and interaction - Humanoid robotics - Intelligent buildings and warehouses - Intelligent transportation systems - Mobile robots localization and navigation - Modelling and simulating complex robots - Multi-Robot systems - Field Robots - Real-time reactivity - Robot behaviour engineering - Robot learning and adaptation - Robotic surveillance - Sensor fusion This topics' list is not exhaustive. Papers may address one or more of the topics, and authors should not feel limited by them. Unlisted but related topics are also acceptable, provided they fit in the thematic track main subject. ## Paper Submission Authors are invited to submit original research contributions or experience reports in English. Scientific or technical articles describing state-of-the-art techniques, algorithms, systems, environments, problems or applications relevant to the area of Intelligent Robotics may be submitted. Papers discussing application transfer from simulated to real robots and papers showing socially useful robotic applications generated by participations in robotic competitions are also welcome. Although the main focus is on robot learning, there will be space for reporting research in AI applied to other types of robots. Submissions must follow the guidelines specified in the EPIA'2023 site. The Springer LNCS format must be used (instructions in https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…). Springer encourages authors to include their ORCIDs in their papers. The length of submitted full papers must not exceed 12 pages. Authors must remove their names from the submitted papers, and should take reasonable care not to indirectly disclose their identity. Paper submissions will be made in PDF format, through the submission page: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=epia2023 Three program committee members will be assigned to review each paper. Acceptance will be based on the paper's significance, technical quality, clarity, relevance and originality. Accepted papers, must be presented at the conference by one of the authors. Accepted papers will be scheduled for presentation, which requires that at least one of the authors should register at the Conference. All accepted papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings. ## IROBOT'2023 Organizing Committee Luís Paulo Reis, Universidade do Porto / LIACC, Portugal Nuno Lau, Universidade de Aveiro / IEETA, Portugal João Alberto Fabro, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Brazil

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Call for Interest - ERL – Smart City competition in 2023
by Pedro U. Lima 16 Mar '23

16 Mar '23

=============================================================================== Call for Interest ERL – Smart City competition in 2023 Milton Keynes, UK 18-21 September 2023 https://eu-robotics.net/erl-smart-city-competition-in-2023/ ================================================================================ In line with its aim to boost European Robotics Leagues (ERL) activity, euRobotics is pleased to announce that a SmartCity competition will take place during 18th – 21st September 2023 in Milton Keynes, UK. The ERL Smart City Robotics Competition follows a series of successful competitions which were organised under the SciRoc project, including a competition in Milton Keynes in 2019 and another in Bologna, Italy, in 2021. At the present time, the competition episodes include: Episode 1 – Deliver coffee shop orders Episode 2 – Through the Door Episode 3 – Take the elevator Episode 4 – Shopping pick and pack Episode 5 – Socially Acceptable Item Delivery Full details about the competition can be found on the following website: https://eu-robotics.net/erl-smart-city-competition-in-2023/ If you are interested in participating, please fill the registration form at ERL website by April 17th. Form link: https://forms.gle/XVwTT1o2MaBUbeLj9 ############## Important dates: ############## Call for interest deadline: April 17th 2023 Application deadline: May 31st 2023 ERL Smart City competition: 18th-21st September 2023

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2023 RoboCup Newsletter #1
by Ornella-Roxane Owoundi Bilounga 13 Mar '23

13 Mar '23

Dear RoboCuper, Please find attached the first RoboCup Newsletter. We wish you and your team a successful preparations for RoboCup 2023, and we hope to see you all in Bordeaux. Best regards, The Executive Working Committee [ https://www.u-bordeaux.fr/ ] Ornella OWOUNDI Cheffe de projet RoboCup 2023 RoboCup 2023 project manager Direction de la planification stratégique (DiPSi) Pôle Pilotage et aide à la stratégie (PAS) T. 05 40 00 61 36 P. 07 77 25 41 82 [ https://www.u-bordeaux.fr/ | https://www.u-bordeaux.fr ]

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[meetings][CFP] EXTENDED DEADLINE - RO-MAN 2023 - Special Session "To err is robotic: Understanding, preventing and resolving robots' failures in HRI"
by Alessandra Rossi 10 Mar '23

10 Mar '23

*Apologies for any cross-posting* Dear colleagues, Apologies for any cross-posting, the *deadline for Special Sessions has been EXTENDED to 31st March 2023.* 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 *Dr. Alessandra Rossi* Postdoctoral researcher PRISCA research lab University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Adaptive Systems Research Group University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom ------------------------------------------------------ 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) can be used 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 March 31, 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 <https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/J7oDCwEQYFRkjN9S93A0b?domain=ras.papercep…> 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://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/zDWRCxVRZhQDlXwtw2vE2?domain=ras.papercep…> or MSWord <https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/-Aj0Cy6V1syK14ktNA3jc?domain=ras.papercep…> Papers should be submitted on http://ras.papercept.net/ <https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/J7oDCwEQYFRkjN9S93A0b?domain=ras.papercep…> 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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