- RoboCup-worldwide - lists.robocup.org

ICIST 2026 – Call for Papers
by Nian Ashlee Zhang 28 Feb '26

28 Feb '26

The 16th International Conference on Information Science and Technology (ICIST 2026) will be held in Coimbra, Portugal, October 1-6, 2026. Topics include intelligent control and automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, information processing, computer vision, networking, and information security. Submission deadline: May 15, 2026. Technically supported by IEEE SMC. Accepted papers are expected to be included in IEEE Xplore. Conference website & submission: https://conference.cs.cityu.edu.hk/icist/ Please feel free to share with interested colleagues.

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Postdoctoral Position at UT Austin
by Saar-Tsechansky, Maytal 26 Feb '26

26 Feb '26

Postdoctoral Position at UT Austin We have openings for postdoctoral positions in use-inspired AI research, offering opportunities to advance AI that strengthens human–AI teaming and decision-making. We seek researchers motivated to lead an impactful agenda at the frontier of productive, reliable, and grounded decision support. The start date for the position can be immediate or anytime through August 2026. This project is in collaboration with a leading university-based medical center. The postdoctoralresearcher will join an interdisciplinary team of faculty and PhD students across UT Austin, benefit from strong mentorship, and work closely with decision-makers through unique access to real-world settings. Successful candidates will also become part of UT Austin’s vibrant AI research community, with opportunities to engage in affiliated AI labs and institutes. Ideal candidates hold a PhD in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science or related areas), have a track record and interest in use-inspired AI research, and bring the independence and initiative to start and drive projects while collaborating effectively in an interdisciplinary environment. How to Apply? Please use this link to apply<https://utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UTstaff/job/UT-MAIN-CAMPUS/Postdocto…>. Required materials to apply: * A statement of research, including accomplishments (1-2 pages) * 2 representative publications * Contact information for 3 individuals who can provide a letter of reference Feel free to reach out to me with questions at maytal(a)mail.utexas.edu<mailto:maytal@mail.utexas.edu>. - Maytal Saar-Tsechansky. Maytal Saar-Tsechansky (she/her/hers) | Mary John and Ralph Spence Centennial Professor Information, Risk, and Operations Management | The Maytal Saar-Tsechansky (she/her/hers) | Mary John and Ralph Spence Centennial Professor Information, Risk, and Operations Management | The McCombs School of Business | The University of Texas at Austin Affiliated: The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, Transplant Center, The University of Texas Science Center at San Antonio The Oden <https://oden.utexas.edu/> Institute<https://oden.utexas.edu/> Machine Learning Lab<https://ml.utexas.edu/>, Scientific Advisory Board Member Personal webpage: maytals.com<https://www.maytals.com/> --

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ICRA26 Workshop on Shared Challenges in Human-Centered and Resilient Robotic Autonomy
by Katarzyna Pasternak 24 Feb '26

24 Feb '26

Dear RoboCuppers, We invite submissions to the workshop *“Shared Challenges in Human-Centered and Resilient Robotic Autonomy <https://sites.google.com/cs.miami.edu/scr-icra26/call-for-contributions>”*, to be held in conjunction with *ICRA 2026*. Robots are increasingly expected to operate various complex environments such as homes, factories, and disaster environments. While these domains differ in context and constraints, they share fundamental challenges such as robust autonomy in dynamic and uncertain settings, natural interaction with non-expert users, perception in cluttered or degraded environments, and reliable manipulation of diverse objects. Recent advances in AI and learning create new opportunities for adaptation and cross-domain transfer, while safety, ethics, and benchmarking remain central concerns for responsible deployment. This workshop brings together researchers from *domestic service robotics, smart manufacturing, and disaster response* to discuss cross-cutting challenges, transferable solutions, and unifying principles for resilient, human-centered robotic systems. *Topics of Interest (including but not limited to)* - Human–Robot Interaction and communication with non-expert users - Navigation, perception, and mapping in dynamic, unstructured, or degraded environments - Mobile manipulation and grasping in real-world contexts - Learning and adaptation for cross-domain transfer and task planning under uncertainty - Safety, ethics, and evaluation frameworks for long-term robust autonomy We especially encourage contributions reflecting on the transferability of skills and systems between different areas of robotics and contributions that reflect on *societal needs and implications* of deploying robotic systems in real-world settings such as homes, clinics, factories, and disaster sites. Papers may include short work-in-progress and position papers (2–4 pages) as well as long-format integration and experimental papers (4–8 pages). Each submission will undergo independent review by at least two reviewers. All submissions will be considered for both oral presentations and poster sessions. Selected high-quality submissions may be invited to a *special journal issue*. *Best Paper Award* will be presented at the workshop. *Important Dates* - *Submission deadline:* April 1, 2026 - *Decision notification:* April 15, 2026 - *Camera-ready deadline:* May 15, 2026 - *Workshop date:* June 1 or June 5, 2026 (TBD) *Submission Site* https://easychair.org/my2/conference?conf=scr2026 We warmly encourage participation from researchers across robotics, AI, and HRI communities, and we look forward to fostering a lively, cross-disciplinary discussion. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the workshop organizers. Best regards, *The SCR 2026 Workshop Organizing Committee*

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Call for Participation - ICRA 2026 Legged Robot Challenges (Deadline 03/15/2026)
by Kim, Dongbin 20 Feb '26

20 Feb '26

Dear Colleagues We are pleased to announce "Call for Participation - ICRA 2026 Legged Robot Challenges" Website: https://quadruped-robot-challenges.notion.site/ICRA-2026-Legged-Robot-Chall… Information: The IEEE RAS Legged Robot Challenges (LRC) evaluate remotely-operated and autonomous legged robots using standard terrains, obstacles, and tasks to quantitatively measure and compare capabilities. These challenges inspire innovation in legged robot mobility and have evolved to include embedded dexterity tasks for onboard manipulators. Any type of legged robot can participate, including quadrupeds, bipeds, or others. Each robot’s performance can be directly compared to similar implementations and sizes to identify best-in-class capabilities. Safety belays over top of each lane catch falling robots so increasingly difficult settings can be attempted without risk to the robots. These Legged Robot Challenges are hosted at major robotics conferences each year to facilitate interactions between robotics researchers, commercial manufacturers, and various user communities that need capable and easy-to-use autonomous robots to perform tasks in complex and often hazardous environments. In addition to demonstrating the state-of-the-science in robotics for unstructured environments, these Legged Robot Challenges help validate and disseminate standard test methods that emergency responders and others worldwide can use to objectively evaluate and compare commercial robots for purchasing, support training with quantitative measures of remote operator proficiency, and compare results no matter where or when the evaluations are conducted. ICRA 2026 LRC is a key opportunity for Legged Robots to qualify for a spot in RoboCup Rescue for RoboCup 2026! (https://rrl.robocup.org/) Competition Registration Deadline: March 15, 2026 (Extended) For Competition Registration: * Fill out the competition registration form<https://forms.gle/sJj1cYQUzzn3eiBDA> (This is not for the conference registration). * Teams that registered for the competition may need to register ICRA 2026 separately at $300/person (early). The conference registration information will be updated later. Contact for Questions: If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at icra2026lrc(a)gmail.com<mailto:iros2025qrc@gmail.com>. Sincerely, Dongbin Kim, Ph.D. Assistant Professor College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) University of Hartford Office: +1-(860)-768-5808 Email: dbk(a)hartford.edu<mailto:donkim@hartford.edu> [cid:6032de9d-7af8-4cfa-818a-b4fbdd04594a]

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[meetings] Hands-on Humanoid Robot Reinforcement Learning
by YUHONG LIN 19 Feb '26

19 Feb '26

Dear Roboticists, We’re excited to announce a new *hands-on, on-site training* focused on *reinforcement learning for humanoid robots*. This training is designed for engineers, researchers, and teams who want to understand *how humanoid robots are actually controlled today* — beyond demos and simulations. During the training, you will: - Work directly with the Unitree G1 EDU development PC and Unitree’s SDK to command, monitor, and control the robot at a low level - Build and train reinforcement learning pipelines for humanoid locomotion and motion control in simulation - Deploy learned policies on real humanoid robots and integrate them into a ROS 2 system for autonomy, perception, and navigation The training combines high-fidelity simulation, real robot execution, and hands-on debugging of simulation-to-real gaps that commonly appear in humanoid systems. *Training details* - *Location:* Barcelona (on-site) - *Dates:* April 8–10, 2026 - *Format:* Small cohorts · Hands-on · Real robots - *Seats:* Limited per cohort - *Registration link: * https://www.theconstruct.ai/humanoid-robot-reinforcement-learning-training/ *Humanoid Platforms Used in the Training:* - Unitree G1 Edu - PAL Robotics Kangaroo *Training Schedule:* - Day 1. RL for Humanoid Locomotion and Teleoperation You will work on: - Reinforcement learning based walking control for the Unitree G1 humanoid robot - Teleoperation and imitation learning using Isaac Lab Mimic - Day 2. RL for Humanoid Whole-Body Control You will work on: - Full-body control from motion tracking using reinforcement learning - Deployment of learned policies using ros2_control - Day 3. Vision-Language-Action Models and MuJoCo Lab You will work on: - Vision-Language-Action models for generalized humanoid skills using Gr00t - Training and validation of humanoid behaviors in MuJoCo Lab *Questions?*Contact info(a)theconstruct.ai [image: Logo] <https://www.theconstruct.ai/> Yuhong Lin Product & Project Manager | The Construct E: ylin(a)theconstruct.ai | theconstruct.ai [image: Banner] <https://www.theconstruct.ai/robotics-developer/?utm_source=email&utm_medium…>

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ICAPS 2026 Summer School: Call for Participation
by Scott Sanner 18 Feb '26

18 Feb '26

[Apologies for cross-posting!] *ICAPS 2026 Summer School* [TL;DR: FCFS Registration for the summer school will go live at 9:00am ET on Feb 20th at https://icaps26-dublin-ss.github.io/ICAPS-2026-Summer-School/ ] The ICAPS 2026 summer school will be held from *June 22nd to 25th* at the *University College Dublin, Ireland*. The summer school is being organized as a one-stop-shop for the next generation of students to learn about contemporary research approaches in all forms of planning and sequential decision making. *Registration Information *Space at the summer school is limited by venue constraints and registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants can choose to sign up for the summer school registration only, or for the summer school with accommodation at the UCD campus. Please visit the summer school website <https://icaps26-dublin-ss.github.io/ICAPS-2026-Summer-School/> for more details including registration costs and policies, current schedules, tutorial sessions, speakers, and topics. The link for registration will be available at this website starting Feb 20th at 9:00 am ET. *Confirmed Speakers* Chris Beck, University of Toronto Blai Bonet, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Augusto B. Corrêa, Oxford University Michael Katz, IBM Research Nir Lipovetsky, University of Melbourne Calarina Musliman, University of Alberta Gabriele Roeger, University of Basel Naman Shah, Ai2 Tom Silver, Princeton University Ayal Taitler, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Matthew Taylor, University of Alberta Florent Teichteil-Königsbuch, Airbus Amy Zhang, UT Austin *Organizers* Rem Collier, University College Dublin Scott Sanner, University of Toronto Siddharth Srivastava, Arizona State University Please feel free to reach out to the Summer School Organizing team with any questions or comments at icaps-2026-summer-school(a)googlegroups.com.

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Call for Participation: Rescue Agent Simulation World Competition 2026 (RoboCup JapanOpen2026)
by Nobuhiro Ito 18 Feb '26

18 Feb '26

RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation World Competition 2026 Otsu, Japan - April 24-27, 2026 Held as part of RoboCup JapanOpen2026 https://www.robocup.or.jp/JapanOpen2026/english.html Beginning in 2026, the RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation League will organize its official World Competition independently from the RoboCup World Championship (RoboCup 2026 Incheon). In 2026, the official World Competition of the RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation League will be held as part of RoboCup JapanOpen 2026 in Otsu, Japan. This event will bring together teams from around the world to advance research in large-scale disaster response, multi-agent coordination, and decision-making systems for urban search and rescue scenarios. Teams from all countries are warmly invited to participate in this global competition. On-site participation is strongly encouraged in order to foster active engagement and collaboration within the RoboCup Rescue community. However, teams facing unavoidable travel constraints may request remote participation. Such requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must be discussed in advance with the Organizing Committee. * IMPORTANT DATES * Pre-Registration................................: March 20, 2026 (23:55 UTC) Teams requiring a visa to enter Japan are strongly encouraged to contact the Organizing Committee as early as possible. Team Registration Deadline............................: March 27, 2026 (23:55 UTC) Member Registration & Optional TDP Submission Deadline: April 3, 2026 (23:55 UTC) Notification of TDP Review Results (if applicable)....: April 17, 2026 Camera-ready TDP Submission (if applicable)...........: April 23, 2026 (23:55 UTC) Registration Fee Payment Deadline (Japan-based teams only): April 3, 2026 Overseas teams: Registration fee must be paid in cash at the venue during the competition. Overseas teams requesting remote participation: Please contact the Organizing Committee regarding registration fees and participation arrangements. Tournament Dates.....................................: April 24-27, 2026 Team setup day : 24 April, 2026 Competition days: 25-27 April, 2026 * AGENT SIMULATION COMPETITION * The RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation Competition promotes research in Artificial Intelligence for large-scale disaster response, focusing on teamwork coordination and decision-making in post-disaster urban environments. The league maintains a computer-based simulation platform capable of realistically representing natural disaster scenarios. Within this environment, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) strategies can be designed, tested, and evaluated. The simulation serves as a comprehensive testbed for: - Coordination strategies of USAR teams - Coalition formation among heterogeneous agents - Large-scale exploration under limited resources - Civilian search and rescue planning - Disaster response policy evaluation The competition evaluates the performance of teams of autonomous agents based on their distributed coordination and planning algorithms in earthquake scenarios. Specifically, the effectiveness of Ambulance Team, Police Force, and Fire Brigade agents is assessed in terms of civilian rescue, fire suppression, and infrastructure management. ** Research Challenges ** Participants may address, among others, the following research challenges: - Decision-making algorithms - Task allocation and resource management - Multi-agent coordination and team formation - Path planning and navigation - Search and exploration strategies * GETTING STARTED GUIDE * The following resources may help teams get started with agent development: ** Development Frameworks ** - ADF (Java) Documentation: https://roborescue.github.io/adf-sample-agent-java/ Quick Start Example: https://github.com/roborescue/adf-sample-agent-java - ADF (Python) Documentation: https://roborescue.github.io/adf-core-python/ Quick Start Example: https://github.com/adf-python/adf-sample-agent-python Java ADF modules can be reused within the Python ADF framework. Teams are strongly encouraged to develop new modules using the Python-based ADF to leverage modern machine learning libraries and tools. - Docker Environment (Optional) Repository: https://github.com/roborescue/rcrs-docker Docker usage is optional and provides a pre-configured development environment for teams who prefer a standardized setup. * PRE-REGISTRATION (Intent to Participate) * Teams intending to participate in the RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation World Competition 2026 are requested to complete a brief pre-registration form: https://forms.gle/W9ydHVomZZ4xMeTd6 Pre-Registration Deadline: March 20, 2026 (23:55 UTC) Pre-registration is non-binding and is intended to: - Estimate the expected number of participating teams - Identify teams requiring a confirmation letter for visa application purposes - Identify teams considering remote participation Teams requiring a visa to enter Japan are strongly encouraged to complete the pre-registration as early as possible and contact the Organizing Committee to request a confirmation letter. Please note that the Organizing Committee can issue only a confirmation letter. All other visa application procedures and required documents must be arranged by the respective teams. If access to Google Forms is restricted in your country or region, please contact the Organizing Committee directly at: rrs2026(a)maslab.aitech.ac.jp Pre-registration does not replace the official Team Registration and Member Registration procedures described below. * REGISTRATION (TBA) * Teams wishing to participate in the RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation World Competition 2026 must complete the registration procedure through the official RoboCup JapanOpen 2026 registration system: https://www.robocup.or.jp/JapanOpen2026/english.html (Registration site details will be announced) The registration process consists of two steps: 1. Team Registration Deadline: March 27, 2026 (23:55 UTC) During Team Registration, teams must provide: - Participating league name (RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation) - Team name - Institution - Preliminary list of team members - Contact information of the team leader 2. Member Registration Deadline: April 3, 2026 (23:55 UTC) All team members must complete Member Registration to confirm their participation. The final team roster will be determined based on the completed Member Registration. Both steps must be completed by the respective deadlines in order to participate. In principle, all registered teams will be accepted to participate. However, in the unlikely event that the number of teams exceeds the capacity of the venue, participation may be limited at the discretion of the Organizing Committee. ** Registration Site (Peatix) ** All on-site participants must obtain a ticket via the Peatix registration system: https://robocupjapanopen2026.peatix.com/view (Under construction) On-site participants must select the free ticket option. No payment should be made through Peatix. Teams approved for remote participation must contact the Organizing Committee at: rrs2026(a)maslab.aitech.ac.jp and follow the payment procedures provided. Japanese teams should follow the payment instructions provided separately by the Organizing Committee. ** Registration Fee ** - Faculty, Advisors, Mentors, and General participants 30,000 JPY - Students (18 years old and older) 20,000 JPY - Students (under 18 years old) 15,000 JPY ** Payment Method ** - Japanese domestic teams: Registration fees must be paid by bank transfer no later than April 3, 2026. Payment instructions will be provided by the Organizing Committee. - Overseas teams (on-site participation): Registration fees must be paid in cash at the competition desk during the event. - Teams approved for remote participation: The registration fee is the same as for on-site participants. Payment procedures will be communicated directly by the Organizing Committee after participation approval. ** Team Description Paper Submission (Optional) ** In previous editions of the RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation Competition, submission of a Team Description Paper (TDP) was mandatory for participation. For the 2026 edition, TDP submission will be optional. Teams may participate in the competition without submitting a TDP. Submitted TDPs will undergo a review process and, if accepted, will be published on the official RoboCup Rescue Simulation League website. In addition, we are considering recommending selected outstanding TDPs for oral presentation at an international conference. *** How to submit your TDP *** TDPs must be submitted by email to: rrs2026(a)maslab.aitech.ac.jp Email subject: RRS2026 TDP submission File format: PDF File name: Agent_[TeamName].pdf where [TeamName] should be replaced with the official team name. The submission deadline is April 3, 2026 (23:55 UTC). *** Formatting Requirements *** TDPs must follow the IEEE Conference Publishing Services (CPS) format: https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates The paper length must be 6–8 pages, including figures and references. *** Review Process *** Submitted TDPs will undergo a review process by members of the Rescue Simulation Committee. - Notification of review results: April 17, 2026 - Camera-ready submission deadline: April 23, 2026 Revised (camera-ready) versions must be submitted by email to the same address. Accepted TDPs will be published on the official RoboCup Rescue Simulation League website. Selected outstanding TDPs may be recommended for oral presentation at an affiliated international conference (subject to confirmation). ** Presentation ** Teams submitting a TDP are expected to give an approximately 15-minute presentation during the competition. ** References ** Previous TDPs can be found at: https://rescuesim.robocup.org/past-events/past-competitions/ For inquiries, please contact: rrs2026(a)maslab.aitech.ac.jp * RULES * The RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation World Competition 2026 will follow the official RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation Rules (2025 version). All teams must comply with the rules specified in the following document: https://roborescue.github.io/rcrs-rules/rcrs-agent-rules.pdf * ABOUT THE ROBOCUP RESCUE AGENT SIMULATION LEAGUE * Natural disasters cause significant economic, human, and environmental losses worldwide. Their unpredictable and complex nature requires effective disaster management strategies to mitigate their impact and support coordinated response efforts. The mission of the RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation League is to advance research and development in intelligent systems for large-scale disaster response, with a particular focus on multi-agent coordination and decision support. To achieve this mission, the league pursues three primary objectives: 1. To provide a realistic simulation platform capable of modeling urban disaster scenarios in which rescue strategies can be designed and evaluated. 2. To establish evaluation benchmarks for disaster response plans and coordination strategies. 3. To promote innovation and knowledge exchange by organizing international competitions that bring together researchers and practitioners. Through these activities, the league contributes to the development of more robust, scalable, and formalized approaches to disaster response, ultimately aiming to reduce the societal impact of large-scale emergencies. Best Regards Nobuhiro Ito and Kazunori Iwata on behalf of RoboCup Rescue Simulation League Local Organizing Committee E-mail: rrs2026(a)maslab.aitech.ac.jp Rescue Simulation League International Committee

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RoboCup Smart Manufacturing 2026: Call for Participation
by Asad Norouzi 17 Feb '26

17 Feb '26

Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2026 – Smart Manufacturing League https://2026.robocup.org Venue: Incheon, South Korea Tuesday, June 30th through Monday, July 6th, 2026 The Smart Manufacturing League (SML) is a league of the RoboCup competition, focusing on embodied autonomous robotic systems for next-generation industrial and manufacturing environments. The Smart Manufacturing League (SML) is formed through the merger of the RoboCup Logistics League and the RoboCup@Work League, combining their complementary strengths to create a unified league that addresses end-to-end smart manufacturing challenges. The league aims to foster research and development in autonomous mobile manipulation, flexible automation, and intelligent logistics within realistic industrial scenarios. The goal of SML is to advance innovative robotic solutions that integrate mobility, manipulation, perception, planning, and human–robot interaction for cutting-edge industrial applications. These applications span manufacturing processes, flexible assembly and disassembly, parts handling, intra-logistics, warehouse and factory logistics, and safe collaboration with human workers. The SML competition is characterized by an abstracted realistic smart manufacturing environment, designed to enable diverse robotic platforms and research approaches. This environment includes manipulation objects such as parts, containers, and tools; infrastructure elements such as shelves, workstations, bins, and platforms of varying sizes; machines, and production stations. The environment is designed to reflect modern, interconnected factory and logistics settings. Competition challenges are defined through a set of structured tests and scenarios that evaluate key capabilities including but not limited to autonomous navigation, object perception, manipulation, transportation, precision placement, planning, task sequencing, communication, and coordination within dynamic industrial workflows. A rulebook, benchmarks descriptions, and technical details of the Smart Manufacturing League will be published on the official SML GitHub organization. We invite all interested parties to have a look and discuss using issues. The first competition of the new SML aims for the following: - Welcomes all teams and robot platforms, including humanoid ones. - Allows participation with existing systems, including former RC@Work and RCLL robots - Gaps in capability of teams and robots may be filled by human interaction - Encourages incremental improvements toward higher autonomy (less human intervention is preferred) Participation in the Competition All teams that intend to participate in the competition have to perform the following steps: 1. Submission of qualification materials including a Team Description Paper and a video of their robots performance. Details are below. 2. Final registration (qualified teams only) Qualification The qualification process serves a dual purpose: It should allow the Technical Committee (aka TC) to assess the safety of the robots a team intends to bring to the competition, and it should allow ranking teams according to a set of evaluation criteria in order to select the most promising teams for a competition, if not all interested teams can be permitted. The TC will select the qualified teams according to the qualification materials provided by the teams. The evaluation criteria will include: - Team description paper - Relevant scientific contributions/publications - The professional quality of the robot and software - Novelty of approach - Relevance to industry - Performance in previous competitions - Contribution to the SML League or the former RC@Work or RCLL, e.g. by Organization of events and/or provision and sharing of knowledge - The quality of the robot's performance of a task (selected by the team) shown in a video, e.g. a previous competitions of RC@Work or RCLL. - Team website Team Description Paper The Team Description Paper (TDP) is a central element of the qualification process and has to be provided by each team as part of the qualification process. The TDP should at least contain the following information in the author/title section of the paper: - Name of the team (title) - Team members (authors), including the team leader - Link to the team website - Contact information The body of the TDP should contain information on the following: - the focus of research/research interests - a description of the hardware, including an image of the robot(s) - a description of the emergency stop concept and its implementation - a description of the software, esp. the functional and software architectures - innovative technology (if any) - reusability of the system or parts thereof - applicability and relevance to industrial tasks - usage of components (software or hardware) developed by other RoboCup teams The team description paper should cover the technical and scientific approach in detail, while the team website should be designed for a broader audience. Both the website and the TDP have to be in English. All TDPs must be written using the following template: https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer… Submission and Evaluation All applications with the qualification material must be submitted by March 20th, 2026 through the following online form: https://forms.gle/1TsxcAB52gyToCWv9 Qualified teams will be tentatively announced by March 27th, 2026. Important Links of the Smart Manufacturing League (SML) Discord: https://discord.gg/RBTmHc3zMP GitHub: https://github.com/robocup-sml Mailing List: https://lists.robocup.org/mm/lists/robocup-sml.lists.robocup.org/ Regards, On behalf of the SML-Organizers

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RoboCup International Symposium 2026 first call for papers
by Matteo Leonetti 15 Feb '26

15 Feb '26

Call for papers RoboCup International Symposium 2026 https://2026.robocup.org/symposium/ Monday 6 July 2026 Incheon, Republic of Korea. The 29th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on 6 July 2026, at the Songdo ConvensiA, Incheon, Republic of Korea. The symposium will be in conjunction with RoboCup 2026 (30 June to 6 July 2026). We call for submissions of papers reporting innovative, original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence as listed 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. In addition to the main track, this year introduces an Open Platforms & Tools Track focusing on interactive tools, hardware, and software frameworks with a high degree of usability. IMPORTANT DATES Submission of full papers: 8 April 2026 Notification to authors: 29 May 2026 Submission of camera-ready copies: 19 June 2026 RoboCup Symposium 2026: 6 July 2026 (RoboCup on 30 June - 5 July 2026) SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the 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-gu…) and must be electronically submitted through EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcs26) Submission Types: 1. Main Track: Submissions are limited to 12 pages (including references). 2. Open Platforms & Tools: Submissions are limited to an Extended Abstract of max 4 pages, including a mandatory URL to a tutorial website (see track details below). OPEN PLATFORMS & TOOLS TRACK To foster practical exchange within the robotics community, the former Development Track has been reimagined for 2026 to focus on usability and interactivity. We invite submissions of open-source hardware designs, software frameworks, tools, datasets, and benchmarks that other teams can use. The goal of this track is to reward the creation of solutions that lower the barrier to entry or accelerate research for others. Submission Requirements: • Extended Abstract: A maximum 4-page paper describing the tool, its innovation, and its application to RoboCup or general robotics. • Tutorial Website: The abstract must include a link to a publicly accessible website containing documentation and a step-by-step tutorial. The tutorial must be sufficient to guide a new user through installing the software or building the hardware. Presentation Format: Accepted contributions will be presented at an Interactive Demonstration Session (replacing the traditional poster). Authors will be provided with a table and power to demonstrate their tool live to Symposium attendees. MAIN TRACK TOPICS Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: * 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 PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS Matteo Leonetti (King’s College London, UK) Asad Norouzi (Seneca Polytechnic, Canada) Jaeseo Park (Incheon Technopark, Republic of Korea) CONTACT You can contact the PC chairs at rcs26(a)easychair.org. On behalf of the program committee, Matteo Leonetti King's College London https://www.sensiblerobotsresearch.org/ https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/matteo-leonetti

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Call for participation: RoboCup JapanOpen2026
by Wataru UEMURA 12 Feb '26

12 Feb '26

Dear RoboCuppers, We are pleased to announce that RoboCup JapanOpen 2026 will be held at SHIGA Daihatsu Arena from April 24th to 27th, 2026. RoboCup JapanOpen 2026 -- Call for Participation -- https://www.robocup.or.jp/JapanOpen2026/english.html We plan to have the following leagues: - RoboCup Soccer - small size (wheel) - RoboCup Soccer - small size (humanoid challenge) - RoboCup Rescue - robot - RoboCup Rescue - simulation - RoboCup @Home - open platform - RoboCup @Home - domestic standard platform - RoboCup @Home - bridge competition - RoboCup @Home - simulation open platform - RoboCup Industrial - logistics (not SML) - @Space challenge = Event dates = Team setup day : 24 April, 2026 Competition days: 25-27 April, 2026 Organizer: RoboCup Japan Regional Committee More details will be announced by each league organizer. = Important dates = Team registration deadline: 27 March, 2026 Member registration deadline: 3 April, 2026 * Please note that no refunds will be provided for cancellations made after 3 April 2026. = Registration Fees = - Faculty, Advisors, Mentors, or General Participants: 30,000 JPY - Students (18 years old and older) : 20,000 JPY - Students (under 18 years old) : 15,000 JPY * Important Note: All attendees, including faculty, advisors and mentors, must complete the registration and pay the fee to enter the team arena/competition areas. Those who have not registered will not be permitted access to these areas. = Contact = Secretary office of The RoboCup Japanese Regional Committee office[at]robocup.or.jp = League Organizers = Soccer small size - wheel : Ryoma Okada Soccer small size - humanoid challenge : Yasuhiro Masutani Rescue robot : Noritaka Sato Rescue simulation : Nobuhiro Ito @home open platform and domestic standard platform: Hakaru Tamukoh @Home simulation open platform : Tatsunari Inamura Industrial logistics : Wataru Uemura @Space challenge : Yoshinobu Hagiwara --- Best regards, Wataru Uemura ==================== Wataru UEMURA, Dr. Eng. Associate Professor, Ryukoku University Chairperson, RoboCup Japanese Regional Committee https://friede.elec.ryukoku.ac.jp/~wataru ====================

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[meetings] Humanoid Robots Reinforcement Learning Training On-site Training in Barcelona // Apr 8-10 2026
by Sonia W 10 Feb '26

10 Feb '26

Dear colleagues, Join the 3-Day Humanoid Robots Reinforcement Learning Training <https://www.theconstruct.ai/unitree-g1-humanoid-robotics-certificate-traini…> to master reinforcement learning for humanoid robots. You’ll learn how to train, validate, and apply RL-based control policies on real humanoid robots. *What you will learn:* - Reinforcement learning for humanoid robots - Humanoid imitation learning - Whole-body control - Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models for humanoids *Hands-on experience with simulation and real robots:* 1. Practical training using *Isaac Lab* and *MuJoCo*, enabling you to train and evaluate RL-based policies in realistic simulation environments. 2. Direct access to and experimentation with two real humanoid robots: *Unitree G1* and *PAL Robotics’ Kangaroo*. *Training Dates:* April 8–10 *Format:* On-site, Barcelona *Registration Link:* https://www.theconstruct.ai/unitree-g1-humanoid-robotics-certificate-traini… <https://www.theconstruct.ai/unitree-g1-humanoid-robotics-certificate-traini…> This training offers a unique opportunity to engage directly with state-of-the-art AI and robotics technologies, work and learn with other robotics developers from around the world, share ideas, and gain practical experience with the most advanced RL methods on real humanoids. Best, The Construct Robotics Institute

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2nd CfP: Soccer Simulation 2D at RoboCup 2026, Korea
by Tomoharu NAKASHIMA 08 Feb '26

08 Feb '26

Dear RoboCuppers, This is a 2nd call for participation of RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation 2D league. The deadline for qualification materials is: March 8, 23:59 UTC, 2026. Best Regards, Tomoharu Nakashima (OC, Soccer Simulation 2D league) ================================= Call for Participations RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation 2D league Incheon, Korea, June 20-July 6, 2026 Important dates: March 8, 2026: Qualification materials deadline March 23, 2026: Acceptance Notification Detailed information is described in the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vHs1W82DnE7Ch7R6w35UiepX4WPB6FNADV--mlb… =================================

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Updated Deadline and Final Call: The 8th Games, Agents, and Incentives Workshop (GAIW)@AAMAS 2026
by Nicholas Mattei 02 Feb '26

02 Feb '26

Call for Papers: The 8th Games, Agents, and Incentives Workshop (GAIW)@AAMAS 2026 Webpage: https://gtep-workshops.github.io/gaiw2026/ - Submission Deadline: February 4, 2026 Feb. 11th, 2026 (AoE) - Acceptance Notification: March 20, 2026 - Camera Ready: TBD (AoE) - Workshop: May 26, 2026 Call for Papers: We invite submissions to the 8th iteration of the Games, Agents and Incentives Workshop, co-located with AAMAS 2026 in Paphos, Cyprus, https://cyprusconferences.org/aamas2026/. Games, Agents and Incentives is a confederated workshop which focuses on agents and incentives in AI. In particular, it promotes approaches that deal with game theory (cooperative and non-cooperative), social choice, and agent-mediated e-commerce aspects of AI systems. The confederated workshop merges multiple workshops that have been associated with AAMAS in the past, which considered different aspects of the general interplay between AI and economics including CoopMAS, AMEC, and EXPLORE. Over the past two decades, the focus of agent incentives in decentralised and centralised AI systems has increased dramatically. These issues come up when designing preference aggregation mechanisms and markets; computing equilibria and bidding strategies; facilitating cooperation among agents; and fairly dividing resources. ********************************************************** PAPER SUBMISSION ********************************************************** Authors should submit full papers electronically in PDF format at: https://openreview.net/group?id=ifaamas.org/AAMAS/2026/Workshop/GAIW Formatting Guidelines: Please format papers according to the AAMAS 2026 format (https://cyprusconferences.org/aamas2026/submission-instructions/). Paper Length: Papers can be at most 8 pages long in AAMAS format. Additional pages may be used for references. Supplemental material can be appended at the end of the paper. However, reviewers are instructed to make their evaluations based on the main submission, and are not obligated to consult the supplemental material. Multiple Submissions: To widen participation and encourage discussion, there will be no formal publication of workshop proceedings. We will, however, post the accepted papers online to the benefit of the participants to the workshop. Therefore, submission of preliminary work and papers to be submitted or in preparation for submission to other major venues in the field are encouraged. Past Submissions: In order to strike a balance between new work and work that may have been presented, but not widely seen, we ask that if authors want to submit published work they do so non-anonymously and clearly indicate when and where the work was published. We will only accept work which has been published in the last calendar year (e.g., IJCAI 2025, NeurIPS 2025, AAAI 2025, AAAI 2026 and any conference held strictly after Jan 1, 2025). We invite papers on topics of game theory, mechanism design, fair allocation, computational social choice, and their applications to multi-agent systems: - Agentic AI Systems - Algorithmic mechanism design - Auctions - Behavioral Game Theory - Bounded rationality - Cooperative Games - Computational advertising - Computational aspects of equilibria - Computational social choice - Coalitions, coordination, collective action, and cooperation - Economic aspects of security and privacy - Economic aspects of distributed and network computing - Equilibrium computation - Empirical approaches to e-markets - Fairness (in ML & elsewhere) - Fair Division - Incentives in machine learning - Information and attention economics - Learning in games (e.g., solution concepts and equilibria) - Matching and Matching Markets - Negotiation - Preference aggregation and reasoning - Price differentiation and price dynamics - Social networks - Trading agent design and analysis - Uncertainty in AI and economic Best Presentation Award: The organizing committee of GAIW will be giving two awards (first-place and runner up) for best paper presentations. The award criteria include the clarity of presentation, the level of engagement, the content, and discussion handling. Inquiries: If you have any questions, direct them to alan.tsang(a)carleton.ca. ********************************************************** IMPORTANT DATES ********************************************************** - Submission Deadline: February 4, 2026 (AoE) - Acceptance Notification: March 20, 2026 - Camera Ready: TBD (AoE) - Workshop: May 26, 2026 ********************************************************** ORGANIZATION ********************************************************** Program Chairs Ben Armstrong, Tulane University Michael Curry, University of Illinois Chicago Hadi Hosseini, Penn State University Nicholas Mattei, Tulane University Alan Tsang, Carleton University Tomasz Wąs, University of Oxford -- *Nicholas Mattei* Associate Professor, Tulane University nsmattei(a)tulane.edu | www.nickmattei.net Stanley Thomas Hall | 305B +1 504 247 1416 Department of Computer Science Tulane University 6823 St Charles Ave New Orleans, LA 70118

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RoboCup Smart Manufacturing League (SML) - RoboCup German Open 2026
by Asad Norouzi 30 Jan '26

30 Jan '26

Dear RoboCup Industrial Teams, At the RoboCup German Open 2026, we will proceed with two types of sessions: The first are strategy workshops, in which we will get together and discuss how we can further develop our unified long-term vision as one league (RC@Work + RCLL). The second part will be a practical challenge in which teams with different backgrounds can bring their robots and test new potential industrial tasks for 2026 and beyond. We want this workshop to be as inclusive as possible and invite all teams from the former RCLL and RC@Work leagues as well as new research groups to join the RoboCup German Open. Open elements and unresolved aspects will be explicitly refined onsite together with all teams, based on hands-on experience during the workshops. Many of you have been eager to hear how the Smart Manufacturing League (SML) will take shape for RoboCup 2026. Recent discussions within the previous RoboCup@Work and RoboCup Logistics communities have led to a strong shared understanding of the overall direction towards Industry 5.0 and beyond. While we share substantial common ground in vision, tasks, and robot designs, our ideas on how these should be implemented into a concrete competition format have not fully converged so far. To move forward constructively and gather practical experience as well as your feedback, we have decided to proceed with both a practical challenge that invites teams with diverse backgrounds and robot capabilities to bring existing platforms and practically test how the new tasks can take shape; and to also take the time in structured work sessions and discussions to further our joint understanding of a unified SML vision. We will reserve a lot of time for discussion and work sessions, in which we get together as the new unified league and discuss how we can further shape and refine our league concepts for 2026 and beyond. To facilitate early input and collaboration, we have set up a shared public folder where interested individuals, teams, and working groups can exchange ideas. One initial proposal outlining a coherent vision and competition structure is already available there, and additional contributions will follow over time. We strongly encourage teams to participate in the workshop and share their viewpoints. Teams are explicitly encouraged to raise questions and suggest improvements transparently via GitHub issues even before the RoboCup German Open. Our shared goal is to converge towards a robust and community-driven SML concept for RoboCup 2026 in Korea, 2027, and beyond. For the technical challenges, we will provide several scenarios, including: handling and assembly tasks using interlocking toy bricks to produce a variety of goods, and intra-production logistics challenges centered on the manipulation and transport of standardized Euro-Boxes to maintain material flow on the shop floor. Your robots do not need to be able to solve all tasks – you are welcome to bring any robot that was able to perform in the RCLL or RC@Work leagues and you will be able to participate in parts of the challenge. For one of the scenarios we would like to try during the RoboCup German Open, one that tests intra-production logistics, robots should be adapted to handle standard Euroboxes, a candidate skill likely to remain relevant beyond 2026. You can find more details about how the challenge setup will look like in https://nextcloud.robocup.de/s/gTwf5bTW2dzJNwB We strongly encourage teams to participate in all workshop formats. Most existing systems should already be able to perform a substantial subset of the proposed tasks. And the RoboCup German Open will be the perfect time for your team to get all hands on deck and get your robot ready for more challenges in South Korea! We have also extended the deadline for teams to register to the RoboCup German Open – you still have time until February 6 at 23:59 CET. We are looking forward to your participation, feedback, and contributions, and to shaping the next generation of RoboCup Industrial together. Links Shared folder for SML Vision & Concept papers: https://nextcloud.robocup.de/s/fMa7s7qMAAFTEEd RC@Work GitHub repository: https://github.com/robocup-at-work/sml-embodied-autonomous-intelligence RCLL GitHub repository: https://github.com/robocup-sml/workshop-paper Best regards, Asad, Marco, Matteo, Tarik & Maike

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CfP RoboCup German Open 2026
by Oskar von Stryk 30 Jan '26

30 Jan '26

RoboCup German Open 2026 Call for Participation - Major Leagues https://robocup.de/german-open [1] Cologne Trade Fair, Cologne, Germany The 23nd RoboCup German Open 2026 will take place from March 10-14 in Cologne. Cologne with its welcoming vibe offers a captivating mix of culture, architecture, history, and lively atmosphere. From the awe-inspiring Cologne Cathedral -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site -- to its dynamic art scene and riverside cafés along the Rhine, the city invites exploration. For example, visitors can enjoy world-class museums, the walkable old town with many bars, or festive events like the Cologne Carnival. Cologne is a perfect destination for both history lovers and urban adventurers and a great host for RoboCup German Open 2026. Every regional and international Major team is cordially invited to take part in the event. ---------------------------- RoboCup Major Leagues (international teams) ---------------------- After the team setup on March 10th, the competitions will take place from 11th to 14th of March 2026 in the following main leagues: * RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League * RoboCupSoccer Small Size League * RoboCupRescue Robot League * RoboCupIndustrial Smart Manufacturing League * RoboCup@Home League For Major team registration please visit: https://portal.robocup.de/registry Registration deadline: January 31st, 2026. Late registration deadline (team members only): February 28th, 2026. Teams are advised to arrange their own accommodation as early as possible as cost of accommodation is expected to rise in the run-up of the event. Most recent rule developments in all leagues, especially the Soccer and Smart Manufacturing Leagues will be considered for the competitions. ------------------------------- Further information on co-located events ------------------------- RoboCup German Open 2026 will be embedded in didacta 2026, which is Europe's largest education fair and most important continuing education event for teachers. Over 700 exhibitors from more than 60 countries will present their offerings in Cologne. Participants tickets to RoboCup German Open will include didacta tickets as well. The 2nd German Robotics Conference on AI-powered robotics, organized by the Robotics Institute Germany, will take place from March 11 to 13, 2026, parallel to the RoboCup German Open and in close proximity to it. ---------------------------- RoboCup Junior (German teams) ----------------------------------- From March 12-14, 2026 the final event of the German RoboCupJunior Championship will be held at RoboCup German Open 2026 in Cologne. The best teams that have qualified in the nine previous German qualifying tournaments will take part. The best German Junior teams in the 2026 German Junior Final will qualify for RoboCup 2026 in South Korea and for the European RoboCupJunior Competition 2026 in Austria. ----------------------------- Organization Committee ---------------------------------- * Oskar von Stryk (General Chair) * Julian Werner (Project Lead) * Alexander Ferrein (German RoboCup Committee, Spokesperson Major) The Major Leagues Organizing Committee: * Heinrich Mellmann (Humanoid Soccer League, former Humanoid & Standard Platform Leagues) * Nicolai Ommer (Small Size League) * Johannes Pellenz, Stefan May, Thomas Sander (Rescue Robot League & RMRC) * Sven Wachsmuth (@Home League) * Alexander Ferrein, Christoph Steup (Smart Manufacturing League) The Junior Leagues Organizing Committee: * Lara Trappmann * Oskar Kirmis * Niko Lockenwitz * Michelle Bialdyga * Christian Häußler * Lena Eickhoff * Stefanie Haupt ---------------------------- Co-located Events ------------------------------------------------------ Parallel to the RoboCup German Open 2026 the second German Robotics Conference of the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG) will take place. The conference will bring together the leading German researchers in AI-based robotics. The education fair "didacta", will also take place in Halls 6 to 8, between March 10-14, 2026. All participants will also have access to didacta. ---------------------------- Important dates ---------------------------------- * 2025-12-01 Major teams early registration starts * 2026-01-31 Major teams registration deadline, team member registration deadline * 2026-02-28 Late registration deadline (team members only) * 2026-03-10 Set-up day Major League teams * 2026-03-12 to 16 Competition days * 2026-03-14 Major and Junior finals The event is open to the public during all days from 9 am to 5 pm. ----------------------------- Contact ---------------------------------- Please contact germanopen(a)robocup.de for any questions. See you all at the 23rd RoboCup German Open 2026! Best regards, German RoboCup Committee Links: ------ [1] https://robocup.de/german-open

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[meetings][spring school][phd][young researchers] Call for participation at Spring School on Machine Learning and Perception for Social Awareness
by Alessandra Rossi 25 Jan '26

25 Jan '26

Dear Colleagues, We are delighted to invite you to the *Spring School on Machine Learning and Perception for Social Awareness* <https://www.sweet.unina.it/sweet-spring-school/>*,* taking place on *13–16 April 2026* in *Catania, Italy*. Organized by the *SWEET* project consortium in conjunction with the TRAIL Conference <https://sites.google.com/view/trail-conference>, this Spring School offers a unique opportunity to deepen your knowledge in *social perception for service robotics, *with a special emphasis on cutting-edge machine learning, sensing technologies, and algorithmic approaches that enable robots to understand and interact with humans in socially aware ways. The programme features a mix of *lectures and hands-on practical sessions* delivered by* leading figures from academia and industry, such as:* - Prof. Alessandro Vinciarelli <http://vinciarelli.net/>- University of Glasgow - Prof. Ing. Igor Farkaš <http://cogsci.fmph.uniba.sk/~farkas/> - Comenius University Bratislava - Prof. Lorenzo Baraldi <https://ailb-web.ing.unimore.it/~lorenzo/> - University of Modena and Reggio Emilia - Prof. Gabriel Skantze <https://www.kth.se/profile/skantze> - KTH Royal Institute of Technology - Prof. Oya Celiktutan <https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/oya-celiktutan> - King’s College London - Prof. Antonio Chella <https://www.unipa.it/persone/docenti/c/antonio.chella> - University of Palermo - Dr. Anna Belardinelli <https://www.honda-ri.de/people/> - Honda Research Institute - Prof. Angelo Cangelosi <https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/angelo.cangelosi> - University of Manchester - Dr. Alessandra Sciutti <https://www.iit.it/it/people-profile/-/people/alessandra-sciutti>- Italian Institute of Technology - Dr. Thomas Weisswange <https://www.honda-ri.de/people/> - Honda Research Institute *Participation in the school is free of charge.* Participants should cover only all logistical costs, including travel and accommodation expenses. *How to Apply:* To participate, please send the following documents via email to *infosweet(a)unina.it <infosweet(a)unina.it>* by *February 28, 2026*: - A short Statement of Interest (max 1 page) - Your current CV - A Letter of Support from your Tutor/Supervisor Acceptance notifications will be sent out by *15 March 2026*. Don’t miss this excellent opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research and expand your expertise in machine learning, perception, and social awareness for robotics! Silvia Rossi and Luigi D’Arco on behalf of the *SWEET consortium* <https://www.sweet.unina.it/>

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Call for Papers: The 8th Games, Agents, and Incentives Workshop (GAIW)@AAMAS 2026
by Nicholas Mattei 21 Jan '26

21 Jan '26

Call for Papers: The 8th Games, Agents, and Incentives Workshop (GAIW)@AAMAS 2026 Webpage: https://gtep-workshops.github.io/gaiw2026/ - Submission Deadline: February 4, 2026 (AoE) - Acceptance Notification: March 20, 2026 - Camera Ready: TBD (AoE) - Workshop: May 26, 2026 Call for Papers: We invite submissions to the 8th iteration of the Games, Agents and Incentives Workshop, co-located with AAMAS 2026 in Paphos, Cyprus, https://cyprusconferences.org/aamas2026/. Games, Agents and Incentives is a confederated workshop which focuses on agents and incentives in AI. In particular, it promotes approaches that deal with game theory (cooperative and non-cooperative), social choice, and agent-mediated e-commerce aspects of AI systems. The confederated workshop merges multiple workshops that have been associated with AAMAS in the past, which considered different aspects of the general interplay between AI and economics including CoopMAS, AMEC, and EXPLORE. Over the past two decades, the focus of agent incentives in decentralised and centralised AI systems has increased dramatically. These issues come up when designing preference aggregation mechanisms and markets; computing equilibria and bidding strategies; facilitating cooperation among agents; and fairly dividing resources. ********************************************************** PAPER SUBMISSION ********************************************************** Authors should submit full papers electronically in PDF format at: https://openreview.net/group?id=ifaamas.org/AAMAS/2026/Workshop/GAIW Formatting Guidelines: Please format papers according to the AAMAS 2026 format (https://cyprusconferences.org/aamas2026/submission-instructions/). Paper Length: Papers can be at most 8 pages long in AAMAS format. Additional pages may be used for references. Supplemental material can be appended at the end of the paper. However, reviewers are instructed to make their evaluations based on the main submission, and are not obligated to consult the supplemental material. Multiple Submissions: To widen participation and encourage discussion, there will be no formal publication of workshop proceedings. We will, however, post the accepted papers online to the benefit of the participants to the workshop. Therefore, submission of preliminary work and papers to be submitted or in preparation for submission to other major venues in the field are encouraged. Past Submissions: In order to strike a balance between new work and work that may have been presented, but not widely seen, we ask that if authors want to submit published work they do so non-anonymously and clearly indicate when and where the work was published. We will only accept work which has been published in the last calendar year (e.g., IJCAI 2025, NeurIPS 2025, AAAI 2025, AAAI 2026 and any conference held strictly after Jan 1, 2025). We invite papers on topics of game theory, mechanism design, fair allocation, computational social choice, and their applications to multi-agent systems: - Agentic AI Systems - Algorithmic mechanism design - Auctions - Behavioral Game Theory - Bounded rationality - Cooperative Games - Computational advertising - Computational aspects of equilibria - Computational social choice - Coalitions, coordination, collective action, and cooperation - Economic aspects of security and privacy - Economic aspects of distributed and network computing - Equilibrium computation - Empirical approaches to e-markets - Fairness (in ML & elsewhere) - Fair Division - Incentives in machine learning - Information and attention economics - Learning in games (e.g., solution concepts and equilibria) - Matching and Matching Markets - Negotiation - Preference aggregation and reasoning - Price differentiation and price dynamics - Social networks - Trading agent design and analysis - Uncertainty in AI and economic Best Presentation Award: The organizing committee of GAIW will be giving two awards (first-place and runner up) for best paper presentations. The award criteria include the clarity of presentation, the level of engagement, the content, and discussion handling. Inquiries: If you have any questions, direct them to alan.tsang(a)carleton.ca. ********************************************************** IMPORTANT DATES ********************************************************** - Submission Deadline: February 4, 2026 (AoE) - Acceptance Notification: March 20, 2026 - Camera Ready: TBD (AoE) - Workshop: May 26, 2026 ********************************************************** ORGANIZATION ********************************************************** Program Chairs Ben Armstrong, Tulane University Michael Curry, University of Illinois Chicago Hadi Hosseini, Penn State University Nicholas Mattei, Tulane University Alan Tsang, Carleton University Tomasz Wąs, University of Oxford -- *Nicholas Mattei* Associate Professor, Tulane University nsmattei(a)tulane.edu | www.nickmattei.net Stanley Thomas Hall | 305B +1 504 247 1416 Department of Computer Science Tulane University 6823 St Charles Ave New Orleans, LA 70118

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3rd Call for Participation - EXTENDED DEADLINE - RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation 3D League
by Marco Antonio C. Simões 16 Jan '26

16 Jan '26

»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» 3rd Call for Participation - EXTENDED DEADLINE RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation 3D League June 30 – July 6, 2026 Incheon (South Korea) https://2026.robocup.org/ »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» The RoboCup Soccer Simulation 3D Competition provides a great opportunity for research with humanoid robots without the need for investing in robot hardware. It facilitates experimenting with different learning and optimization techniques by providing a simulated environment. The league is also a perfect environment for research on multi-robot coordination methodologies. The league will use a new, more realistic, simulator in 2026, featuring (at least) a simulated Booster T1 robot. We invite real robot teams to test it and to participate in the Soccer Simulation 3D League 2026 competition. It is an excelent opportunity for teams from Humanoid Soccer League(HSL) and also to former SSL and SPL teams to join the new HSL league. We would like to invite you to participate in the RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation League 3D competition in Incheon, South Korea. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Important Dates - FIRM DEADLINES »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» January 31, 2026 (23:59 AoE): Team Qualification Materials Submission Deadline February 15, 2026: Qualified Teams Announcement June 30 – July 6, 2026: Competition Submission form: https://forms.gle/GeTvkxiSQ9hhw3Cg6 See detailed instructions here: https://ssim.robocup.org/2025/12/16/robocup-2026-soccer-simulation-3d-call-… Dr. Marco Antonio Costa Simões Centro de Pesquisa em Arquitetura de Computadores, Sistemas Inteligentes e Robótica - ACSO - http://www.acso.uneb.br<http://www.acso.uneb.br/> Bahia Robotics Team - http://www.acso.uneb.br/bahiart Universidade do Estado da Bahia - UNEB Ciência da Computação, Ph.D.

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[meetings] [news] The 5th Benchmark for Autonomous Robot Navigation (BARN) Challenge -- ICRA 2026 Competition
by Xuesu Xiao 15 Jan '26

15 Jan '26

Submission Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeIwC6GY_mAl1J18G1uZOaAn-OCONmmtaP… Competition Website: https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/BARN_Challenge/BARN_Challenge26.ht… ROS Participation Instructions: https://github.com/Daffan/the-barn-challenge ROS2 Participation Instructions: https://github.com/Saadmaghani/The-Barn-Challenge-Ros2 Lessons Learned from The BARN Challenge 2025: https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/barn25_report.pdf Lessons Learned from The BARN Challenge 2024: https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/barn24_report.pdf Lessons Learned from The BARN Challenge 2023: https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/barn23_report.pdf Lessons Learned from The BARN Challenge 2022: https://people.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 The 5th BARN Challenge at ICRA 2026 (https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/BARN_Challenge/BARN_Challenge26.ht…)! 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 ICRA 2026. 1. The competition task is designing ground navigation systems to navigate through all 300 BARN environments (https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/Research/BARN/BARN.html) and physical obstacle courses constructed at ICRA 2026 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/1FAIpQLSeIwC6GY_mAl1J18G1uZOaAn-OCONmmtaP… Co-Organizers: Xuesu Xiao (George Mason University) Zifan Xu (UT Austin) Saad Abdul Ghani (George Mason University) Aniket Datar (George Mason University) Daeun Song (George Mason University) 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 https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/ https://robotixx.cs.gmu.edu/

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[jobs] Tenure/tenure-track and teaching faculty positions at GMU
by Xuesu Xiao 12 Jan '26

12 Jan '26

Dear roboticists, the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University (GMU) is hiring tenure-track and tenured and teaching faculty at all ranks and in all subject areas. This includes robotics. The full consideration deadlines are Thursday and Friday, January 15th and 16th. We are a large department (80+ faculty) with wide-ranging research interests including robotics, cybersecurity, systems and networks, machine learning and data mining, artificial intelligence, visual computing, theory, databases, bioinformatics, HCI, and software engineering. The Computer Science Department is ranked 31 on CSRankings (USA). GMU is Virginia's largest public research university. GMU is R1. GMU is located in the suburbs of Washington, DC, a major metropolitan area (Arlington and Fairfax). It's really nice here. If you have any questions about GMU or the DC area, please contact me. GMU CS: <https://cs.gmu.edu/> The tenure/tenure-track ad: <https://listings.jobs.gmu.edu/jobs/open-rank-tenured-tenure-track-computer-…> The teaching-track ad: <https://listings.jobs.gmu.edu/jobs/open-rank-term-computer-sciences-faculty…> Thanks Xuesu ----------------------- Xuesu Xiao, Ph.D. -- Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science George Mason University xiao(a)gmu.edu https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/ https://robotixx.cs.gmu.edu/

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RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation 3D - 2nd Call for Participation
by Marco Antonio C. Simões 08 Jan '26

08 Jan '26

»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» 2nd Call for Participation RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation 3D League June 30 – July 6, 2026 Incheon (South Korea) https://2026.robocup.org/ »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» The RoboCup Soccer Simulation 3D Competition provides a great opportunity for research with humanoid robots without the need for investing in robot hardware. It facilitates experimenting with different learning and optimization techniques by providing a simulated environment. The league is also a perfect environment for research on multi-robot coordination methodologies. The league will use a new, more realistic, simulator in 2026, featuring (at least) a simulated Booster T1 robot. We invite real robot teams to test it and to participate in the Soccer Simulation 3D League 2026 competition. It is an excelent opportunity for teams from Humanoid Soccer League(HSL) and also to former SSL and SPL teams to join the new HSL league. We would like to invite you to participate in the RoboCup 2026 Soccer Simulation League 3D competition in Incheon, South Korea. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Important Dates »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» January 15, 2026 (23:59 AoE): Team Qualification Materials Submission Deadline January 30, 2026: Qualified Teams Announcement June 30 – July 6, 2026: Competition Submission form: https://forms.gle/GeTvkxiSQ9hhw3Cg6 See detailed instructions here: https://ssim.robocup.org/2025/12/16/robocup-2026-soccer-simulation-3d-call-… Dr. Marco Antonio Costa Simões Centro de Pesquisa em Arquitetura de Computadores, Sistemas Inteligentes e Robótica - ACSO - http://www.acso.uneb.br<http://www.acso.uneb.br/> Bahia Robotics Team - http://www.acso.uneb.br/bahiart Universidade do Estado da Bahia - UNEB Ciência da Computação, Ph.D.

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Re: Deadline for Pre-Application Approaching - RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League Competition
by Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi 08 Jan '26

08 Jan '26

Hi Again, Some people replied to me saying that the PDF was not correctly delivered. I think this might be due to some restrictions on the list server, so I am sending a link to the document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G06qwZPUx7g27F5yR79bxRFmzih5FzwW/view?usp=… I hope this helps, Reinaldo Em 8 de jan. de 2026, à(s) 15:20, Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi <rbianchi(a)fei.edu.br> escreveu: I am attaching a step by step guide to submitting the material for the HSL pre-application. I hope this helps. Reinaldo. Em 8 de jan. de 2026, à(s) 14:04, Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi <rbianchi(a)fei.edu.br> escreveu: Deadline for Pre-application Approaching - January 10th Summary: Deadline for pre-Application is on January 10th. For pre-application the team should submit the team name, home page, team leader name and email and inform in which Division and with how many robots the team intent to participate in Incheon. RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League Competition June 30th - July 6th, 2026, Incheon, South Korea ======================================= The RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League invites teams to apply for participation at the RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer Competition in Incheon, South Korea. RoboCup is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupIndustrial, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCupSoccer currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. More information can be found on the official website: https://www.robocup.org/ The Humanoid Soccer League (HSL) was formed through the unification of the Humanoid League (HL) and Standard Platform League (SPL) and will take place for the first time at the RoboCup 2026. HSL hosts games and challenges where teams of humanoid robots play soccer autonomously. The game of soccer serves as an environment for research, development, and education in all areas of autonomous humanoid robots, including hardware development, vision, bipedal locomotion, learning, behavior control, and team coordination. The focus is thereby on human-like abilities of the robots. The Humanoid Soccer League will host competitions in the following divisions, depending on the height and weight of the robot players: * Small Robot Division: height < 110 cm, weight < 15 kg * Middle Robot Division: height < 125 cm; weight < 25 kg * Large Robot Division: height < 190 cm; weight < 80 kg Teams in each division will have the choice to play in two team configurations: 1. Foundation - with a smaller number of players; 2. Advanced - with a larger number of players. In a game, if one team chooses to play in a Foundation configuration, then both teams must play in this configuration. The maximum number of players in a game for each configuration is shown in the table below: * Small — Foundation: max 4 | Advanced: max 7 * Middle — Foundation: max 3 | Advanced: max 5 * Large — Foundation: max 3 | Advanced: max 5 Teams are welcome to apply even if they are unable to provide a full team of robots (the maximum number of robot players). Teams are encouraged to form and apply as joint teams. Joint proposals will be judged on their combined merit. For more details on divisions, please refer to the Humanoid Soccer League rules at: https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules. 1. Robots ======================================= Teams may apply for participation with both commercially available and with humanoid robot platforms constructed by the teams. A selection of robots is available for purchase through the RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program at a special RoboCup offer: https://robotprogram.robocup.org/ As part of the RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program, there will be a pool of humanoid robot models K1 and T1 provided by the company Booster for RoboCup 2026. Teams will be able to borrow the robots from the pool and use them in their games. 2. Application Process and Timeline ======================================= 2.1. Important Dates --------------------------------------- * Submission system open: January 1st, 2026 * Pre-application deadline: January 10th, 2026 * Submission deadline: January 31st, 2026 * Team review period: February 3rd - 20th, 2026 * Announcement of qualified teams: March 2nd, 2026 2.2. Online Submission --------------------------------------- All application materials must be submitted online at: https://submission.robocuphumanoid.com/login Teams may apply for participation in one or several divisions. Teams applying for participation in several divisions must submit individual application materials for each division. Please be informed that the submission system is being updated. To submit an application, it is necessary to create new accounts on the system. Accounts of the teams that used the system last year should be available and can be used this year. 2.3. Review Process --------------------------------------- Each application to the Humanoid Soccer Competition will be reviewed by two members of the Technical Committee and two other randomly assigned teams applying to the Humanoid Soccer Competition. The combined reviewing score will be used to decide whether a team qualifies for participation. Reviewing other teams' material is mandatory for teams that want to participate in the Humanoid Soccer Competition. Failing to provide an adequate review by the provided deadline will have consequences for the team's own qualification status. 3. Application Material (Robot/Team information to submit) ======================================= For the qualification process, teams must provide the following material: 3.1. Pre-application / Team-Information --------------------------------------- Team name URL of the team's home page Name of team leader or team contact person E-mail address of the team leader or contact person Competition Division: Small, Middle, Large – with robot numbers 3.2. Video --------------------------------------- Teams need to provide a video of their current or previous physical robot demonstrating the robot's autonomous soccer-playing skills. The recommended skills needed for the qualification are: * Localization of unknown ball position * Walking ability towards the ball * Robot positioning at the ball for kicking * Kicking the ball towards the goal * Passing the ball from one player to another * Avoiding other robots autonomously * Ability to get up autonomously after a fall We encourage teams to include in the video more complex and intelligent behavior, such as demonstrating localization, and robots playing in a game. Recordings from actual soccer matches are welcome. If possible, please provide footage that demonstrates the robot's behavior without wires attached. We understand that teams transitioning to new robot platforms from the former SPL and HL leagues may not yet have their physical robots, nor soccer-ready software/hardware to demonstrate by the qualification deadlines. Teams may alternatively demonstrate in their video their software/hardware capabilities from previous years on other robot platforms, and/or capabilities in simulation. We encourage teams, if possible, to include a demonstration of their current capabilities on their intended platform. * The maximum duration of the video must not exceed ** 5 minutes **. * The qualification video must be supplied as a link (e.g., uploaded on the team’s website or on some video server like YouTube). The qualifying team is responsible for ensuring that the video is accessible and viewable with modern browsers. Note, if YouTube is used, make sure the video adheres to YouTube's TOS (especially concerning music copyright) to prevent the video from being blocked for the reviewers. Teams that do not provide a qualification video or a viewable video will not be qualified. 3.3. Team Description Paper --------------------------------------- A team description paper must be submitted. For teams that have previously participated in the Humanoid League or Standard Platform League, the team description paper must include: * Lessons learned from participation in previous RoboCup competitions. * Highlight major challenges that the team is trying to solve for the upcoming competition. * Outline the plans for the major changes that the teams anticipate to have implemented by the RoboCup 2026 competition. * Describe the implementation status of the planned changes at the time of submitting the application. * Explain the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the Humanoid Soccer League, (2) the team’s university/community. * Demonstrate own contribution to the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League or humanoid robotics research in general: Describe in detail the “research publishable” significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2026. This can, for instance, include software or hardware releases, paper publications, provision of league infrastructure, or data sets. * Any other information that supports your application. For teams that have never participated in the RoboCup Humanoid League or Standard Platform League, the Team Description Paper must outline the scientific aspects of their humanoid robotic system and highlight their research focus. The submission should show clear contributions and advancements intended to be used during the competition. The team description papers are intended to highlight the changes and scientific developments since the last RoboCup. Thus, we expect the usage of material from previous TDPs or Extended Abstracts to be minimal. If material from previous TDPs is used, it must be cited appropriately. Submissions of last year's Extended Abstract will be desk-rejected. The team description paper is limited to ** 4 pages **, excluding references, and must be submitted in PDF format. The team description paper must follow the LNCS format, which can be downloaded from: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…. Teams that do not follow the LNCS formatting and style guidelines will not be qualified. No exceptions to this rule will be made. 3.4. Software Description --------------------------------------- During the application process, a form will be provided to submit brief details about the algorithms used or anticipated to be used for participation in the 2026 competition. The form will include brief questions in the following areas: * Walking * Vision * Localization * Behavior * Team Communication Responses to the questions are expected to reflect the current and anticipated status of the software during the RoboCup 2026 competition. If software from other teams, third-party software libraries, or "off-the-shelf soccer-ready" libraries/algorithms are used, teams must reference this use. References should include the team, competition, and year when code is used from another team, or reference publicly available documentation for software libraries. Teams should describe how they have adapted the use of this software within their own codebase. 3.5. Hardware Specification --------------------------------------- A one-page specification (PDF) must be provided for each different type of humanoid robot used by the team that includes the following: * Robot picture (can be on a separate page) (3D model if the physical one is not available yet) * Robot name * Height of the robot * Weight of the robot * Number of degrees of freedom and type of motors on each kinematic chain of the robot * Actuator model name and Wattage * Type of sensors used (incl. type of camera(s) and specific manufacturer part number (e.g., "6-DoF IMU" is NOT an acceptable description)) * Computing unit(s) * Materials (e.g., Torso aluminium, legs and arms CFRP) * Electronics (e.g., CM730 for communicating with servos) * Battery (e.g. 3S1P 2200mAh LiPo) * Open Source link if applicable * Other specs (Jerseys if already available) Teams that are using pre-approved, unmodified HSL standard platforms only need to provide information directly available from the manufacturer's documentation to confirm they are using an unmodified standard platform. Teams do not need to provide details where information is not available via manufacturer-provided documentation, such as due to commercial confidence. 3.6. Letter of Commitment --------------------------------------- A one-page letter addressed to the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League Technical Committee, including the following: * a statement committing to participate in the RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League competition; * a statement committing to make a person with sufficient knowledge of the rules available as a referee during the competition. The letter must be signed (by hand or using a digital signature software as Adobe or DocuSign) by the team leader and submitted either as a JPG, PNG, or PDF file. A template for this letter can be found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qNILlggOj5j_cHhof1b6NICPyfgVrp-M/edit?u… If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline, but note this in your application email. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). The TC may include the fulfillment of the statement of commitment of participation, as well as the performance of the team's referee in previous RoboCup competitions, into consideration for qualification. Teams must guarantee to have at least one member per division they participate in, acting as a referee, available independently. Note that teams may be scheduled to play a game and referee a different game at the same time. 4. Organizational Information ======================================= 4.1. Rules --------------------------------------- The current version of the rules may be found here in the git: https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules. The current version is under development and subject to change. We expect the final version of the 2026 rules to be published in spring 2026. For more information about the Humanoid Soccer League and connections with other teams, please refer to the RoboCup Official Discord: https://discord.gg/fjrepNWk. 4.2. Plagiarism --------------------------------------- Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other people's words, code, and ideas, is not tolerated in the RoboCup community. For a more detailed description, see the point "Publishing Ethics" at: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu… The teams and team members who plagiarize other people's work and present it as their own will be disqualified. For a first offense, the team and team members will be banned from RoboCup competition for two years (usually the current and next year). Harsher penalties will be applied to repeat offenders or extremely serious cases of plagiarism. A team may be disqualified at any time for plagiarism, even after the competition has started. RoboCup will not reimburse teams for any expenses related to their disqualification. 4.3. Publication --------------------------------------- Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams, the submitted materials of the qualified teams will be made publicly available on the Humanoid Soccer League website. Teams applying for participation, therefore, implicitly grant the right of publication of their qualification material to the Humanoid Soccer League. Therefore, teams should ensure their qualification materials contain no commercial-in-confidence information or other content that would restrict publication. 4.4. Visa Process --------------------------------------- South Korea offers visa-free entry for many countries for short tourism/business stays (under 90 days), but most need the K-ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) before arrival. Please verify your visa requirements at the South Korea Visa Portal: https://www.visa.go.kr/main/openMain.do The letters of invitation are issued by the RoboCup federation, not the TC, and they are part of the official registration process. We look forward to seeing you all at the RoboCup 2026! With best regards, Technical Committee of the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League 2026 <Anexo de E-mail> 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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Deadline for Pre-Application Approaching - RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League Competition
by Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi 08 Jan '26

08 Jan '26

Deadline for Pre-application Approaching - January 10th Summary: Deadline for pre-Application is on January 10th. For pre-application the team should submit the team name, home page, team leader name and email and inform in which Division and with how many robots the team intent to participate in Incheon. RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League Competition June 30th - July 6th, 2026, Incheon, South Korea ======================================= The RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League invites teams to apply for participation at the RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer Competition in Incheon, South Korea. RoboCup is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupIndustrial, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCupSoccer currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. More information can be found on the official website: https://www.robocup.org/ The Humanoid Soccer League (HSL) was formed through the unification of the Humanoid League (HL) and Standard Platform League (SPL) and will take place for the first time at the RoboCup 2026. HSL hosts games and challenges where teams of humanoid robots play soccer autonomously. The game of soccer serves as an environment for research, development, and education in all areas of autonomous humanoid robots, including hardware development, vision, bipedal locomotion, learning, behavior control, and team coordination. The focus is thereby on human-like abilities of the robots. The Humanoid Soccer League will host competitions in the following divisions, depending on the height and weight of the robot players: * Small Robot Division: height < 110 cm, weight < 15 kg * Middle Robot Division: height < 125 cm; weight < 25 kg * Large Robot Division: height < 190 cm; weight < 80 kg Teams in each division will have the choice to play in two team configurations: 1. Foundation - with a smaller number of players; 2. Advanced - with a larger number of players. In a game, if one team chooses to play in a Foundation configuration, then both teams must play in this configuration. The maximum number of players in a game for each configuration is shown in the table below: * Small — Foundation: max 4 | Advanced: max 7 * Middle — Foundation: max 3 | Advanced: max 5 * Large — Foundation: max 3 | Advanced: max 5 Teams are welcome to apply even if they are unable to provide a full team of robots (the maximum number of robot players). Teams are encouraged to form and apply as joint teams. Joint proposals will be judged on their combined merit. For more details on divisions, please refer to the Humanoid Soccer League rules at: https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules. 1. Robots ======================================= Teams may apply for participation with both commercially available and with humanoid robot platforms constructed by the teams. A selection of robots is available for purchase through the RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program at a special RoboCup offer: https://robotprogram.robocup.org/ As part of the RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program, there will be a pool of humanoid robot models K1 and T1 provided by the company Booster for RoboCup 2026. Teams will be able to borrow the robots from the pool and use them in their games. 2. Application Process and Timeline ======================================= 2.1. Important Dates --------------------------------------- * Submission system open: January 1st, 2026 * Pre-application deadline: January 10th, 2026 * Submission deadline: January 31st, 2026 * Team review period: February 3rd - 20th, 2026 * Announcement of qualified teams: March 2nd, 2026 2.2. Online Submission --------------------------------------- All application materials must be submitted online at: https://submission.robocuphumanoid.com/login Teams may apply for participation in one or several divisions. Teams applying for participation in several divisions must submit individual application materials for each division. Please be informed that the submission system is being updated. To submit an application, it is necessary to create new accounts on the system. Accounts of the teams that used the system last year should be available and can be used this year. 2.3. Review Process --------------------------------------- Each application to the Humanoid Soccer Competition will be reviewed by two members of the Technical Committee and two other randomly assigned teams applying to the Humanoid Soccer Competition. The combined reviewing score will be used to decide whether a team qualifies for participation. Reviewing other teams' material is mandatory for teams that want to participate in the Humanoid Soccer Competition. Failing to provide an adequate review by the provided deadline will have consequences for the team's own qualification status. 3. Application Material (Robot/Team information to submit) ======================================= For the qualification process, teams must provide the following material: 3.1. Pre-application / Team-Information --------------------------------------- Team name URL of the team's home page Name of team leader or team contact person E-mail address of the team leader or contact person Competition Division: Small, Middle, Large – with robot numbers 3.2. Video --------------------------------------- Teams need to provide a video of their current or previous physical robot demonstrating the robot's autonomous soccer-playing skills. The recommended skills needed for the qualification are: * Localization of unknown ball position * Walking ability towards the ball * Robot positioning at the ball for kicking * Kicking the ball towards the goal * Passing the ball from one player to another * Avoiding other robots autonomously * Ability to get up autonomously after a fall We encourage teams to include in the video more complex and intelligent behavior, such as demonstrating localization, and robots playing in a game. Recordings from actual soccer matches are welcome. If possible, please provide footage that demonstrates the robot's behavior without wires attached. We understand that teams transitioning to new robot platforms from the former SPL and HL leagues may not yet have their physical robots, nor soccer-ready software/hardware to demonstrate by the qualification deadlines. Teams may alternatively demonstrate in their video their software/hardware capabilities from previous years on other robot platforms, and/or capabilities in simulation. We encourage teams, if possible, to include a demonstration of their current capabilities on their intended platform. * The maximum duration of the video must not exceed ** 5 minutes **. * The qualification video must be supplied as a link (e.g., uploaded on the team’s website or on some video server like YouTube). The qualifying team is responsible for ensuring that the video is accessible and viewable with modern browsers. Note, if YouTube is used, make sure the video adheres to YouTube's TOS (especially concerning music copyright) to prevent the video from being blocked for the reviewers. Teams that do not provide a qualification video or a viewable video will not be qualified. 3.3. Team Description Paper --------------------------------------- A team description paper must be submitted. For teams that have previously participated in the Humanoid League or Standard Platform League, the team description paper must include: * Lessons learned from participation in previous RoboCup competitions. * Highlight major challenges that the team is trying to solve for the upcoming competition. * Outline the plans for the major changes that the teams anticipate to have implemented by the RoboCup 2026 competition. * Describe the implementation status of the planned changes at the time of submitting the application. * Explain the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the Humanoid Soccer League, (2) the team’s university/community. * Demonstrate own contribution to the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League or humanoid robotics research in general: Describe in detail the “research publishable” significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2026. This can, for instance, include software or hardware releases, paper publications, provision of league infrastructure, or data sets. * Any other information that supports your application. For teams that have never participated in the RoboCup Humanoid League or Standard Platform League, the Team Description Paper must outline the scientific aspects of their humanoid robotic system and highlight their research focus. The submission should show clear contributions and advancements intended to be used during the competition. The team description papers are intended to highlight the changes and scientific developments since the last RoboCup. Thus, we expect the usage of material from previous TDPs or Extended Abstracts to be minimal. If material from previous TDPs is used, it must be cited appropriately. Submissions of last year's Extended Abstract will be desk-rejected. The team description paper is limited to ** 4 pages **, excluding references, and must be submitted in PDF format. The team description paper must follow the LNCS format, which can be downloaded from: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…. Teams that do not follow the LNCS formatting and style guidelines will not be qualified. No exceptions to this rule will be made. 3.4. Software Description --------------------------------------- During the application process, a form will be provided to submit brief details about the algorithms used or anticipated to be used for participation in the 2026 competition. The form will include brief questions in the following areas: * Walking * Vision * Localization * Behavior * Team Communication Responses to the questions are expected to reflect the current and anticipated status of the software during the RoboCup 2026 competition. If software from other teams, third-party software libraries, or "off-the-shelf soccer-ready" libraries/algorithms are used, teams must reference this use. References should include the team, competition, and year when code is used from another team, or reference publicly available documentation for software libraries. Teams should describe how they have adapted the use of this software within their own codebase. 3.5. Hardware Specification --------------------------------------- A one-page specification (PDF) must be provided for each different type of humanoid robot used by the team that includes the following: * Robot picture (can be on a separate page) (3D model if the physical one is not available yet) * Robot name * Height of the robot * Weight of the robot * Number of degrees of freedom and type of motors on each kinematic chain of the robot * Actuator model name and Wattage * Type of sensors used (incl. type of camera(s) and specific manufacturer part number (e.g., "6-DoF IMU" is NOT an acceptable description)) * Computing unit(s) * Materials (e.g., Torso aluminium, legs and arms CFRP) * Electronics (e.g., CM730 for communicating with servos) * Battery (e.g. 3S1P 2200mAh LiPo) * Open Source link if applicable * Other specs (Jerseys if already available) Teams that are using pre-approved, unmodified HSL standard platforms only need to provide information directly available from the manufacturer's documentation to confirm they are using an unmodified standard platform. Teams do not need to provide details where information is not available via manufacturer-provided documentation, such as due to commercial confidence. 3.6. Letter of Commitment --------------------------------------- A one-page letter addressed to the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League Technical Committee, including the following: * a statement committing to participate in the RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League competition; * a statement committing to make a person with sufficient knowledge of the rules available as a referee during the competition. The letter must be signed (by hand or using a digital signature software as Adobe or DocuSign) by the team leader and submitted either as a JPG, PNG, or PDF file. A template for this letter can be found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qNILlggOj5j_cHhof1b6NICPyfgVrp-M/edit?u… If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline, but note this in your application email. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). The TC may include the fulfillment of the statement of commitment of participation, as well as the performance of the team's referee in previous RoboCup competitions, into consideration for qualification. Teams must guarantee to have at least one member per division they participate in, acting as a referee, available independently. Note that teams may be scheduled to play a game and referee a different game at the same time. 4. Organizational Information ======================================= 4.1. Rules --------------------------------------- The current version of the rules may be found here in the git: https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules. The current version is under development and subject to change. We expect the final version of the 2026 rules to be published in spring 2026. For more information about the Humanoid Soccer League and connections with other teams, please refer to the RoboCup Official Discord: https://discord.gg/fjrepNWk. 4.2. Plagiarism --------------------------------------- Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other people's words, code, and ideas, is not tolerated in the RoboCup community. For a more detailed description, see the point "Publishing Ethics" at: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu… The teams and team members who plagiarize other people's work and present it as their own will be disqualified. For a first offense, the team and team members will be banned from RoboCup competition for two years (usually the current and next year). Harsher penalties will be applied to repeat offenders or extremely serious cases of plagiarism. A team may be disqualified at any time for plagiarism, even after the competition has started. RoboCup will not reimburse teams for any expenses related to their disqualification. 4.3. Publication --------------------------------------- Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams, the submitted materials of the qualified teams will be made publicly available on the Humanoid Soccer League website. Teams applying for participation, therefore, implicitly grant the right of publication of their qualification material to the Humanoid Soccer League. Therefore, teams should ensure their qualification materials contain no commercial-in-confidence information or other content that would restrict publication. 4.4. Visa Process --------------------------------------- South Korea offers visa-free entry for many countries for short tourism/business stays (under 90 days), but most need the K-ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) before arrival. Please verify your visa requirements at the South Korea Visa Portal: https://www.visa.go.kr/main/openMain.do The letters of invitation are issued by the RoboCup federation, not the TC, and they are part of the official registration process. We look forward to seeing you all at the RoboCup 2026! With best regards, Technical Committee of the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League 2026 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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[jobs] Professorship (W3) for Interactive Robotics at Bielefeld University
by Sven Wachsmuth 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

Dear all, The Faculty of Technology at Bielefeld University has an opening for a permament *professorship (W3) for Interactive Robtics*, with a special focus on robotics engineering for real-time sensory perception, physical motion, learning and action control for autonomous, interactive robots. The *application deadline is Febuary 28, 2026.* Detailed information about the position can be found at: https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/uni/karriere/professuren/wiss3086_englisch.xml Best regards Sven -- PD Dr.-Ing. Sven Wachsmuth Faculty of Technology | CITEC COSY@Home-Lab Bielefeld University

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Call for Participation: RoboCup2026 Middle Size League
by 刘斐 04 Jan '26

04 Jan '26

Call for Participation  RoboCup 2026 Middle Size League June 30 to July 6, 2026 (Incheon, South-Korea) https://2026.robocup.org We would like to invite all MSL teams to participate in the 2026 RoboCup MSL World Championships. If you are interested to participate, please take the time to pre-register your team for the RoboCup 2026 MSL competitions.  1)    Pre-registration  For the pre-registration please send an e-mail to rc-msl-oc(a)lists.robocup.org and liufei(a)caa.org.cn containing the following data: ·   Team name ·   URL of the team’s home page ·   Name of the team leader ·   E-mail address of team or team leader ·   Affiliation ·   Country ·   Link to the qualification materials  Please send more information about teams to introduce them better on MSL website(https://msl.robocup.org/teams). Sending following information would be optional: ·   Logo ·   Profile (Describe team with at most 150 words). ·   Most research topics (up to 6 topics)   2)    Qualification materials  Please note that, according to the rules, the evaluation of some parts of the qualification materials will contribute to the scientific challenge final result.  By the time of pre-registration, please have ready the following qualification materials:  a)    A Team Description Paper describing the most innovative contributions or scientific results (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). b)    A list of 5 scientiﬁc papers published during the last 5 years of the team which are related to RoboCup. Abstracts of these papers and a complete reference to each paper must also be submitted. When more papers are submitted, only the first 5 will be considered. c)    A list of results and awards obtained by the team in the last 3 years. d)    A video showing the capabilities of the team’s robots (the maximum duration of the video is 60 seconds; if the submitted video is longer than 60 seconds, only the first 60 seconds will be considered for evaluation). e)    A list of contributions of the team to the RoboCup MSL community. f)     Declaration if the team will be part of a mixed team. g)    A mechanical and electrical description together with a software flow chart. h)   List of MAC Addresses used by the team, with explicit indication of those that will be used for wireless communication and their type: robots or development computers. All other MAC addresses will be blocked. (Modifications are allowed before the competition, no later than June 23, 2026.) i)    List of size and weight of the robots (If there are many different robots, please give the data for each type separately. Modifications are allowed before the competition, no later than June 23, 2026.): Dimensions: Length*Width*Height(cm) Weight: (kg)  For being able to participate in the RoboCup competition, teams have to ensure, at least, the minimum cumulative following criteria: ·   Demonstrate in the video that they are able to perform the basic actions to be able to play. ·   Produce a Team Description Paper (TDP) according to the above definition. ·   Obtain a minimum of 50 points in the overall qualification procedure.  The details regarding the qualification materials are contained in the rules and regulations document available at https://msl.robocup.org. Please read it thoroughly.  The qualification materials should be placed in a dedicated page of the team's web page. Please include the link to the qualification materials in the pre-registration information. 3)    Important dates  ·   Deadline for pre-registration and submission of the qualification materials: February 28, 2026 ·   Announcement of qualified teams: March 15, 2026  4)    Rules  The MSL Technical Committee will not publish new rules for 2026, therefore the rules from 2025 (version 26.0) will be used. These rules are available at: https://msl.robocup.org/rules    5)    Publication  Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams the qualification materials of the qualified teams will be made publicly available. Therefore, teams applying for participation, grant the right of publication of their qualification materials to the MSL league(MAC addresses are an exception and should remain private).   6)    Plagiarism  Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other peoples' words, code and ideas (see “https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/plagiarism/plagiarism.html” for a more detailed description) is not tolerated in the RoboCup community.  The teams and team members that plagiarize other peoples' work and present it as their own will be disqualified. For a first offense, the team and team members will be banned from RoboCup competition for two years (usually the current and next year). Harsher penalties will be applied to repeat offenders or extremely serious cases of plagiarism. A team may be disqualified at any time for plagiarism, even after the competition has started. RoboCup will not reimburse teams for any expenses related to their disqualification.   The 2026 MSL Organizing and Technical Committees Fei Liu OC Chair, Middle Size League, RoboCup 2026  

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