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[Journal] IJAIT Call for Special Issue on Explainable Machine Learning in Methodologies and Applications
by Pub Conference 08 Nov '21

08 Nov '21

Computational Intelligence Journal Special Issue on Explainable Machine Learning in Methodologies and Applications https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14678640/homepage/special_issu… This special issue aims to bring together original research articles and review articles that will present the latest theoretical and technical advancements of machine and deep learning models. We hope that this Special Issue will: 1) improve the understanding and explainability of machine learning and deep neural networks; 2) enhance the mathematical foundation of deep neural networks; and 3) increase the computational efficiency and stability of the machine and deep learning training process with new algorithms that will scale. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:  Interpretability of deep learning models  Quantifying or visualizing the interpretability of deep neural networks  Neural networks, fuzzy logic, and evolutionary based interpretable control systems  Supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning  Extracting understanding from large-scale and heterogeneous data  Dimensionality reduction of large scale and complex data and sparse modeling  Stability improvement of deep neural network optimization  Optimization methods for deep learning  Privacy preserving machine learning (e.g., federated machine learning, learning over encrypted data)  Novel deep learning approaches in the applications of image/signal processing, business intelligence, games, healthcare, bioinformatics, and security Important Dates Deadline for Submissions: March 31, 2022 First Review Decision: May 31,‬2022 Revisions Due: June 30, 2022 Deadline for 2nd Review: July 31, 2022 Final Decisions: August 31, 2022  Final Manuscript: September 30, 2022

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Call for paper-Neural Computing and Applications, Topical Collection on Interpretation of Deep Learning
by Pub Conference 08 Nov '21

08 Nov '21

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

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Call for Special Offers (RoboCup Humanoid League)
by Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann 05 Nov '21

05 Nov '21

========================================================= Call for Special Offers (Humanoid League) ========================================================= Research institutes and companies that produce and sell relevant hardware for RoboCup humanoid teams are encouraged to send their proposals for special offers to the Technical Committee of the Humanoid League. A special offer is limited in time and enables teams and institutes participating in RoboCup 2022 to buy a hardware product used for the RoboCup 2022 competition for a reduced price or under other special conditions. Hardware products can either be complete robot platforms or relevant hardware parts needed for robot construction. Special offers will be published on the humanoid league website and sent out via the RoboCup email list. Special offers are *not* considered an official sponsoring of the RoboCup event. Important dates: ----------------------------------------------------------- * Deadline: November 29th 2021 * Notification: December 3rd 2021 Submission guidelines and procedure ---------------------------------------------------------- Send an email with a the following information to the Humanoid League Technical Committee <rc-hl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org> : 1. Name of institution or company and contact information of a person responsible for the offer 2. Description of the special offer as it shall appear on the website (max 100 words). This MUST include information about the product, the price and a point of contact 3. Explanation of relevance to the league (if not obvious from the description) 4. Date of expiry for the special offer All proposals for special offers will be reviewed by the Technical Committee and checked for relevance to the league. The responsible person for the special offer will be notified on December 3rd about the decision. Kind regards, Maike (for the Humanoid Legue Technical Committee) -- Dr. Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann Postdoctoral Researcher Foundations of Computational Linguistics Laboratory University of Potsdam, Germany Pronouns: she / her More information: https://www.maike-paetzel.de/

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AtHome2022 - First Call for Participation
by Mauricio Matamoros 31 Oct '21

31 Oct '21

Online version: https://athome.robocup.org/2022-cfp1-all/ ==================================================================== First Call for Participation RoboCup@Home 2022 (DSPL · OPL · SSPL) Summer 2022 (Bangkok, Thailand) RoboCup is an international scientific initiative with the goal to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots through competitions (RoboCup@Home, RoboCup Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup@Work and RoboCup Junior). The RoboCup@Home league aims to develop service and assistive robot technology with high relevance for future personal domestic applications. It is the largest international annual competition for autonomous service robots and is part of the RoboCup initiative. A set of benchmark tests is used to evaluate the robots’ abilities and performance in a realistic home environment setting. Focus lies on the following domains but is not limited to: Human-Robot-Interaction and Cooperation, Navigation and Mapping in dynamic environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition under natural light conditions, Object Manipulation, Adaptive Behaviors, Behavior Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration. This page describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home 2022. Important dates: Oct. 31, 2021 Publication of the Call for Participation Nov. 28, 2021 Deadline for submission of qualification material. (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website). Jan. 10, 2022 Qualification announcement Jan. 30, 2022 Deadline for Participation Confirmation The qualification procedure consists of the following steps: ****Step 1) Qualification Material Submission (mandatory)**** The team ***MUST*** send an email to the Organizing Committee (oc [at]robocupathome.org) to participate in the qualification process for the RoboCup@Home 2022 event. Please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Rank in local tournaments: Link to a team video: Link to a team web site devoted to their efforts: Team Description Paper (TDP) attached to the email based on the official template. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2022-Qualification](YourTeamName) Considerations: · Only one platform can be specified per team. Only one team leader · can be specified per team. · Only one team video url can be specified per team. · Only one contact email can be specified per team. · All the publications and software to be evaluated for qualification ***MUST*** be in the team’s website. · The email must be encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set. **** Deadline: Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021 23:59 GMT ***** ****Step 2) Participation confirmation (mandatory)**** All qualified teams ***MUST*** send an email to the Organizing Committee (oc[at]robocupathome.org) to confirm (or cancel) their participation in the RoboCup@Home 2022 event. Confirming attendance implies that the team has sufficient resources to register, and commits to attend to the event. To confirm participation, please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Hereby [Team Name] of [Country] [confirms | forfeits] participation in the the RoboCup@Home [League]. The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2022-Confirmation] (YourTeamName) Remark: Qualified teams who miss the participation confirmation will be disqualified automatically and the participation slots freed for the Second Call for Participation. **** Deadline: Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022 23:59 GMT ***** ****Step 3) Robot Acquisition (Standard Platform Leagues):**** Qualified Teams must contact the supplier as soon as the Qualification Notification arrives to start the acquisition procedure. Teams selected to receive Standard-Platform robots have to make an agreement with the supplier in compliance with the supplier’s instructions. The suppliers are not allowed to sell, export, lease and/or ship their products to natural or legal persons and to entities and countries which are subject to international sanctions or prohibitions. Since Selection Committee cannot answer this issue, please ask the supplier directly. Remark: Failing to acquire a Standard-Platform will void the qualification of the SSPL/DSPL. It won’t not possible for SSPL/DSPL to change to OPL. ****Instructions for the Qualification Material**** ***Instructions for the Team Video:*** In order to proof a running hardware, each team has to provide a qualification video. As a minimum requirement for qualification, the video must show the robot(s) successfully solving a task involving the integration of at least 5 different abilities, such as: environmental reasoning, high-level task planning, human-robot interaction, localization, manipulation, object recognition, people recognition, etc. Remarks: · The shown task execution must look continuous, smooth, and robust. · When speeding-up video, the speed factor must be indicated. · The language spoken and shown in the video must be English. · When using any other languages, translations must be included. · We strongly suggest upload videos to Youtube. · Videos sent will be uploaded/displayed in the league’s youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkdCpT0xrFMMt-_N8wSVew/playlists” · Standard Platforms Only: Teams are allowed to use any robot in their Team Video. However, the use of the standard robot is advised. HINT: It is strongly advised to show your robot(s) smoothly and accurately solving any of the Stage II tests of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 rulebooks. Copyright note:When sending videos for qualification, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, modify, distribute, upload, publish, and use the multimedia material to promote the event and the league at convenience. ***Instructions for the TDP*** The TDP is an 8-pages long scientific paper, detailing information on the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, while including also the following: · TDP · Group’s research focus and interests. · Innovative technology and scientific contribution · Please specify when your research is being used by other teams or research groups · Please specify when you are using software from other teams · Brief, general description of the system when solving a [domestic] task (applicability in the real world) · The impact of your research must be clearly visible · Maximum length is 8 pages (including figures and citations) · Annex · Photo(s) of the robot · Brief, compact list of the 3rd party robot’s software (e.g. include MoveIt/YOLO) · Brief, compact description of all external computing devices, if any · Brief, compact description of the robot’s hardware (OPL Only) · Please mark with an asterisk home-made software solutions Annex should be appended after the References · There is no page limit for annex, but a maximum of one page is strongly encouraged · TDP length is ****8 pages + annex**** (any submissions over this length will be disqualified). · DSPL and SSPL: The robot depicted in the TDP or Team Video must be the league’s standard one. For the TDP, please use the Springer LNAI format used in the RoboCup Symposium submissions and limit yourself to 8 pages without altering margins or spacing (including references but excluding the annex). You may download a template for the TDP from here. Remark: The language for the TDP, its graphics, tables, images, and all additional content must be English. Content in other languages must be translated. Copyright note: All TDPs sent for qualification may be made publicly available in the RoboCup @Home Wiki for further reference. On submitting, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, distribute, upload, publish, and use the manuscript to promote the event and the league at convenience. ***** Exceeding the number of pages will automatically void your application *****. ***Instructions for the Web site*** While the TDP goes into detail about the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, the website should be designed for a broader audience, including: · Photos of the robot(s) · Videos of the robot(s) · Description of the approaches and information on scientific achievements · Relevant publications (last 5 years, preferably available to download) · Link to repositories with software for the community · Team members · Previous participation in RoboCups · Participation and rankings in local RoboCup tournaments Remark: No IP addresses will be accepted as website. Remark: Only documented active software repositories are considered as contributions to the league. It must be clear and straightforward to other teams how to use your software. ***Qualification and evaluation criteria:*** In this first Call for Participation, up to 8 teams per league can be assigned a participation slot. In order to qualify, a team must meet the minimum selection requirements approved by the Executive Committee. However, meeting the minimum requirements won’t automatically grant a participation slot. Only the top 8 teams meeting the selection criterion will qualify for participation. Rejections are strongly advised to improve their qualification materials and apply in the second CFP. Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria: · Team description paper (clarity, scientific contributions, re-usability by the league, applicability in real world) · Performance in local tournaments and previous competitions. · Qualification Video (number of demonstrated abilities, integration, difficulty of the task, applicability in real world) · Website (multimedia, publications from last 5 years, downloadable content, open-source software and other contributions) · Relevant Scientific contribution/publications (downloadable papers and open-source software) · Novelty of approach (what you do is new for @Home) We encourage teams to produce self-explicative videos for a general audience where complex tasks are solved. For Team Description Papers focus on the scientific contribution and avoid brief descriptions of the overall system. With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team in Bangkok, The 2022 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees

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AAMAS 2022 Call on Diversity and Inclusion Activities
by Sara Bernardini 30 Oct '21

30 Oct '21

Submission Deadline: Rolling submissions will be processed until April 1, 2022. Submission Notification: Rolling notification. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ACTIVITIES: Participation in AI (including Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems) by groups that are underrepresented in computer science is a fraction of what is needed to have an AI workforce that reflects the diversity in society. Diversity has many facets, including race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and cultural background. We would like to invite submissions of proposals for activities that will help broaden participation in the AI (including Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems) field. Activities can range from meetings for specific groups, to panels, workshops to discuss the situation and propose changes, reports on outreach activities, and more. SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: The proposals should be short (2 pages, pdf) and should address the following: 1. What activity is proposed and its specific objectives 2. Who will be the chair of the activity 3. What is the target audience (academics, industry, graduate students, undergraduate students, etc) 4. What is expected number of participants 5. Duration of the proposed activity (1/2 day, 1 day, 2 hours, etc) 6. Will the activity be by invitation only or will it need an open call for participation/registration/submission, and what is the expected timeline (call out, deadline, notification) 7. Funding needed (if any) and potential sources of funding 8. Advertisement strategy: how will the event be advertised on mailing lists and social media? 9. Willingness of in-person, online, or hybrid event organization: AAMAS 2022 may be held in-person, online, or hybrid. Please describe your plan for conducting in-person, online, and hybrid events. Each proposal should be submitted electronically as a single PDF file via emails to all co-chairs (hchan3(a)unl.edu and long.tran-thanh(a)warwick.ac.uk). For any questions, please contact the co-chairs of the diversity and inclusion activities. ORGANIZERS: Hau Chan (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA) Long Tran-Thanh (University of Warwick, UK)

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AAMAS-2022 Call for Demos
by Sara Bernardini 30 Oct '21

30 Oct '21

Call for Demos https://aamas2022-conference.auckland.ac.nz/calls/call-for-demos Important Dates Demonstration Submission: January 21st 2022 (23:59 UTC-12) Author Notification: February 25th 2022 (23:59 UTC-12) Camera Ready Submission: March 11th 2022 (23:59 UTC-12) Information for Authors The goal of the AAMAS Demo track is to provide opportunities for participants from academia and industry to present their latest developments in agent-based and robotic systems. Interactive systems and novel applications are particularly welcome. Two “Best Demo” awards will be selected by the Demos Program Committee along with the conference attendees to recognise the most innovative demo (the one with the most original and significant research methodologies) and the best application demo (the one with the highest potential for real-world impact). Authors of accepted papers and posters in the main track of the AAMAS conference, as well as workshop presenters, are particularly encouraged to submit. Topics of Interest Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following: Systems implementing agents in real-world settings in various application areas such as engineering (e.g., transportation, robotics, manufacturing, grid), economy (e.g.,e-commerce), health care, societal challenges and education. Systems supporting the development of agents which include development environments and tools to assist developers in the specification, design, implementation and/or testing of agent systems. Systems using agents to model behavior which include virtual agents, simulation systems,games and social robots. Submission Requirements Submissions accepted to the Demo track will be advertised on the AAMAS website and included in the conference proceedings. Each Demo submission must consist of both the following elements (paper + video). Paper (maximum 4 pages): Papers should not be anonymised, i.e., author names and affiliations should be included. Pages 1-2: Description of the system to be demonstrated. The authors are encouraged to discuss the application domain, problem scenario, technology used, agent/multi-agent techniques involved, innovations of the system, interactive aspects, etc. Page 3: List the bibliographic references. Page 4: A list of requirements for the demo setup at the conference for the organizers, in case the conference will be held in person. Papers must be prepared using the AAMAS 2022 template and submitted as PDF files. Submissions not conforming to the guidelines above will be rejected. Video (maximum 5 minutes): The paper must contain a URL to a (QuickTime or YouTube) demonstration video of no more than 5 minutes, showing and explaining the execution of the system. The video should be understandable without sound as much as possible, as they may be played during the conference (see below). The video should include (at the beginning and at the end) the title of the demo and the track number provided by the submission system. At least one author of each accepted demonstration is required to register and attend the conference to carry out the demonstration. In case of an in-person (or hybrid) conference: The organisers will make every effort to facilitate demo requirements. If you have unusual requirements please contact the organisers in advance. We will provide a poster board, a monitor with a standard HDMI connector, a power strip and a 2m table for each demonstration. Videos of accepted demo papers will be played (with no sound) during breaks and demo sessions to increase visibility. In case of a strictly virtual conference: The demos will have predefined slots in the program for interactive (Q&A) sessions. In addition, the videos will be available for all conference registrants throughout the conference. Submissions should be made through the Demo track submission system at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aamas22demo Selection Process The submission and selection process for the AAMAS 2022 Demos will be separate from that of the main conference. Each submission will be assessed by the Demos Program Committee. The authors will receive a brief evaluation report with the notification. The evaluation criteria are: Relevance to the AAMAS conference Significance and originality Video content and presentation Maturity and readiness of the demonstration Potential for public interaction Potential impact in the intended application domain Potential interest to a broader audience Demonstration Chairs Noa Agmon (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) Mubbasir Kapadia (Rutgers University, USA)

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[meetings] First call for proposals for Special Sessions, Workshops and Tutorials at the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2022)
by Alessandra Rossi 29 Oct '21

29 Oct '21

Dear colleagues, Apologies for any cross-posting Please find attached below the first call for proposals for Special Sessions, Workshops and Tutorials at the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2022) that will be held in Naples (Italy) on August 29th - September 2nd, 2022. More information can be also found on the website and social media: http://ro-man2022.org IG: @ieeeroman2022 Twitter: @ROMAN2022ieee Facebook: @ieeeroman2022 For any questions and further information about the Special Session and Workshop/Tutorial proposal, please email workshop(a)roman2022.org or contact info(a)roman2022.org. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi, Minsu Jang and Tariq Iqbal Publicity Chairs Dr. Alessandra Rossi Postdoctoral researcher PRISCA research lab University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy Visiting Researcher Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Adaptive Systems Research Group University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom ================================================================================== *** FIRST CALL FOR SPECIAL SESSIONS, WORKSHOPS, AND TUTORIALS *** 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2022) August 29th - September 2nd, 2022 Naples, Italy http://ro-man2022.org IG: @ieeeroman2022 Twitter: @ROMAN2022ieee Facebook: @ieeeroman2022 ================================================================================== The RO-MAN2022 Organising Committee invites proposals for Special Sessions, Workshops and Tutorials to be held during the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication in Naples, Italy from August 29th to September 2nd, 2022. The RO-MAN conference is a leading forum where state-of-the-art innovative results, the latest developments as well as future perspectives relating to robot and human interactive communication are presented and discussed. The conference covers a wide range of topics related to Robot and Human Interactive Communication, involving theories, methodologies, technologies, empirical and experimental studies. Proposals related to the study of robotic technology, psychology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, human factors, ethics and policies, interaction-based robot design and other topics related to human-robot interaction are welcome. This year's theme is “Social, asocial, and antisocial robots”. One of its goals is to explore how to create robots that are capable of being welcomed as our assistants and companions in society while, at the same time, not being perceived as “asocial” or “antisocial”. A second aim is to understand how we can create robots perceived as facilitators of the natural development of human beings and communities, rather than obstacles. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINES SPECIAL SESSIONS DEADLINE: JANUARY 10, 2022 WORKSHOPS/TUTORIALS DEADLINE: JANUARY 10, 2022 SPECIAL SESSION PROPOSALS Prospective special session organisers are invited to submit a proposal via the main conference's submission system. The organisers of the accepted special sessions will be responsible for the high-quality peer-review of the submitted papers according to IEEE standards (i.e. at least 2 anonymous peer-reviews). The organisers will be Associate Editors (AE) for the proposed session, and they will be responsible for assigning reviewers and judging the submitted paper for the special session. Proposals should include the following information: • Title: Please propose a title that shows the relevance of the session for the RO-MAN community and the innovativeness of the proposed topic. • Aims and scope: Please explain why the chosen topic is novel and relevant, with the potential to contribute to the growth of the RO-MAN community, and is also suitable for either the conference theme or a new emerging theme with potentially high impact. • Tentative speakers: Please provide a list of prospective contributing authors and tentative titles. Special Sessions are normally expected to have 4 to 6 papers. Invited speakers or session-related demonstrations (such as renowned speakers or industrial talks) could be a part of the Special Session. • Organisers and biographies: Please provide a short bio-sketch of the session organisers including their experience in the topic of the Special Session. The guidelines to submit a special session proposal are available at the Special Session section on the RO-MAN 2022 website or by clicking on this link. WORKSHOPS and TUTORIALS PROPOSALS Workshops and tutorials should focus on key areas of established and emerging research, and should provide a forum for participants to exchange new ideas and discuss recent results. We encourage proposals for topics that have substantial community interest, with a creative and innovative program, led by recognised leaders in their fields, that will attract a broad and diverse audience. Organisers of approved workshops and tutorials will be asked to create and maintain a dedicated webpage, which will be used to promote the workshop/tutorial, and disseminate relevant and updated information. Proposals should include the following information: • Title • Format (indicate full or half day, tutorial or workshop) • Main organiser (one person only, complete address, phone, and email) • Co-organisers (complete address, and email) • Previous editions (if any) • Statement of objectives • Intended audience • List of speakers • List of topics • Plan to solicit participation • Workshop organisation • Plan for inclusion, diversity and equity The guidelines to submit a workshop/tutorial proposal are available at the Workshop and Tutorial section on the RO-MAN 2022 website or by clicking on this link. ================================================================================== The primary criteria in the evaluation of special session and workshop/tutorial proposals will be the timeliness of the topics, the quality, track record, and diversity of the proposers and speakers, the coherence of the proposal, the novelty or creativity, and the expected value added to the overall conference. Aspects of diversity that will be considered include the age, gender, national origin, background, and workplace of the proposers and speakers. We will give priority to proposals that fully follow these requirements. Moreover, we encourage the submission of workshops, tutorial and special sessions organized by communities that are under-represented within the RO-MAN activities. For any questions and further information about the Special Session and Workshop/Tutorial proposal, please email workshop(a)roman2022.org or contact info(a)roman2022.org. SPECIAL SESSION CO-CHAIRS JongSuk Choi, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KR) Mariacarla Staffa, University of Naples Parthenope (IT) Kerstin Haring, University of Denver (USA) TUTORIAL / WORKSHOP CO-CHAIRS Amir Aly, University of Plymouth (UK) Daniel Riccio, University of Naples Federico II (IT) Raquel Ros, La Salle - Universitat Ramon Llull (ES)

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IEEE TNNLS Call for Special Issue on "Stream Learning", Submission Deadline: December 15, 2021 [EXTENDED]
by Pub Conference 28 Oct '21

28 Oct '21

*CALL FOR PAPERS* *IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems Special Issue on STREAM LEARNING* https://cis.ieee.org/images/files/Publications/TNNLS/special-issues/One-Pag… *Introduction* In recent years, machine learning from streaming data (called *Stream Learning*) has enjoyed tremendous growth and exhibited a wealth of development at both the conceptual and application levels. Stream Learning is highly visible in both the machine learning and data science fields, and become a new hot direction in recent years. Research developments in Stream Learning include learning under concept drift detection (whether a drift occurs), understanding (where, when, and how a drift occurs), and adaptation (to actively or passively update models). Recently we have seen several new successful developments in Stream Learning such as massive stream learning algorithms; incremental and online learning for streaming data; and streaming data- based decision-making methods. These developments have demonstrated how Stream Learning technologies can contribute to the implementation of machine learning capability in dynamic systems. We have also witnessed compelling evidence of successful investigations on the use of Stream Learning to support business real-time prediction and decision making. In light of these observations, it is instructive, vital, and timely to offer a unified view of the current trends and form a broad forum for the fundamental and applied research as well as the practical development of Stream Learning for improving machine learning, data science and practical decision support systems of business. This special issue aims at reporting the progress in fundamental principles; practical methodologies; efficient implementations; and applications of Stream Learning methods and related applications. The special issue also welcomes contributions in relation to data streams, incremental learning and reinforcement learning in data streaming situations. Scope of the Special Issue We invite submissions on all topics of Stream Learning, including but not limited to: • *Data stream prediction* • *Concept drift detection, understanding and adaptation* • *Recurrent concepts* • *Experimental setup and Evaluation methods for stream learning* • *Reinforcement learning on streaming data* • *Streaming data-based real-time decision making* • *Ensemble methods for stream learning* • *Auto machine learning for stream algorithms* • *Neural networks for big data streams* • *Transfer learning for streaming data* • *Real-world applications of stream learning* • *Active learning for streaming data* • *Online learning for streaming data* • *Imbalance learning for streaming data* • *Lifelong learning for streaming data* • *Incremental learning for streaming data* • *Continuous learning for streaming data* • *Clustering for streaming data* • *Audio/speech/music streams processing* • *Stream learning benchmark datasets* • *Multi-drift and multi-stream learning* • *Stream processing platforms* Timeline • Submission deadline: *Dec 15, 2021* • Notification of first review: March 1, 2022 • Submission of revised manuscript: Jun 1, 2022 • Notification of final decision: Aug 1, 2022 Guest Editors • Jie Lu (University of Technology Sydney, Australia) • Joao Gama (University of Porto, Portugal) • Xin Yao (Southern University of Science and Technology, China) • Leandro Minku (University of Birmingham, UK) Submission Instructions - Read the Information for Authors at http://cis.ieee.org/tnnls <http://cis.ieee.org/tnnls> - Submit your manuscript at the TNNLS webpage (http://mc.manuscriptcentr <http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tnnls)>al.com/tnnls) <http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tnnls)> and follow the submission procedure. Please, clearly indicate on the first page of the manuscript and in the cover letter that the manuscript is submitted to this special issue. Early submissions are welcome.

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[jobs] Research Engineer Position, Robotic Arm Control & Simulation - University of Potsdam, Germany
by Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann 27 Oct '21

27 Oct '21

# Research Engineer Position, Robotic Arm Control & Simulation, University of Potsdam Conditional on the final funding decision by the funding body, applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a nine-month research engineer position starting as soon as possible (not later than February 2022) with the "Computational Linguistics Lab Potsdam (colabPotsdam)" (headed by Prof. David Schlangen) at the University of Potsdam, Germany. The positions is 40 hours of work per week (100%). The salary is determined by the collective bargaining agreement for public employees in Germany (TV-L 13 Ost). The duration of the contract is for nine month (in accordance with Section 2 subsection 1 of the German Academic Fixed-Term Contract Law (WissZeitVG)). ## Job description The position will be part of an upcoming research project on enabling industrial robots working together with humans (cobots) to use spoken conversations to learn new collaborative task. The goal is to build upon a robotic system which has basic capabilities of grasping and manipulating objects and extend it with the possibility of learning new and advanced tasks from spoken instructions as well as visual reference resolution. As a research engineer, your responsibility is to set up the framework for the robotic arm controller, both in simulation and, in cooperation with the industrial partner Synergetion GmbH, in the lab environment. The control of the robot arm will be implemented using ROS and the Open Source software Webots will be used for the 3D simulations. ### Requirements * A Master's or PhD degree in Computer Science, Robotics or related fields (defended by start of contract) * Experience with ROS or ROS2 * Experience with a simulation software, ideally Webots * Strong programming skills in Python * Proficiency in working with git * The working language of the group is English. Very good spoken and written command of English is required. Experience in one or more of the following fields / technologies is desirable: robot programming, C++, computer vision, CAD-Software, 3D modelling, robot arms, industrial robots. ## The place The beautiful city of Potsdam is surrounded by rivers and lakes and supports a wide variety of recreational activities. It is part of the Berlin metropolitan area, one of the cultural and scientific capitals of the world. The city of Berlin is within commuting distance, and many researchers and students choose to live there. The region offers a high quality of urban life at comparatively still modest costs. Handicapped applicants will be given preference in case of equal suitability. The University of Potsdam strives to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching and specifically encourages female applicants to apply for this position. ## Applications Deadline: The position remains open until filled with a suitable candidate To apply, send the following documents as a single PDF: * Statement of interests that motivates your application * Curriculum vitae * If available, coding samples or links to your contributions to public code repositories * Scans of transcripts and academic degree certificates * The names, affiliations, and contact details of up to three people who can provide reference letters for you. Address for applications and queries: david.schlangen(a)uni-potsdam.de -- Dr. Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann Postdoctoral Researcher Foundations of Computational Linguistics Laboratory University of Potsdam, Germany Pronouns: she / her More information: https://www.maike-paetzel.de/

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Multiple vacancies at the University of Melbourne
by Uwe Aickelin 16 Oct '21

16 Oct '21

We have advertised five opportunities to join the top ranked School of Computing and Information Systems in Australia (THES and QS). Please share with your networks and encourage applications.. Full details below. Algorithmic Fairness: https://jobs.unimelb.edu.au/en/job/906606/senior-lecturerassociate-professo… Machine Learning and Systems (two positions): https://jobs.unimelb.edu.au/caw/en/job/906506/lecturer-or-senior-lecturer-i… Digital Ethics: https://jobs.unimelb.edu.au/caw/en/job/906636/senior-lecturerassociate-prof… Information Systems: https://jobs.unimelb.edu.au/caw/en/job/904639/lecturersenior-lecturer-infor… Professor Uwe Aickelin | Head of School of Computing and Information Systems Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology Level 3, Melbourne Connect – 700 Swanston Street The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 Australia T: +61 3 8344 3635 E: uwe.aickelin(a)unimelb.edu.au<mailto:uwe.aickelin@unimelb.edu.au> http://aickelin.com/ | http://linkedin.com/in/aickelin

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Postdoc in HRI/Deep Learning at CMU
by Michael Lewis 12 Oct '21

12 Oct '21

Postdoctoral Fellow Position at Carnegie Mellon University Deep Reinforcement Learning Techniques for Human Robot Teaming Systems OPEN POSITION: A postdoctoral fellow position at Robotics Institute, CMU SUPERVISOR: Prof. Katia Sycara (katia(a)cs.cmu.edu) The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Website: http://ri.cmu.edu/ri-faculty/katia-sycara LOCATION: The Advanced Agent-Robotics Technology Lab The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA DESCRIPTION: The successful candidate will work on Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms for human agent teams, with agents interacting autonomously or with humans. Start date in early 2021 is desirable but negotiable. The expected duration of the position is one to two years with renewals upon review. In particular the research will involve computational models for making inferences and predictions about the behaviors and activities of human-agent teams so as to (1) perform complementary beneficial actions, and (2) give advice to human and agent team mates to improve overall team performance. QUALIFICATIONS: - PhD in a field related to AI/ML in particular reinforcement learning in Robotics, CS or related discipline. - A strong theoretical background in Machine Learning, multi robot decision making, and decision-making under uncertainty. - Programming skills including experiences using C++, Python, and/or MATLAB, Neural Network frameworks, eg pytorch - Ability to present work clearly both written and orally - Experiences with deep learning mandatory, experience with ROS desired. APPLICATION DETAILS: Applicants should provide the following material via email to Prof. Katia Sycara (katia(a)cs.cmu.edu). Please use the subject line: “Postdoc application”. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. - A curriculum vitae - A statement of research expertise and interests (up to 2 pages) - Up to 3 publications - Names and contact information of three references - Dates of availability - A personal website, if available, where further details can be found DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES The postdoc will (a) carry out high quality research and publish the research results, (b) assist in research supervision and guidance of graduate and undergraduate students, (c) present research results to sponsors, (d) participate in research proposal preparation.

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New forum for cross-cutting topics of leagues
by Oskar von Stryk 04 Oct '21

04 Oct '21

Dear RoboCuppers, We are happy to announce the establishment of a new forum for the discussion of cross-cutting topics among the RoboCup leagues: https://cross.forum.robocup.org/ The list of all forums hosted on robocup.org can be found here: https://forum.robocup.org/ Best regards, Oskar von Stryk (On behalf of RoboCup IT Team)

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World Robot Summit 2020 Fukushima
by Satoshi Tadokoro 04 Oct '21

04 Oct '21

Dear To whom it may concern We are pleased to announce that WRS2020 Fukushima will be held at the Fukushima Robot Test Field from October 8 (Fri.) to October 10 (Sun.), 2021. World Robot Summit (WRS), hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), is an international robotics competition that simultaneously holds competitions, exhibitions, symposiums, and other events. At WRS2020 FUKUSHIMA, the "Disaster Robotics Category" competition (WRC) will be held alongside the "ROBOICHI" event, which will feature exhibitions by robot-related companies in Fukushima Prefecture and various stage events. Registration for this event is now open. We hope that you will visit the WRS2020 FUKUSHIMA. In addition, there will be live streaming of the competitions and stages on WRS VIRTUAL. If you will not be able to attend the on-site events in Fukushima, we hope to see you on WRS VIRTUAL. 【Outline of WRS2020 FUKUSHIMA】 Name: World Robot Summit 2020 (WRS2020) FUKUSHIMA Hosts: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Date: October 8 (Fri.) - 10 (Sun.), 2021 (3 days) Venue: Fukushima Robot Test Field (Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture) ■Introduction page of WRS2020 FUKUSHIMA https://wrs.nedo.go.jp/en/fukushima/ 【Outline of ROBOICHI】 Name: ROBOICHI Hosts: Fukushima Prefecture Date: October 8 (Fri.) - 10 (Sun.), 2021 (3 days) Venue: Fukushima Robot Test Field (Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture) 【WRS VIRTUAL】 Contents: Competitions and various programs will be broadcasted during the WRS FUKUSHIMA event. In addition, you can try the competition experience on WRS VIRTUAL. ■Introduction page of WRS VIRTUAL https://wrs.nedo.go.en/ Thanks and best regards. ------------------------------------------------------ Contact: World Robot Summit Secretariat 14-1, Koamicho, Nihombashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 103-8548 Email: info(a)worldrobotsummit.org ------------------------------------------------------

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[news] results of the survey on robotics labs during CoViD19
by Andreas Birk 29 Sep '21

29 Sep '21

Dear all, first of all, many thanks to all of you who participated in our survey on the impact of CoViD19 on robotics labs and other forms of hands-on education. The results are now published in an article in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (RAM), which is Open Access: A. Birk and D. Simunovic, Robotics Labs and Other Hands-On Teaching During COVID-19: Change Is Here to Stay? in IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, doi:10.1109/MRA.2021.3102979, 2021 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9523602 Among others, there is evidence that there is a potentially long-lasting impact, i.e., that instructors report an expectation of changes to be permanent. Furthermore, a vast majority of the participants reported a switch to online teaching with hands-on elements. This has among others strong consequences for the used equipment, e.g., simulation environments for use at home emerged as the most important tool for hands-on robotics education, while the use of take-home hardware could not substantially profit from the pandemic. Interestingly, there is a also significant discrepancy between the students' performance as perceived by the instructors and the actual grades the students achieved, which are significantly higher than before. Best regards, Andreas & Dora -- =============================================================================== Prof. Dr. Andreas Birk =============================================================================== Jacobs University Robotics Group Research 1, Campus Ring 12, 28759 Bremen, Germany http://robotics.jacobs-university.de/ =============================================================================== Commercial registry: Amtsgericht Bremen, HRB 18117 Managing Directors: Prof. Dr. Thomas Auf der Heyde / Andrea Herzig Erler Chairman of the Board of Governors: Tim Cordßen-Ryglewski ===============================================================================

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AAMAS-2022 - Call for Papers
by Francesco Amigoni 28 Sep '21

28 Sep '21

******************************************************************** * CALL FOR PAPERS * AAMAS-2022: The 21st International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems Auckland, New Zealand, 9-13 May 2022 https://aamas2022-conference.auckland.ac.nz/ ******************************************************************** We invite you to submit your best work in the area of agents and multiagent systems to AAMAS-2022, the 21st International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS-2022). We hope to be able to welcome all of you to Auckland next year, but a final decision on the conference modality (fully in presence, fully virtual, hybrid) will be only taken by the end of 2021. In the meantime, we look forward to your AAMAS-2022 exciting papers! Please visit the conference website for the full Call for Papers. ******************************************************************** AREAS OF INTEREST & SPECIAL TRACKS ******************************************************************** We welcome the submission of technical papers describing significant and original research on all aspects of the theory and practice of autonomous agents and multiagent systems. Areas of interest include: Coordination, Organisations, Institutions, and Norms Markets, Auctions, and Non-Cooperative Game Theory Social Choice and Cooperative Game Theory Knowledge Representation, Reasoning, and Planning Learning and Adaptation Modelling and Simulation of Societies Humans and AI / Human-Agent Interaction Engineering Multiagent Systems >>> Robotics <<< Innovative Applications AAMAS-2022 will also feature three special tracks, the Blue Sky Ideas Track, the JAAMAS Track, and the Demo Track, each with a separate Call for Papers. ******************************************************************** IMPORTANT DATES ******************************************************************** Abstract submission: October 1st 2021 Full paper submission: October 8th 2021 Authors rebuttal: November 22nd-25th 2021 Notification: December 20th 2021 Camera Ready submission: January 28th 2022 Tutorials/DC/Workshops: May 9-10, 2022 Main Conference: May 11-13, 2022 ******************************************************************** QUESTIONS ******************************************************************** If you have any questions please contact the Programme Chairs, Piotr Faliszewski, AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland, and Viviana Mascardi, University of Genova, Genova, Italy. ******************************************************************** --------------------------------------------------------- Francesco Amigoni Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria Politecnico di Milano Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32 I-20133 Milano (MI), Italy Voice: +39 02 2399-3475 Email: francesco.amigoni(a)polimi.it<mailto:francesco.amigoni@polimi.it> Web: https://amigoni.faculty.polimi.it ---------------------------------------------------------

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[meetings] CfP: Oct 1, International Rescue Robotics Symposium
by Oskar von Stryk 27 Sep '21

27 Sep '21

The German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ) invites participants to the International Symposium on the Current State and Challenges for Intelligent Robotic Assistance in Disaster Response When: 1 Oct 2021, 13:00-16:30 (CET) Where: Online and onsite in Dortmund, Germany What: Invited talks by leading researchers and practitioners and a round table discussion The symposium will highlight the current status and future challenges in intelligent ground and aerial robotic systems assisting in disaster response from the perspectives of research, development, training, and application. Confirmed speakers: * Emanuele Gissi, Italian Fire and Rescue Service * Adam Jacoff, NIST, USA * Jean-Paul Monet, Bouches-du-Rhone Fire Department, France * Robin Murphy, Texas A&M University, USA * Tomas Svoboda, Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic * Satoshi Tadokoro, Tohoku University, Japan We welcome a broad audience, including first responders, industry, academia and general public. For more details and updates on the program and to register (free of charge) please visit the website: https://rettungsrobotik.de/en/symposium [1] The International Symposium Rescue Robotics is part of the Rescue Robotics Days 2021: https://rettungsrobotik.de/en/rettungsrobotiktage/ [2] Ivana Kruijff-Korbayova and Oskar von Stryk (Symposium Co-Chairs) Links: ------ [1] https://rettungsrobotik.de/en/symposium/ [2] https://rettungsrobotik.de/en/rettungsrobotiktage/

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[jobs] 1 PhD position as part of the ETN PERSEO (Horizon 2020 MSCA)
by Silvia Rossi 15 Sep '21

15 Sep '21

_________________________________________________ Call for Applications 1 Early Stage Researcher/ PhD Positions Marie Skłodowska-Curie – ITN PERSEO Project www.perseo.eu <http://www.perseo.eu/> _________________________________________________ Applications are invited for 1 Early-Stage Researcher (ESR) position to be funded by the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie European Training Network on “PErsonalized Robotics as SErvice Oriented applications” (PERSEO) within the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission. The ESR positions to be filled is: ESR12, Università Degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy: Personalized Social Cues for Robots as Information Providing Interfaces OBJECTIVES: Design and develop a set of solutions for a multimodal user interface to maintain engagement through personalized social interaction and to enrich such interaction with social cues that can influence persuasion. To pursue this goal, the project will hybridize domain knowledge with on-line learning of the social strategies that are more effective for each specific user. The expected benefit is the reduction of the time needed for familiarisation with the robot and the support of the long-lasting use of it, minimizing the risk of rejection by frustration. Selection and social colouring of recommendations and instructions will be introduced by balancing the candidate output with the estimated receptiveness and engagement of the user. The network will train 15 early-stage researchers in the context of research and development for “PErsonalized Robotics as SErvice Oriented applications” (www.perseo.eu <http://www.perseo.eu/>). The consortium is formed by 8 prestigious European Universities and 2 leading robotics businesses plus 9 partner organisations to cover a full training programme on scientific, technical, and personal development skills. Placements will include secondments in current world-leading organisations in Spain, Germany, Austria, UK, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc. to gather the necessary knowledge and implement it in Europe. Thus, collaboration within the network is strongly encouraged. Candidates We are looking for talented and highly motivated early career researchers with a degree giving access to PhD studies in a domain relevant to the ESR position of interest (such as Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Robotics, Engineering). We expect dedication and enthusiasm for experimental research, combined with scientific curiosity and the capacity to teamwork in an interdisciplinary environment. Preferred qualifications include excellent grades, research talent and personal ambition. Applicants should have excellent command of English, together with good academic writing and presentation skills. Additional preferable requirements: - Advanced programming skills - Experience in robot programming and/or human-robot interaction research Fulltime employments as PhD students are offered for 3 years. The starting date of the contract is negotiable, but ideally it would be 1 November 2021. Benefits PERSEO fellows will beneﬁt from: Outstanding training aimed at fostering scientiﬁc, technical and transferable skills Short-term secondments in the PERSEO network Scientiﬁc advice from internationally recognized experts A solid mentoring strategy followed up through a personalised career development plan. The position will permit to carry out research in a stimulating group with the chance to join high-level training events. You will get a very attractive salary plus an allowances package in accordance with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) rules <https://www.bioremia.eu/fileadmin/bioremia/h2020-wp1820-msca_en.pdf%22%20%5…> and the personal circumstances of the applicant. The monthly gross ESR salary, subject to local tax, social benefit and other deductions following national regulations is of 4000€. The PhD students will be employed with full social security coverage and all benefits in accordance with the Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN fellowship regulations of the European Union. For further information please visit the MSCA website <https://ec.europa.eu/res>. Eligibility criteria To be eligible, the candidate: must be in the first four years of her/his research career. Candidates should ideally possess a master’s degree in a relevant academic field or a comparable degree that allows them to embark in a PhD (applications from candidates who already possess a doctoral degree cannot be considered). must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the institution that recruits the student for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date. Short stays such as holidays and/or compulsory national service are not taken into account. must be willing to spend a prolonged time in another institute/country of the network during the PhD thesis period. For further details on eligibility criteria please check in the Information Note for ITN Fellows <https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/sites/mariecurie2/files/msc…>. Application DOCUMENTS TO BE SENT 1. Application form (see Project Website www.perseo.eu <http://www.perseo.eu/>) 2. a copy of the passport 3. a full CV 4. a 2-page motivation letter including a description of previous research experience (1 page) and current research interest, outlining the fit to the desired ESR (1 page) 5. one or more reference letters and names of 2 referees including contact details 6. Transcripts of grades obtained for B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees, expected final grade 7. Certificates 8. List of Publications (if any) Only documents in English language will be accepted. Applicants should submit the documentation exclusively via e-mail in ONE PDF document to applications(a)perseo.eu <mailto:applications@perseo.eu> (max file size 5 MB) by 10 October, 2021 at 23 pm (GMT). Your application will be jointly processed by the members of the PERSEO consortium and treated according to the GDPR. Applications failing to include the requested documentation or do not meet the eligibility criteria, WILL NOT be considered in this competition. SELECTION OF CANDIDATES Shortlisted candidates will be selected on the basis of the fit of their CV and research interests with the chosen research project(s). These candidates will be invited for an online interview and positions will be offered after approval by the PERSEO Committee. To ensure equality of opportunities, we strongly encourage women with the appropriate qualifications to apply. If equally qualified, participants with a handicap will be preferred. FURTHER INFORMATION It is strongly recommended to contact supervisor silvia.rossi(a)unina.it <mailto:silvia.rossi@unina.it> via E-mail before submitting an application.

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Final week to apply to the PAL Robotics Stacking Challenge!
by Cailin Greiner 15 Sep '21

15 Sep '21

Hi all! My name is Cailin, and I am writing to you on behalf of YES!Delft, Europe’s leading tech incubator. We have an exciting event with Ahold Delhaize and PAL Robotics that we thought would be great for this community of robotics enthusiasts. If you and your team like coding challenges then the AIRLab Stacking challenge is for you! Within this challenge, students, company teams, professors and research teams in the field of robotics from all over the world are invited to join Ahold Delhaize, AI for Retail AIR Lab and PAL Robotics with research on retail and robotics. Algorithms will be coded using a simulation that can later be deployed using the TIAGo robot developed by PAL Robotics. Winning teams will be awarded a cash prize up to *€5000*. Deadline applications: September 17th. More information can be found here: https://www.yesdelft.com/airlab-stacking-challenge/

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LAST CALL - RoboCup Brazil Open
by Comunicação RoboCup 13 Sep '21

13 Sep '21

Hi teams, Last days to sign up for RoboCup Brazil Open! Do not leave to the last minute! The event will be online, streamed live on our youtube channels. Already registered? Did you check if everyone on the team is registered correctly? If you have any questions, please send it to us by email at organizacao(a)cbrobotica.org ! *Registrations are open for RoboCup Brazil Open* *The event will be virtual, with the same categories of RoboCup Federation* RoboCup Brazil launches the RoboCup Brazil Open, a virtual event with the same categories of the Robocup WorldWide. Registrations are now open for teams from all over the world. All the categories have been adapted and will happen in a fully remote format, using simulators, challenges and submission of articles written by the teams. Our goal is to disseminate the studies and technologies developed by universities in the field of robotics and IA. The event will happen in October 11th-15th, and will be broadcast through lives on the RoboCup Brazil Youtube channel. *Categories:* RoboCup Open Flying Robot Trial League Small Size Soccer Humanoid League Standard Plataform League (SPL) Simulation 2D Simulation 3D RoboCup at@Home IEEE Humanoid Robot Racing (HRR) IEEE Open IEEE Standard Educational Kit (SEK) IEEE Very Small Size Soccer RoboCup Junior Soccer Open RoboCup Junior Rescue Maze Primary RoboCup Junior Rescue Maze RoboCup Junior Rescue Simulation Primary RoboCup Junior Rescue Simulation Open * Registration* To participate, you and your team must register by september 15th, on the website: www.cbrobotica.org . The registration fee is US$ 50 per team. *RoboCup Brasil is a non-profit civil association, organized by volunteer professors and researchers. The association holds the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad, the Brazilian Robotics Competition and the National Robotics Show.-- Patrícia VergaraComunicação RoboCup Brasil(11) 9.8686-4993www.robocup.org.br <http://www.robocup.org.br>*

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[jobs] tenure track position in Automation at Jacobs University Bremen
by Andreas Birk 13 Sep '21

13 Sep '21

Jacobs University [1] in Bremen, Germany offers a tenure track position for a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer or Assistant Professor of Computer Science with specialization in Automation. The position is linked to Computer Science and the Robotics and Intelligent Systems program; hence expertise with respect to Intelligent Systems and AI is also welcome. Jacobs University is an international, English speaking environment, which has received very good positions in international rankings - Jacobs University is among others ranked on place 19 among all small universities in the world (<5,000 students) in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking. The deadline for submission of applications is 08.10.2021. Applications can be submitted online [2]. [1] http://www.jacobs-university.de/ [2] https://sdworxhr03.pi-asp.de/bewerber-web/?company=*G042-FIRMA-ID&tenant=&l… <https://sdworxhr03.pi-asp.de/bewerber-web/?company=*G042-FIRMA-ID&tenant=&l…> -- =============================================================================== Prof. Dr. Andreas Birk =============================================================================== Jacobs University Robotics Group Research 1, Campus Ring 12, 28759 Bremen, Germany http://robotics.jacobs-university.de/ =============================================================================== Commercial registry: Amtsgericht Bremen, HRB 18117 President: Prof. Dr. Antonio Loprieno Managing Directors: Prof. Dr. Thomas Auf der Heyde / Andrea Herzig Erler Chairwoman of the Board of Governors: Dr. Claudia Schilling ===============================================================================

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RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021: Call for Participation
by RCAP Office 31 Aug '21

31 Aug '21

Dear RoboCuppers, You are welcome to participate in the RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 (RCAP 2021). ============== Call for Participation =============== *RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 (RCAP 2021)* 25-29 November 2021 https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/participation.html RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 Aichi Japan (RCAP 2021) will be held at Aichi Sky Expo (Aichi International Convention & Exhibition Center), November 25-29, 2021. RCAP 2021 will be held in a hybrid ON-SITE and VIRTUAL format. Due to the current uncertainties of Covid-19, ON-SITE competitions will only open to participants from Japan. - ON-SITE Competitions: Participants from Japan. - VIRTUAL Competitions: Participants from all over the world. *LEAGUES:* Virtual Competitions are open to participants from all over the world, with most of the leagues of RoboCup 2021 Worldwide. For details of leagues, please refer to: https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/leagues.html *REGISTRATION:* All teams are required to pre-register through the online form: https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/registration.html *IMPORTANT DATES:* - Deadline for pre-registration (both on-line and virtual competitions): 30 September 2021 - Announcement of qualified teams: 14 October 2021 - Deadline for registration: 4 November 2021 *REGISTRATION FEES:* The registration fee is waived for all Japanese teams/members. The registration fee for teams to participate in virtual competitions (except teams from Japan): - Major Team Registration Fee: Waived - Major Staff/Students: USD60/person - Junior Team Registration Fee: Waived - Junior Students/Mentors: USD40/person *SYMPOSIUM:* https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/symposium.html *CONTACT:* For inquiries please contact us via the hereunder email addresses: - Aichi Local Organizing Committee (General Enquiries, On-site competitions): - rcap2021(a)intergroup.co.jp - RCAP Office (Registration fees and payments, Virtual competitions): - office(a)robocupap.org For more information please visit our official website at https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/index.html We look forward to welcoming you to RCAP 2021 Aichi Japan! Best Regards, RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) Office, RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 (RCAP 2021) Organizing Committee

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RoboCup Brazil Open 2021 - 2nd Call for Participation
by April Foster 25 Aug '21

25 Aug '21

======================================= Registrations are open for RoboCup Brazil Open 2021 The event will be virtual, with most of the categories of RoboCup Federation RoboCup Brazil launches the RoboCup Brazil Open, a virtual event with most of the categories of the Robocup WorldWide. Registrations are now open for teams from all over the world. All the categories have been adapted and will happen in a fully remote format, using simulators, challenges, and submission of articles written by the teams. Our goal is to disseminate the studies and technologies developed by universities in the field of robotics and AI. The event will happen on *October 11th-15th* and will be broadcast through lives on the RoboCup Brazil Youtube channel. In 2020, more than 700 students from Latin America attended the event. ============= Categories: ============= RoboCup Soccer Simulation 3D League RoboCup Soccer Simulation 2D League RoboCup Small Size Soccer League RoboCup Soccer Humanoid League RoboCup Soccer Standard Plataform League (SPL) RoboCup @Home RoboCup Open Flying Robot Trial League RoboCupJunior Soccer Open RoboCupJunior Rescue Maze Primary RoboCupJunior Rescue Maze RoboCupJunior Rescue Simulation Primary RoboCupJunior Rescue Simulation Open IEEE Humanoid Robot Racing (HRR) IEEE Open IEEE Standard Educational Kit (SEK) IEEE Very Small Size Soccer ================= Registration ================= To participate, you and your team must register *by August 30th*, on the website: www.cbrobotica.org . The registration fee is US$ 50 per team. *RoboCup Brasil is a non-profit civil association, organized by volunteer professors and researchers. The association holds the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad, the Brazilian Robotics Competition, and the National Robotics Show.* -- RoboCup Brazil http://www.robocup.org.br/

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[HRI][meetings][CFP] Special Issue on IJSR "GENDERING ROBOTS: Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics"
by Giulia Perugia 17 Aug '21

17 Aug '21

Dear colleagues, After the success of the GenR 2021 workshop at RO-MAN 2021 last week, I am pleased to announce that the homonym Special Issue “GENDERING ROBOTS: Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics” is now open for submissions on the International Journal of Social Robotics (IJSR)! The Special Issue opened on August 12th and will stay open until January 31st, 2022. All submitted papers will be reviewed as soon as they are received and the accepted papers will be published online first until the complete Special Issue is published. Please note that we welcome submissions from all disciplines addressing the topic of gender in robots and are open to submissions from Ethics, Social Sciences, Psychology, and Humanities, as well as more technical and traditional Social Robotics and HRI papers. You can find more information on the Special Issue below and on our website <https://sites.google.com/view/ro-man21-genr-workshop/special-issue?authuser…>. Please feel free to reach out for questions and details to our email addresses (see below). Kindest regards, Giulia Perugia ============================================================= *SPECIAL ISSUE GENDERING ROBOTS: ONGOING (RE)CONFIGURATIONS OF GENDER IN ROBOTICS* International Journal of Social Robotics (IJSR) - Impact Factor 5.126 (2020) [link to journal <https://www.springer.com/journal/12369/>][link to special issue <https://www.springer.com/journal/12369/updates/19292566>] The field of HRI is increasingly employing humanoid robots and anthropomorphic designs to aid social interactions between humans and robots. However, designing robots with human-like characteristics can have far-reaching implications. For instance, integrating identity markers such as gender into robotic systems can involuntarily transfer implicit biases into the human-robot interaction (HRI) and perpetuate harmful structural patterns and societal stereotypes. This Special Issue aims to *deepen the social, ethical, and psychological understanding of the attribution of gender to robots, addressing how the design and use of gendered robots might impact HRI and affect society at large*. We welcome original papers investigating the attribution of gender to social robots, the influence of robot’s gender on the perception of and interaction with robots (e.g., acceptance, trust), the design of gendered robots, and its ethical and societal implications. Through this special issue, we would like to inspire discussions about the mindful use of robots in society and promote the possibility of using robots to challenge harmful social practices (e.g., gender stereotypes, gender inequality). Our ultimate goal is to bridge the communication gap we observed between the different disciplines addressing the topic of gender in robotics and the lack of spaces to converse with and learn from one another. The Special Issue is based on the GenR workshop “GENDERING ROBOTS: Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics” which took place on August 12th, 2021 at the 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2021). The Special issue opened on August 12th, 2021 and will stay open until *January 31st, 2022*. All submitted papers will be reviewed as soon as they are received. Accepted papers are published Online First until the complete Special Issue is published. *Topics of interest* include, but are not limited to - Gendering practices in Social Robotics - Experimental studies on gendered robots - Feminist robotics - Robot’s gender design - Norm-critical design - Queer design in HRI - Sex Robots - Ethics of Gendered Robots - Normative deviance in relation to robot gender - Societal implications and applications of gendered robots - Performative arts encompassing a reflection on gender in robotics - Non-binary perspectives on robot gender *Instructions to submit your paper to the Special Issue:* When submitting your paper to the International Journal of Social Robotics via the Editorial Manager, you will be asked if your paper belongs to a special issue, please select YES as an answer. At this point, a *pull down menu* will appear and you will be able to select the title of the special issue, select "GENDERING ROBOTS (GenR): Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics". Besides selecting the Special Issue upon submission, you should also specify in your *cover letter* that you wish to submit your manuscript to the special issue "GENDERING ROBOTS (GenR): Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics". Please, feel free to contact us should you need further information about the special issue. The Guest Editors: - Dr. Giulia Perugia (Lead guest editor): giulia.perugia(a)it.uu.se - Dr. Katie Winkle: winkle(a)kth.se - Dominika Lisy: dominika.lisy(a)liu.se - Ryan Blake Jackson: rbjackso(a)mymail.mines.edu

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KBS Special Issue on Deep Learning (IF: 8.038) Deadline: August 31, 2021
by Pub Conference 11 Aug '21

11 Aug '21

Robust, Explainable, and Privacy-Preserving Deep Learning https://www.journals.elsevier.com/knowledge-based-systems/call-for-papers/r… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.journals.elsevier.com/knowledge-bas…> *Aim and Scope* The exponentially growing availability of data such as images, videos and speech from myriad sources, including social media and the Internet of Things, is driving the demand for high-performance data analysis algorithms. Deep learning is currently an extremely active research area in machine learning and pattern recognition. It provides computational models of multiple nonlinear processing neural network layers to learn and represent data with increasing levels of abstraction. Deep neural networks are able to implicitly capture intricate structures of large-scale data and deploy in cloud computing and high-performance computing platforms. The deep learning approach has demonstrated remarkable performances across a range of applications, including computer vision, image classification, face/speech recognition, natural language processing, and medical communications. However, deep neural networks yield ‘black-box’ input-output mappings that can be challenging to explain to users. Especially in the healthcare, cybersecurity, and legal fields, black-box machine learning techniques are unacceptable, since decisions may have a profound impact on peoples’ lives due to the lack of interpretability. In addition, many other open problems and challenges still exist, such as computational and time costs, repeatability of the results, convergence, and the ability to learn from a very small amount of data and to evolve dynamically. Further, despite their enormous societal benefits, deep learning can pose real threats to personal privacy. For example, deep neural networks and other machine learning models are built based on patients' personal and highly sensitive data such as clinical records or tracked health data in the domain of healthcare. Moreover, they can be vulnerable to attackers trying to infer the sensitive data that was used to build the model. This raises important research questions about how to develop deep learning models that protect private data against inference attacks while still being accurate and useful predictive models. This Special Issue will present robust, explainable, and efficient next-generation deep learning algorithms with data privacy and theoretical guarantees for solving challenging artificial intelligence problems. This Special Issue aims to: 1) improve the understanding and explainability of deep neural networks; 2) improve the accuracy of deep learning leveraging new stochastic optimization and neural architecture search; 3) enhance the mathematical foundation of deep neural networks; 4) design new data privacy mechanisms to optimally tradeoff between utility and privacy; and 5) increase the computational efficiency and stability of the deep learning training process with new algorithms that will scale. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following: · Novel theoretical insights on the deep neural networks · Exploration of post-hoc interpretation methods which can shed light on how deep learning models produce a specific prediction and generate a representation · Investigation of interpretable models which aim to construct self-explanatory models and incorporate interpretability directly into the structure of a deep learning model · Quantifying or visualizing the interpretability of deep neural networks · Stability improvement of deep neural network optimization · Optimization methods for deep learning · Privacy preserving machine learning (e.g., federated machine learning, learning over encrypted data) · Novel deep learning approaches in the applications of image/signal processing, business intelligence, games, healthcare, bioinformatics, and security *Important Dates* · Submission Deadline: August 31, 2021 · First Review Decision: September 30, 2021 · Revisions Due: October 31, 2021 · Final Decision: November 30, 2021 · Final Manuscript: December 31, 2021 *Review Procedures* This special issue will run as per the timeline given from submission to publication, while maintaining the rigorous peer review and high standards of the journal. All manuscripts submitted must be original, not under consideration elsewhere, and not previously published. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts are available on the Guide for Authors’ page. Authors can expect their manuscripts to be reviewed fairly, and in a skilled, conscientious manner. To enhance objectivity, and to guarantee high scientific quality and relevance to the subject, three peer reviewers will be selected to evaluate a manuscript. The peer review process shall be designed to avoid bias and conflict of interest on the part of reviewers and shall be composed of experts in the relevant field of research. A key criterion in publication decisions will be the manuscript’s fit for the special issue and the readership of KBS. Papers will be published online as soon as accepted in continuous flow. *Submission Instructions* The submission system will be open around one week before the first paper comes in. When submitting your manuscript please select the article type “*VSI: Deep Learning*”. Please submit your manuscript before the submission deadline. All submissions deemed suitable to be sent for peer review will be reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. Once your manuscript is accepted, it will go into production, and will be simultaneously published in the current regular issue and pulled into the online Special Issue. Articles from this Special Issue will appear in different regular issues of the journal, though they will be clearly marked and branded as Special Issue articles. Please see an example here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/science-of-the-total-environment/spec… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/science-o…> Please ensure you read the Guide for Authors before writing your manuscript. The Guide for Authors and the link to submit your manuscript is available on the Journal’s homepage.

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[HRI][meetings] Program / registration GenR 2021 Workshop "GENDERING ROBOTS: Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics" @RO-MAN 2021
by Giulia Perugia 08 Aug '21

08 Aug '21

Dear colleagues, It is with great pleasure that we announce that the schedule <https://sites.google.com/view/ro-man21-genr-workshop/schedule?authuser=0> of the GenR 2021 workshop "GENDERING ROBOTS: Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics'' is online and the registration <https://sites.google.com/view/ro-man21-genr-workshop/registration?authuser=0> to the workshop is open! The GenR 2021 workshop will take place on August 12th from 15:00 to 19:00 (CEST time) as part of the 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2021). Please, find below the schedule of the workshop. Kindest regards, Giulia Perugia =============================== *IEEE RO-MAN 2021 GenR WORKSHOP * Workshop Date: August 12th, 2021 (15:00 - 19:00 CEST) Attendees wishing to attend the workshop should register for the workshop via our website ( https://sites.google.com/view/ro-man21-genr-workshop/registration?authuser=0). We will then email the joining link to all registered participants ahead of the event. Alternatively, the link to the workshop will be available to all registered attendees of RO-MAN 2021. *WORKSHOP PROGRAM* *15:00 - 15:10 - INTRODUCTION* *15:10 - 15:55 - KEYNOTE TALK #1 - PROF. ROBERT SPARROW - Title: TBA* *15:55 - 16:30 - PAPER PRESENTATIONS #1 * - Tatsuya Nomura - *Relationships between Gender Conception, Generations, and Negative Attitudes toward Robots in Japan* - Laetitia Tanqueray, Ginevra Castellano, and Stefan Larsson - *A Preliminary Case Study on Gender Norms in Robot-Assisted Diagnosis of Perinatal Depression: A Socio-Legal HRI Perspective* - Hanna Pelikan, Sofia Thunberg, and Erika Johnson - *Gender Studies and Robotics – A Dialogue * - Katie Winkle, Gaspar Melsion, Iolanda Leite, Madeline Balaam, Donald McMillan, Maria Arnelid, Katherine Harrison, and Ericka Johnson - *Feminism x Social Robotics* - Juana Valeria Hurtado and Valentina Mejia - *Feminist Perspective on Robot Learning Processes* *16:30 - 17:05 - PANEL DISCUSSION #1 * Themes: Diversity in Research Participation, Cross cultural differences, ‘Effectiveness vs ethics’ when it comes to (stereotypically) gendered robots Panelists: Prof. Ericka Johnson, Dr. Katherine Harrison, Prof. Verena Reiser, Dr. Megan Strait, Prof. James E. Young *17:05 - 17:15 - COFFEE BREAK * *17:15 - 17:45 - PAPER PRESENTATIONS #2* - *Astrid Weiss and Katta Spiel - Should robots have a gender -- Should they be gendered?* - *Niklas Ellerich-Groppe, Merle Weßel, Frauke Koppelin and Mark Schweda - An Ethical Perspective on Gender Stereotyping and Queering in Care Robotics* - *Piercosma Bisconti Lucidi and Giulia Perugia - How Do We Gender Robots? Inquiring the Relationship Between Perceptual Cues and Context of Use * - *Ryan Blake Jackson and Tom Williams - Eugenicists Should Not Design Robots: On the Principle of Procreative Beneficence and Robot Gendering* *17:45 - 18:15 - PANEL DISCUSSION #2* Themes: Queering Robots and Genderless Robots, Gender Issues: from HRI to HHI to HRI Panelists: Prof. Ericka Johnson, Dr. Katherine Harrison, Prof. Verena Reiser, Dr. Megan Strait, Prof. James E. Young *18:15 - 19:00 - KEYNOTE TALK #2 - PROF. FRIEDERIKE EYSSEL - Title: Gender. Diversity and Social Robots: A Social Psychological Perspective* *19:00 - 19:05 - CONCLUDING REMARKS*

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