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[robocup-worldwide] CFP: RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation competition 2022
by Dina Helal 12 Jan '22

12 Jan '22

Call for Participation 2022 RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation Competitions to be held in Bangkok, Thailand — July 11-19, 2022 2022 RoboCup Rescue Simulation <https://rescuesim.robocup.org/upcoming-events/2022-bangkok-rescue-simulatio…> RoboCup 2022 https://2022.robocup.org IMPORTANT DATES Pre-Registration……………………………......: February 15, 2022 (23:55 GMT) Team Description Paper (TDP) submission…: February 28, 2022 (23:55 GMT) Qualified teams announcement…………..…..: March 15, 2022 Camera-ready TDP submission………….……: May 31, 2022 (23:55 GMT) Tournament dates………………………..……..: July 11-19, 2022 WAIVER OF THE TEAM FEE FOR NEW TEAMS The RoboCup Federation is pleased to introduce a waiver of the team fee for the 2022 international RoboCup competition for NEW teams in the major leagues. A NEW team is defined as a team all of whose team members have never participated in an annual international RoboCup competition. The waiver concerns only the team fee and does not imply any waiver of fees for team members. NEW FEATURES IN THE SIMULATOR Teams can now choose to implement their agents in Java or Python Python repo: roborescue/rcrs-sample-agent-python (github.com) <https://github.com/roborescue/rcrs-sample-agent-python> AGENT SIMULATION COMPETITION This initiative focuses on promoting the use of Artificial Intelligence to support teamwork coordination and decision-making of ground rescue teams in a post-disaster urban setting. It maintains a computer simulation platform that can realistically represent natural disaster scenarios where Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) plans can be assessed. This platform is a comprehensive artificial simulation environment that can be used as a testbed to the effectiveness of coordination strategies of USAR teams, coalition formations of heterogeneous teams, rescue plans to explore large-scale environments with limited set of resources to search for survivors, disaster response public policies, among others. The RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation Competition involves primarily evaluating the performance of teams of agents in regards to their distributed coordination and planning algorithms for rescuing civilians in a city after an earthquake. The goal is evaluating the effectiveness of Ambulance Team, Police Force, and Fire Brigade agents on rescuing civilians in earthquake scenarios. Here are some of the challenges that can be tackled in this competition: - Decision Making Algorithms - Task Allocation Methods - Multi-Agent Coordination and Team Formation Methods - Path Finding - Search Algorithms GETTING STARTED GUIDE Here are some pointers to get started with the agents development - ADF Java: - Repository: roborescue/adf-sample-agent-java: RoboCup Rescue Agent Development Framework Sample Agent Java (github.com) <https://github.com/roborescue/adf-sample-agent-java> - Documentation: Java ADF manual <https://github.com/roborescue/adf-sample-agent-java/blob/master/docs/manual…> - [NEW] Python: - Repository: roborescue/rcrs-sample-agent-python (github.com) <https://github.com/roborescue/rcrs-sample-agent-python> - [NEW] Docker: - Repository: roborescue/rcrs-docker (github.com) <https://github.com/roborescue/rcrs-docker> - Using docker is optional for teams that wish to have an environment that is already setup for development INFRASTRUCTURE COMPETITION The Infrastructure competition involves the presentation of tools or simulators related to disaster management issues already developed by the participating team. The aim is to evaluate possible enhancements and expansions of the RoboCup Rescue Simulation League environment (both the agent simulator and frameworks and the virtual robot platform) based on the new ideas and concepts proposed in these tools and simulators. The evaluation will be done by a panel of experts and the winner chosen according to a set of factors related to the technical aspects of the tool or simulator and the presentation. The winner tool will be selected for further integration with the simulation platform. The participation on Infrastructure competition requires the submission of a detailed Team Description Paper (TDP) describing the tool or simulator. In addition to the submission of the TDP, teams interested in participating on the Infrastructure competition must release their source code as an open-source project PRIOR to July 2, 2022. Participant teams should address topics including, but not limited to - Improvements to the Virtual Robot Simulator - Improvements to the Agent Development Framework - Increase the number of participants on the RoboCup Rescue league - Provide agent development kits that render easy the participation of newcomers - Integrate the Agent and Virtual Robot competitions - Improve the RoboCup Rescue sub-simulators PRE-REGISTRATION Teams must register via the submission system available at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcrs2022 no later than February 15, 2022 (23:55 UTC). This pre-registration requires only teams to fill the "Title" field and the name, institution, and contact information of all team members. The "Title" field should be "Agent_[TeamName]" to participate in the Agent Competition and “Infrastructure_[TeamName]” for the infrastructure competition, where [TeamName] should be replaced by the name of the team. The pre-registration does not imply that the team will be evaluated to participate in the competition, please see section QUALIFICATION below for further information. QUALIFICATION Teams must submit a Team Description Paper (TDP) (in English) describing the strategy and recent advancements implemented in the team. The TDP is limited to 16 pages and must be electronically submitted as PDF through the submission system available at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcrs2022 no later than February 28, 2022 (23:55 UTC). The TDP file name has to be "Agent_[TeamName]" for the Agent Competition, where [TeamName] is the name of the team submitting the TDP. This format should be also used in the "Title" field in the submission system https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcrs2022. Teams should prepare their Agent Competition TDP based on the templates available at https://github.com/roborescue/rcrs-templates . (overleaf link) All TDPs will be peer-reviewed by at least two PC members. The evaluation criteria of contributions will be based on originality, quality, clarity, and its relevance to the league's aims. The suggestions of the reviewers should be incorporated into an improved version (i.e., Camera-Ready version) of the TDP. The camera-ready version should be uploaded to EasyChair no later than May 31, 2022. - The previous TDPs are accessible here: https://robocup-rescue.github.io/team_description_papers/ - Qualification results will be announced on March 15, 2022. - If you have any questions please reach out to rcrs2022(a)easychair.org RULES Please read the Agent Simulation Competition Rules document available at 2022 RoboCup Rescue Simulation <https://rescuesim.robocup.org/upcoming-events/2022-bangkok-rescue-simulatio…> for further details. ABOUT ROBOCUP RESCUE AGENT SIMULATION LEAGUE Natural disasters are major adverse events that cause large-scale economic, human, and environmental losses. They are usually difficult to predict and even more challenging to prevent from happening. These characteristics demand disaster management strategies to be in place to mitigate damaging consequences after a natural disaster. The mission of the RoboCup Rescue Agent Simulation League is to promote research and development in the socially significant domain of natural disaster with focus on multiagent teamwork coordination and decision support systems. The effective implementation of this mission is translated into three main objectives. First, the league aims to provide a simulator able to realistically represent natural disaster scenarios where response rescue plans can be assessed. Second, it aims to define evaluation benchmarks for response plans elaborated by policy-makers. Finally, it aims to promote research and development by organizing competitions to stimulate the exchange of ideas and experience between researchers and practitioners. These aims are designed to help in the development of more sophisticated and formalized response plans to effectively respond to natural disasters and reduce the negative impacts on society.

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[meetings][cfp] (RO-MAN 2022) EXTENDED DEADLINE for Workshops and Tutorials proposals at the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication
by Alessandra Rossi 11 Jan '22

11 Jan '22

Dear colleagues, Apologies for any cross-posting We are pleased to inform you that we extended the deadline for proposals for Workshops and Tutorials to be held at the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2022) 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 Workshop/Tutorial proposal, please email workshop(a)roman2022.org Please find attached the call for proposal. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi Publicity Chairs Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy ================================================================================== *** EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR 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 ================================================================================== EXTENDED PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE WORKSHOPS/TUTORIALS DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 7, 2022 ================================================================================== The RO-MAN2022 Organising Committee invites proposals for 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. 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 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 and tutorial 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 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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Sponsorship opportunities for student teams at the DATE Conference
by Vinco Sara 11 Jan '22

11 Jan '22

This year the Design Automation and Test in Europe conference (DATE, www.date-conference.com<http://www.date-conference.com/>), the biggest EDA conference in Europe, includes a sponsorship event that aims at bringing together student teams participating to international competitions with personnel from EDA and microelectronic companies. Teams have the opportunity to present their activities, success stories and challenges, and to receive funding and support by the companies for their future activities. The Sponsorship Fair will happen online on March 16th (5PM to 6:30PM CET). Teams will present their activities to the DATE attendees. Then, a poster session will follow to allow closer interaction of student teams with EDA and microelectronic companies, to allow discussion of sponsorship opportunities, e.g., in terms on monetary sponsorships, licenses, tutorials, etc. To submit your participation, go to https://www.softconf.com/date22/YPP<https://www.softconf.com/date22/YPP/> by January 30, 2022 to submit: * Team description: name, affiliation, reference contact, list of international competitions * A poster presenting the main activities, success stories and challenges, by giving a highlight to EDA-related activities. For more information visit the web site: https://www.date-conference.com/sponsorship-fair. In case you have any doubt or question, please feel free to contact us: young-people-program(a)date-conference.com <mailto:young-people-program@date-conference.com> Best regards, Sara Vinco --- Young People Program Co-Chair Design Automation and Test in Europe conference 2022

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Call for Participation: RoboCup 2022 Middle Size League
by 刘斐 11 Jan '22

11 Jan '22

Call for Participation   RoboCup 2022 Middle Size League July 11 to 17, 2022 (Bangkok, Thailand) https://2022.robocup.org We would like to invite all MSL teams to participate in the 2022 RoboCup MSL World Championships. If you are interested to participate please take the time to pre-register your team for the RoboCup 2022  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) Declaration if the team requires 802.11b access-point. h) A mechanical and electrical description together with a software flow chart (please include size and weight of the robots); i) 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.  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: March 21, 2022 · Announcement of qualified teams: March 28, 2022  4) Rules  The rules and regulations for the RoboCup 2022 Middle Size League had been published at: https://msl.robocup.org/rules   The updated rules and regulations had been released by December 31, 2021  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 “http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/plagiarism_FAQ.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.  7) Waiver of the team fee for NEW Teams  For the 2022 International RoboCup competition, NEW major teams can apply for team fee waiver. A NEW team is defined as a team all of whose team members have never participated in an annual international RoboCup competition. The waiver concerns only the team fee and does not imply any waiver of fees for team members.  The 2022 MSL Organizing and Technical Committees

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CFP: DEI HRI Workshop on Inclusive HRI @ HRI 2022
by Frank Broz 10 Jan '22

10 Jan '22

Call for Papers DEI HRI 2022 Workshop (https://sites.google.com/view/dei-hri-2022/) We are inviting submissions for the workshop Inclusive HRI: Equity and Diversity in Design, Application, Methods, and Community (DEI HRI 2022), to be held virtually within the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2022) on March 11th, 2022. Important Dates * Deadline for Paper Submission: February 4th, 2022 * Paper Acceptance Notification: February 18th, 2022 * Camera Ready Paper: March 4th, 2022 * Workshop date: March 11th, 2022 Statement of Objectives Although being a pressing issue, an understanding of how robotic systems can replicate and amplify inequalities and injustice among underrepresented communities is still to be achieved within the HRl community. This workshop contributes to filling this gap by exploring the research questions: What do Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mean in the context of HRI? How can we promote DEI in HRI? Our goal is to raise awareness on the importance of including DEI aspects in HRI to avoid exacerbating existing or creating new biases. This workshop will center around the themes of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Human-Robot Interaction. An additional goal of this workshop is to build community and solidarity among researchers in HRI who work on and are affected by these various and related issues. More information on the workshop can be found on the dedicated website<https://sites.google.com/view/dei-hri-2022/>. Submission Guidelines We invite authors to submit extended abstracts (up to 2 pages, excluding references) and short papers (up to 4 pages, excluding references) on a range of topics relevant to these questions and to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in HRI in general. Submissions may present current or in-progress research, position papers, critical essays, and summaries of already published research from all areas of HRI. Since we hope to learn from other fields of knowledge and form new connections with related research communities, we also welcome submissions from researchers outside of the HRI community. Authors should submit their papers on EasyChair<https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=deihri2022>. Papers should be formatted according to the IEEE two-column format<https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html>. Submissions will be evaluated according to their fit to the workshop theme, and their adherence to the scientific standards of the discipline of origin. The workshop proceedings will be made publicly available on our website. List of Topics Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: * Accessibility * Bias in AI/ML algorithms * Disability and Ableism * Gender issues * LGBTQIA+ issues * Inclusive education * Intersectional feminism * Issues of representation * Neurodiversity * Racism * The global south The topics above can address one or more of the following domains: * HRI design * HRI applications * HRI research methods * HRI community Organizers More information on the workshop can be found on the workshop website<https://sites.google.com/view/dei-hri-2022/>. For any further questions, please feel free to reach out at our email addresses! * Dr. Maartje de Graaf - Utrecht University - m.m.a.degraaf(a)uu.nl<mailto:m.m.a.degraaf@uu.nl> * Dr. Giulia Perugia - Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) - g.perugia(a)tue.nl<mailto:g.perugia@tue.nl> * Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga (corresponding) - Leiden University - e.fosch.villaronga(a)law.leidenuniv.nl<mailto:e.fosch.villaronga@law.leidenuniv.nl> * Dr. Angelica Lim - Simon Fraser University - angelica(a)sfu.ca<mailto:angelica@sfu.ca> * Dr. Frank Broz - Delft University - f.broz(a)tudelft.nl<mailto:f.broz@tudelft.nl> * Dr. Elaine Short, Tufts University, elaine.short(a)tufts.edu<mailto:elaine.short@tufts.edu> * Prof. dr. Mark Neerincx, Delft University and TNO, m.a.neerincx(a)tudelft.nl<mailto:m.a.neerincx@tudelft.nl> Since we acknowledge that we are a fairly homogeneous group of organizers, we would like to diversify our group composition. If you want to join the DEI HRI 2022 community and be part of the programme committee of the DEI HRI 2022 workshop, please let us know by filling out this form<https://forms.gle/fXxPiUJYBcJzSS2V9>.

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[journals] Neural Computing and Applications (NCAA) Special Issue CFP (Deadline: March 31, 2022)
by Pub Conference 08 Jan '22

08 Jan '22

Neural Computing and Applications <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.springer.com/journal/521/__;!!LIr3w…> Topical Collection on Interpretation of Deep Learning: Prediction, Representation, Modeling and Utilization https://www.springer.com/journal/521/updates/19187658 <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.springer.com/journal/521/updates/19…> 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 <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.springer.com/journal/521/submission…>). 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 <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.editorialmanager.com/ncaa/default.a…> . Authors should select “TC: Interpretation of Deep Learning” during the submission step ‘Additional Information’.

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[news]AAMAS2022 : Final Call for Applications - Doctoral Consortium - Deadline : January 7 2022 (Tomorrow)
by Brian Ravenet 06 Jan '22

06 Jan '22

************Final Call for AAMAS-22 Doctoral Consortium Applications (Deadline Extended to Jan 7 UTC-12)******** Submission Deadline: January 5 January 7 (23:59 UTC-12) Author Notification: February 5 (23:59 UTC-12) Camera Ready Deadline: February 28 (23:59 UTC-12) Doctoral Consortium: May 9 - 10 UPDATE: AAMAS 2022 and the doctoral consortium to be held as fully virtual events. DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM PROGRAM: The doctoral consortium (DC) of AAMAS 2022 is intended to provide Ph.D. students the opportunity (1) to receive feedback on their research (from established researchers in their fields), (2) to interact closely with established researchers/mentors, and (3) to build their professional network. Each accepted student to the program will be matched with an established researcher/mentor in the field who will assist the student with research and career management advice. An informal lunch will be organized between the students and their mentors allowing for in-depth discussion and exchange. Each student will be given ample time to orally present their work and therefore be able to fully benefit from direct feedback from the assigned senior researcher mentor and their peers. Furthermore, the students will also present a poster of their PhD work during the poster session of the main conference. Apart from extra feedback, this will also help provide students with new contacts and professional networking opportunities. In addition, the students will work in groups in a Social Good Idea Challenge. The DC is intended for PhD students who have a specific research proposal and some preliminary results, but who have sufficient time prior to completing their dissertation to benefit from the consortium experience. Preference will be given to students satisfying these criteria, but well-motivated applications from students who are at earlier or later stages of their doctoral studies will also be considered. Program Format: It is our hope to hold the DC program in person and host our attendees at the conference venue. However, we are aware of the ongoing global public health situation and will be considering any safety protocols in place at the time when implementing the DC program. As such, we are also planning the possibility of running the DC program as a partly or fully virtual event. SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: The submission package should include the following items in one single pdf file: * A cover sheet containing: the student's name, email address, homepage, university affiliation, gender, citizenship, PhD start date, expected graduation date, name and email of PhD supervisor, at least three mentor suggestions (should be chosen from the list of PCs, SPCs, or ACs in (this year and past) AAMAS and related conferences, for example, the list of PCs, SPCs, and ACs for AAMAS can be found on current and previous AAMAS conference webpages. * A 1-page letter of support from the supervisor. * A 2-page (short) CV that includes the list of publications of the student. * A 2-page extended abstract of the student's thesis or thesis topic (in AAMAS submission format) * A 1-page personal statement citing around five favorite papers in the field and briefly describing how they influenced the students' work. Applications should be submitted via easychair [Link [1] or https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aamas2022dc [1]]. The selection process will consider the quality of the submitted proposal and the stage of the student's PhD project. Doctoral students who submit to the DC are encouraged to submit papers to the associated workshops. Important: All students, including DC applicants, should apply for student scholarships separately on the scholarship website. While acceptance to the DC may play a role in scholarship decisions, those decisions are made by the scholarship chairs and are subject to available funding support. AAMAS will be hosting a list of diversity and inclusion activities. We strongly encourage everyone to participate in these activities as well as other conference activities (which will be decided at a later date). For any questions, please contact the doctoral consortium co-chairs. ORGANIZERS: Hau Chan (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States) Stacy Marsella (Northeastern University, United States) Links: ------ [1] https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aamas2022dc

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[RoboCup 2022] RoboCup@Work Call for Participation
by Asad Norouzi 03 Jan '22

03 Jan '22

*Apologies for duplicate messages*Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2022 - RoboCup at Work https://2022.robocup.org Venue: Bangkok, Thailand Monday July 11th through Sunday July 17th 2022 RoboCup at Work: Competing for the Factory of the Future RoboCup at Work is a league and competition in RoboCup that targets the use of robots in work-related, industrial scenarios. It aims to foster research and development that enables the use of innovative mobile robots equipped with advanced manipulators for current and future industrial applications, where robots cooperate with human workers for complex tasks ranging from manufacturing, automation, and parts handling up to general logistics. The RoboCup at Work league is characterized by an industrial appealing environment composed of industrial objects such as screws and nuts, shelves, containers, platforms of various sizes, and networked automation devices such as conveyor belts, drilling machines, and others. The actual competition tasks to be performed in the environment are defined in a set of so-called tests. Each test addresses various mobile manipulation capabilities such as grasping, transportation, precision placement, and visual servoing. The full rules of RoboCup at Work as well as further technical details are (will be) posted on the RoboCup at Work website (https://atwork.robocup.org ). Participation in the Competition All teams that intend to participate in the competition have to perform the following steps: 1. Submission of qualification material, including a Team Description Paper and possibly additional material like videos or drawings 2. Final registration (qualified teams only) Qualification The qualification process serves a dual purpose: It should allow the Technical Committee to assess the safety of the robots a team intends to bring to the competition, and it should allow to rank 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 material provided by the teams. The evaluation criteria will include: - Team description paper - Relevant scientific contribution/publications - The professional quality of robot and software - Novelty of approach - Relevance to industry - Performance in previous competitions - Contribution to RoboCup at Work league, e.g. by -- Organization of events -- Provision and sharing of knowledge - 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 web site - Contact information - The body of the TDP should contain information on the following: -- focus of research/research interest -- a description of the hardware, including an image of the robot(s) -- 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 at Work teams The team description paper should cover in detail the technical and scientific approach, while the team website should be designed for a broader audience. Both the website and the TDP have to be written 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 January 23rd, 2022 through the following online form: https://forms.gle/huZvNVCbZ6zraAB97 Qualified teams will be tentatively announced by February 1st, 2022. Best Regards, On behalf of The RoboCup@Work Committee

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CFP: RoboCup 2022 Soccer Simulation 2D League
by Nader Zare 29 Dec '21

29 Dec '21

Call for Participation RoboCup 2022 Soccer Simulation 2D League July 11 – July 17, 2022 Bangkok, Thailand https://2022.robocup.org/ We would like to invite you to participate in the RoboCup 2022 Soccer Simulation League 2D competition, which will take place July 11 - 17 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand. If you are interested in participating, please pre-register your team, and then submit qualification materials. Please see below in detail. Important Dates -Pre-registration Deadline: Feb 1, 2022 – 23:59 UTC ----Submit information via the online form: https://forms.gle/tKyVA2YXQGLZgt1T7 -Qualification Materials Submission Deadline: Feb 15, 2022 – 23:59 UTC ----Submit TDP, Log files via the online form: https://forms.gle/s3JmVW8JwuVV4pDx9 ----Submit a part of the documentation of the soccer server by Pull Request on GitHub. -Qualification Notification: March 1, 2022 To view the full Call for Participation document, please visit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y3QxyKUvmJw4V74TQga5wpFP2j41_VG-z16zb-j… Best Regards RoboCup2022 Soccer Simulation 2D League Organizing Committee Nader Zare, Morteza Noohpisheh

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[reminder] Survey about domestic robot competitions, in particular RoboCup@Home
by Alex Mitrevski 26 Dec '21

26 Dec '21

Dear RoboCup community, This is just a reminder that our survey about domestic robot competitions will remain open for only a few more days. If you would like to contribute towards shaping the RoboCup@Home competition, please take a few minutes to share your ideas (link to the survey below). Thanks in advance, and a big thanks to everyone who has already answered the survey! Best regards, Alex Mitrevski on behalf of the RoboCup@Home Technical Committee ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear RoboCup community, As part of the preparations for the rule book for next year's RoboCup@Home <https://athome.robocup.org> competition, which will take place in Bangkok, Thailand in 2022, we would like toimprove the competition tasks so that they serve the robotics research community better. We all know the transformative effect that various competitions in the computer vision community have had on our field; we hope that RoboCup@Home can have the same effect for domestic service and social robots. To make this possible, we need a collective effort from the community. We would, in particular, like to identify (i) research areas that are considered important by those of you working in the umbrella domain of "domestic service and social robots" as well as (ii) aspects that you, the community, consider important for a competition of this type to be valuable for your research activities. For this, we would be very much obliged if you could take a few minutes of your time to answer a short /anonymous/ survey about domestic robot competitions until 23:59 CET on December 30th, 2021. The link to the survey is https://forms.gle/DuNzPVKd5c41DRxq7 <https://forms.gle/DuNzPVKd5c41DRxq7> Please note that this survey is open to everyone, regardless of whether you are currently participating in RoboCup@Home or similar competitions; we would be particularly happy if the competition can attract researchers and groups which are currently not participating. Thanks in advance for your time and insights. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alex Mitrevski Research Associate Room: C201 Email: aleksandar.mitrevski(a)h-brs.de Phone: +49-2241-865-206 Web: https://www.h-brs.de/en/inf/aleksandar-mitrevski Autonomous Systems Group Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg Computer Science Department Grantham-Allee 20 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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