Monthly Newsletter- June 2021

IEEE RAS Technical Committee on the Verification of Autonomous Systems | Monthly Newsletter | June 2021 Call for Expressions of Interest – Distinguished Lecturers and Junior Co-Chairs The IEEE TC on the Verification of Autonomous Systems is seeking expressions of interest from those interested in becoming Distinguished Lecturers or those interested in becoming Junior Co-Chairs. The role of Distinguished Lecturers is described at: https://www.ieee-ras.org/educational-resources-outreach/distinguished-lecturer-program The role of the Junior Co-Chairs will be to assist with, and in some cases lead, the ongoing and future activities of the TC. As the TC Co-Chairs rotate it is also likely that new Co-Chairs will have already served as Junior TC Co-Chairs. Typically, Junior Co-Chairs will be early career researchers, though we welcome all expressions of interest. In both cases we are looking for keen and active researchers and practitioners from Industry, government or academia, especially those who actively participate in the RAS community (for example, attending conferences). Expressions of interest (stating whether for Junior Co-Chair or Distinguished Lecturer) outlining your reasons for applying, together with a CV, should be sent to the TC Co-Chairs ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected]). Call for Participation – Volunteers to organize ICRA 2022 Workshop on Verification of Autonomous Systems The IEEE TC on the Verification of Autonomous Systems is seeking volunteers to help organizing a relevant workshop to be held in ICRA 2022. If you are interested in participating, please contact the TC Junior Co-chair Joanna Olszewska ([email protected]). Call for Participation – SMC-IT Workshop on Accelerating the Use of Autonomy on Robotic Space Missions Martin Feather co-organizing a workshop on “Accelerating the Use of Autonomy on Robotic Space Missions” as one of the mini-workshops at the (100% virtual) SMC-IT conference at the end of July. The aim is to address three questions: · What are the impediments to using autonomy on robotic space missions? · Which of those impediments apply to which kinds of space missions? · What is/can/should be done to overcome those impediments? If you think you might be interested, please see our webpage at https://accelerating-autonomy-workshop.github.io/ Note that to participate in the workshop requires registering for the SMC-IT conference – see the conference homepage at https://smcit.ecs.baylor.edu/ for descriptions and links. The (modest) registration covers the entire conference – all the keynotes, paper presentations, and mini-workshops, several of which in addition to ours are autonomy-related: · Machine Learning for Spacecraft Health https://smcit.ecs.baylor.edu/mw-cfp-machine-learning.html · Engineering of Autonomic and Autonomous Systems (EASe) https://smcit.ecs.baylor.edu/mw-cfp-ease.html · Trusted Artificial Intelligence (TUTORIAL) https://smcit.ecs.baylor.edu/mw-cfp-trusted-ai.html Monthly Webinar (TC Committee Meeting) – IEEE RAS TC on Verification of Autonomous Systems The next IEEE RAS TC on Verification of Autonomous Systems Webinar will take place on September 9th, 2021, at 9:00 EDT, 13:00 GMT, 21:00 SGT. This meeting will last 2 hours and we will discuss the following matters: · Roadmap · Committee updates · Working groups and new TC co-chairs · Upcoming activities The TC will send a separate Zoom meeting invite soon. Please note that the monthly seminar series will take a summer break in July and August.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Robotics

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) is excited to announce our collaboration with IEEE Entrepreneurship to present Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Robotics. In this session, presenters will discuss the factors that cause startups / products to fail in the robotics space with a specific focus on technical challenges, best practices, and possibilities for improvement. We will hear case studies into the various phases of innovation and product development and learn about the circumstances that contribute to the high and lows of entrepreneurship in the robotics industry. Some questions / points to explore: What is your product / solution / service offering? What is the biggest challenge for a robotics startup at the moment? Do you have a market entry / customer base? What are some of the product evolution lessons you have learned? What is the biggest challenge you face? Looking back over the 4 – 5 years in your roles, what would you have done differently? What is one piece of practical advice you would give to someone starting? Has the IEEE (standards, technical society, conferences, etc.) played a role in your product innovation? Who do you talk to when you need advice? Without naming names, what was the worst piece of advice that you got from someone who you were sure knew what they were talking about? Tell us about the first time you ran a pilot with a customer. What were you over-prepared for, and what were you underprepared for? What technologies do you think have the most potential for new robotics companies right now?