Special RAS Events for ICRA 2020

We are planning several virtual gatherings for RAS society members and students. Tune back here for more information.

These include:

4 Student Activities hosted by the Student Activities Committee (SAC), RAS Town Hall, a Women in Engineering (WIE) Summer Mentoring Event, as well as a Young Professionals Networking Event!

We are excited to offer 4 different virtual activities for all student attendees of ICRA 2020. If you're interested in testing your knowledge of robots, video or graphic design skills, or want to meet with world leaders in robotics, then sign up for one of the events below! Space is limited!

Robot Trivia

Think you know about robots? We'll see about that! Join us virtually for a SAC-hosted trivia event where we test your knowledge about robots in popular culture, music, movies, and even from a technical perspective.

We offer the Robot Trivia sessions at the following times below. Please form a team of up to 5 members and only sign up for one time slot based on what works best for you and your team members. If team members are not specified, you will be placed onto a team. Each trivia session includes 6-7 rounds of 10 questions each.

Date and time of events:

3 June 2020, 5am CEST (8pm Pacific/11pm EDT)
4 June 2020, 10pm CEST (1pm Pacific/4pm EDT)
8 June 2020, 6pm CEST (9am Pacific/12 noon EDT)

Format of event: Live video
Main Organizers: Geoff Nagy and Blake Hament
Is registration required? Yes. Preferably in teams.
Link to registration

Video Challenge

Test your creative and video design skills in this digital event where you design and upload a video on 1 of the following 2 topics.

How Can Robots Help During COVID-19? OR
Funny Robot Videos From Your Lab

Submissions should be uploaded as Unlisted videos on YouTube, and should be no longer than 5 minutes. You may work collaboratively as a team, or individually. Video submissions may be developed by your team during the conference itself (preferred), but you may also use existing content that belongs to you and your lab. All content should belong exclusively to you and your lab.

After uploading, email the link to the YouTube video to Cara Nunez at nunezc@stanford.edu, the SAC Chair. The SAC committee will judge all submissions and announce 1 winner for each of the 2 topics. Submissions are due 31 August 11:59 CEST.

Main organizer: Cara Nunez: nunezc@stanford.edu
Is registration required? No.
Registration by submission

SAC Logo Design Contest

Do you have a background in or experience with digital or graphic design? The SAC wants you! ...to design a new logo for them!

The old logo :

Please submit a vector graphic image so that we can use it in a variety of settings and scales. Email your submission to Cara Nunez at nunezc@stanford.edu, the SAC Chair. The SAC committee will judge all submissions and announce 1 winner. The winner's logo will replace the old one and will be featured online. Submissions are due 31 August 11:59 CEST.

Final submissions due by 31 August 2020
Main organizer: Cara Nunez: nunezc@stanford.edu
Is registration required? No. Registration by submission here.

Meet With RAS Leaders

This is the virtual equivalent of the popular Lunch with Leaders event that has historically filled up so quickly we have had to turn people away at the door! This time, however, we will be offering it in a digital venue.

Meet virtually with industry and academic leaders from around the world as they talk about their experiences and offer insight and advice. Each session will have 1-3 Leaders present with a number of other students. The Leaders will give a short, informal presentation on a fun topic of their choice and then answer questions from the student attendees.

Please sign up for only 1 of the following times:

2 June 2020, 12pm PDT	Aleksandra Faust (2020 RAS Early Industry Career Award in RA)
3 June 2020,10am AEST	Peter Corke (2020 George Saridis Leadership Award) and colleagues
4 June 2020, 13:00 EDT / 17:00 GMT	Jaydev Desai (2020 IEEE RA Technical Field Award)
4 June 2020, 8pm JST	Toshio Fukuda (IEEE President)
8 June 2020, 12:30 JST	Zhidong Wang (RAS VP EPSB), Yasushi Nakauchi (RAS VP FAB), Yasuhisa Hirata (RAS AdCom 2022)
9 June 2020, 1am KST	Frank Park (RAS President Elect)
8 June 2020, 12pm CDT	Lydia Kavraki (2020 RAS Pioneer Award Winner)
8 June 2020, 12:00 CDT	Nancy Amato (RAS VP MAB)
10 June 2020, 2:00 EDT	Seth Hutchinson (RAS President)
10 June 2020, 16:00 CEST/ 10am EST	Paolo Fiorini, RAS Secretary, and Andrea Calanca, and Alessandro Farinelli
11 June 2020, 10am PDT	Allison Okamura (Editor-in-Chief of RA-L) and Marcia O'Malley (IROS 2020 Program Chair)
11 June 2020, 12pm PDT	Dieter Fox (2020 RAS Pioneer Award Winner)
12 June 2020, 3pm CEST	Torsten Kroeger (RAS VP of Conference Activities)
12 June 2020, 12:00 CEST / 10:00 GMT	Eugenio Guglielmelli (2020 RAS Distinguished Service Award) and colleagues

Format of event: Live
Main organizer: Geoff Nagy: gnagy@sfu.ca
Is registration required? Yes.
Link to registration

Young Professionals Networking Event: RAS Technical Committee Showcase

Please join us for the first event in a series of informal conversations and networking with the Chairs of RAS Technical Committees (TCs). Four TCs will be showcased in this inaugural event to be held on Friday, 19 June at 9:00am EDT.

The Event will begin with an Overview of the TC, their current activities, and how YOU might get involved. This will be followed by an opportunity to connect in live conversation with TC Chairs via video conferencing.

Part 1: Technical Committee Overview
9:00-9:30am EDT (GMT -4)

Welcome and introduction from Megan Emmons, Chair of the RAS Young Professionals Committee, and Tony Maciejewski, RAS Vice President of RAS Technical Activities.

Followed by an overview from each of the following RAS Technical Committees:
• TC on Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Systems
• TC on Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion
• TC on Automation In Logistics
• TC on Performance Evaluation & Benchmarking of Robotic and Automation Systems

Please join Part 1 of this Event here:
https://ieee.webex.com/ieee/onstage/g.php?MTID=e869c371556cfd663a84f1356b3724e44

Part 2: Meet the TC Chairs
Informal Networking and Conversation
9:30-10:00am EDT (GMT -4)

You can “visit” with any or ALL of the following TC Chairs, by joining the video conferences using the links provided. Stay for as long as you like...and hop out to join another “room" at any time." Our TC Chairs are eager to meet YOU!

TC on Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Systems:
• Giuseppe Loianno
Join here: https://ieee.webex.com/ieee/j.php?MTID=mcfd598db300e7c61f73b8cc12d77285c

TC on Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion:
• Tsz-Chiu Au
• Aleksandra Faust
• Vadim Indelman
• Marco Morales
Join here: https://ieee.webex.com/ieee/j.php?MTID=mfce884edd6388449369b788651d54efa

TC on Automation In Logistics:
• Maria Pia Fanti
• Walter Ukovich
Join here: https://ieee.webex.com/ieee/j.php?MTID=m16464265b1a62316d8986d7c9ac877d9

TC on Performance Evaluation & Benchmarking of Robotic and Automation Systems:
• Fabio Bonsignorio
Join here: https://ieee.webex.com/ieee/j.php?MTID=ma481f58ad59b449c4614ab9c1a821728

RAS Town Hall

Calling all members of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society. ICRA 2020 will include a live panel discussion by the Society's past, present, and future presidents: Wolfram Burgard, Seth Hutchinson, and Frank Park. There will be a chance for questions and comments, both live and submitted online. Tell us what you like about the Robotics and Automation Society, what you don’t like, and how we can improve it!

Date and time of event: Tuesday, 9 June 10:00am EDT
Format of event: Live panel discussion
Organizer: Seth Hutchinson
Is registration required? Yes, coming soon

Women in Engineering - Summer Mentoring Event

Please sign up for our Summer Mentoring Event. We will hold three events across three major regions/timezone groupings, depending on the interest of the registered participants. We will announce the date of the event(s) in June, to be held in July 2020. The event(s) will consist of small group mentoring, a chatroom with a prominent researcher who is able to give advice/answer questions about your topic of interest. We expect you will be able to "switch rooms" to visit with multiple researchers during the event.

Date of the event: July 2020
Organizer: Lydia Tapia
Format of event: Live networking event
Link to registration: https://forms.gle/PfUvXCTP3muVQsps6

Published: 29 May 2020