Published: 17 October 2019

RAS is pleased to arrange several Networking Events for our Members attending IROS 2019 in Macau, China from 4-8 November 2019. Mark your calendars, and register in advance to secure a spot in these highly popular activities.

RAS Women In Engineering (WIE) Luncheon

Tuesday, 5 November from 12:00-13:30
Room L1-RAS on Level One, the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel, Macau, China

The networking luncheon provides the opportunity to foster discussion on the role of women in robotics and automation, inspire girls and promote collaborations and initiatives to advance women in leadership. As the goal for this event is to be more than a Lunch for women, but a Lunch with women. Therefore, men are more than welcome to participate and enjoy the discussion.

Program: Panel Discussion on Best Practices: Becoming a RAS Leader through Conference Organization
Panelists:
Yi Gu, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA
Marcia O'Malley, Rice University, USA
Karinne Ramirez-Amaro, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Jing Xiao, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), USA
Moderator:
Lydia Tapia, University of New Mexico, USA

There is NO CHARGE for this luncheon, however space is limited. Please register in advance using this link: 
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/17e1c2c3940947919382b0cb185ce6ae

NETWORKING RECEPTION: Meet the RAS Technical Committees. Get Involved!

Tuesday, 5 November from 17:00-18:30
Room L1-RAS on Level One, the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel, Macau, China

This event is open to attendees in the early stages of their career — young professionals and researchers. Chairs and Co-Chairs of the RAS Technical Committees will be available for informal conversation centered on new technologies in robotics and automation, future growth in the field, and how to get involved and contribute to RAS Technical Committee work.

Refreshments will be served! Come enjoy a snack and beverage, and meet some new colleagues.

Space is limited. Please come early to avoid getting shut out. The event will close once room capacity has been reached. Register in advance by using this link:
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/3a3a2c0493b64f81bbf3c7e11241275d

RAS LUNCH WITH LEADERS (LwL)—for Students

Wednesday, 6 November from 12:00-13:30
Room L1-RAS on Level One, the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel, Macau, China

This luncheon is open to student and young professional attendees offering the chance to meet and interact with Leaders from RAS and industry. Informal discussion over lunch will take place round table style. Join us for career advice, insights into where the field is headed, or general conversation to get to know Leaders in the field of robotics and automation.

Confirmed RAS Leaders include: Zhidong Wang, Torsten Kroeger, Yasushi Nakauchi, Eugenio Guglielmelli, Venkat Krovi, Dominik Bösl, Nancy Amato, Tony Maciejewski, Bram Vanderborght, Lianqing Liu, Dong Sun, Jaydev Desai, Lydia Tapia, Seth Hutchinson, Marcia O'Malley, Kevin Lynch and others….

There is NO CHARGE for this luncheon, however space is limited. Please register in advance using this link: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/048cd55eb7314057a3aad7e6e143df6f

Photo Scavenger Hunt - IROS 2019

Are you a student planning to attend IROS 2019 in Macau, China? Join the IEEE RAS Student Activities Committee for a fun scavenger hunt! Teams of 2-3 students will be emailed a super top secret list of objectives. Throughout the conference, teams will then take pictures demonstrating they achieved each objective - ranging from shaking hands with RAS leadership, visiting local sights near the conference venue, to doing funny poses. Awards will be presented to teams which found the most items and teams with the most creative photos!

Who: Students attending IROS 2019
What: A fun picture scavenger hunt
When: 4-8 November 2019
Where: IROS in Macau
Why: Because everyone needs a little fun!

If you already know a few other students attending, you can form a Team and register as a group. If not, please register yourself, and we will team you up with other enthusiastic roboticists. See you in Macau!

Register here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/0cb766c0756a4684a0b03d719e45f32e

Calling ALL Students! The RAS Student Activities Committee seeks YOUR input

Wednesday, 6 November from 16:00-17:30
Room LG-R25, the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel, Macau, China

Interested in participating in student events at IROS, ICRA and/or CASE? Have a passion for volunteering or making new friends and connections? Or would you like to provide feedback on existing student activities? The RAS Student Activities Committee (SAC) will be hosting a meeting on Wednesday, November 9 from 16:00 to 17:30. During this time, you will learn about the SAC and its activities (such as Lunch with Leaders or the Photo Scavenger Hunt), different ways you can volunteer, and how to get in touch with other students from all around the world. What kind of activities and support would YOU like to see at future events, or provided by RAS? We WANT to hear from YOU! Feedback is more than welcome---if you have suggestions for new activities or ideas to improve existing ones, we would love to hear what you have to say. Hope to see you there! Refreshments will be served….

Please register in advance to ensure adequate space is provided:
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/70c8279956424d54b33874971fe6f06c

RAS Booth at IROS

IEEE Robotics & Automation Society will again have a Member Booth at IROS. Please visit us on the Exhibit Floor, Booth #C12. Come and meet the Staff, and get your questions answered about IEEE and RAS. Pick up some of the latest journals, perhaps meet an RAS Leader and collect a Member ribbon. Hope to see you there!

Questions about any of this?? Email us! RAS@ieee.org

Published: 17 October 2019

Produced annually by Robohub, the "30 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About – 2019 Edition" honors NINE members of IEEE and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society! 

From Mexican immigrant to MIT, from Girl Power in Latin America to robotics entrepreneurs in Africa and India, the 2019 annual “women in robotics you need to know about” list is here! Robohub has featured 150 women so far, from 2013 to 2018, and this time they're not stopping at 25.  Featured are 30 inspiring #womeninrobotics because robotics is growing and there are many new stories to be told.

The following IEEE and IEEE Robotics & Automation Society women are included in this year's list:

• Alice Agogino - CEO & CTO – Squishy Robotics
• Cindy Bethel - Mississippi State University, USA
• Lydia Kavraki - Rice University, USA
• Dana Kulic - Monash University, Canada
• Amy Loutfi - Örebro University, Sweden
• Malika Meghjani - Singapore University of Technology, Singapore
• Amanda Prorok - University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Signe Redfield - Naval Research Laboratory, USA
• Selma Sabanovic - Indiana University Bloomington, USA

Please visit the full article to read more about all of these amazing women! 
https://robohub.org/30-women-in-robotics-you-need-to-know-about-2019/

Published: 11 October 2019

Heartfelt congratulations to Vijay Kumar, selected recipient of the prestigious 2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award for "Contributions to cooperative robotics; networked mobile manipulation systems, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles; and leadership in robotics research, policy, and education." He will receive this award during the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Paris, France on 31 May-4 June 2020.

Considered one of the top roboticists of his generation, Vijay Kumar’s vision and technical accomplishments have shaped the fields of cooperative and networked robotics and autonomous micro aerial vehicles. He developed several novel capabilities for swarms of ground and aerial vehicles ranging in size from micro to macro that can move in formation, transport objects, and operate both indoors and outdoors. Central to his work is the synthesis of decentralized controllers that allow a group of robots to produce a desired global behavior by coordinating only with their immediate neighbors. Kumar has also served as an advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which was instrumental in increasing federal funding for robotics and cyber physical systems.

An IEEE Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Kumar is the Nemirovsky Family Dean with the School of Engineering and Applied Science at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award was established in 2002 by the IEEE Board of Directors, and is presented for contributions in the field of robotics and automation. It includes but is not limited to: manufacturing automation; robotics and automation in unstructured environments; sensor design; integration and fusion; robot design; modeling; planning and control; methodologies for robotics and automation, and the quality of the nomination. This Award is sponsored by the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society.

Past Recipients can be found HERE

Published: 11 October 2019

Published: 03 October 2019

The past few years have seen a significant increase of research activities focusing on the use of active or inherent material compliance in robotic systems, generally known as soft robotics. The underlying reason is the importance of soft and deformable structures to develop robotic systems that are safer, cheaper and more adaptable than the level that can be achieved by the conventional rigid-material robots. Soft robotic systems are characterized by several unique aspects like their elastic and deformable bodies, large number of degrees of freedom, possible use of unconventional material and the involvement of intrinsic passive mechanical dynamics. In order to properly handle the characteristics, it is crucial to understand the modern view of intelligence, commonly referred to as embodied intelligence or morphological computation, which emphasizes the importance of the task distribution among the brain or controller of a robot, the morphology such as shape, size and materials composing the robot; as well as the environment. In this modern view of intelligence, optimizing the design of the soft robots are therefore of a great importance. While the design optimization can be either or both led by machines and/or humans, or taking inspiration from biological systems, it will eventually decide the behavior and characteristics of the robot.

The special issue of “Design Optimization of Soft Robots” in IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine aims to summarize the state of the art and disseminate the current advances on the design optimization of soft robots. The desired outcome of this special issue is a general consensus of the shared scientific goals, the relevant perspective and challenges in the research field, as well as high impact applications.

Topics of Interest
We invite both original research or review/position papers of topics related to design optimization of soft robots, both those focusing on the use of active compliance or inherent material compliance. The topics include but not limited to the followings:

Additive manufacturing for model-free design automation
Bio-inspired approaches for design optimization of soft robots
Brain-soft body co-optimization
Design of artificial skin and stretchable sensors
Design optimization for soft and safe physical human-robot interactions
Design optimization in continuum robots
Design optimization in soft arms, manipulation and grasping
Design optimization in self-healing soft robots
Design optimization through modeling and simulation of soft bodies
Morphological computation and embodied intelligence
Optimizing soft actuator design
Soft modular robots
Soft robot design optimization for energy efficiency
Wearable robots design optimization

Tentative Schedule/Important Dates

1 February 2020 - Submission deadline

10 April 2020 - End of the first review round

20 April 2020 - First decision recommendation to EiC by GEs

1 May 2020 - First decision communicated to authors by EiC

15 June 2020 - Revised paper submitted\Start of the second round of review

1 August 2020 - End of the second review round

10 August 2020 - Final decision recommendation to EiC by GEs

20 August 2020 - Final acceptance decision communicated to authors

1 September 2020 - Guest Editorial, Order of Publication and Cover Story\Pictures to EiC by GEs

10 September 2020 - final manuscripts uploaded by authors

20 September 2020 - final manuscripts forwarded to publisher

10 December 2020 - issue mailed to all members

Submission Procedures

The submission procedures can be obtained from the IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine website: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=100. Papers submitted to the Special Issue will undergo the usual reviewing process of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine. For further information on this Special Issue, please refer to the web site of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.

Published: 27 September 2019

More than 220 Local and Regional Chapters of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society are active around the world. Among other activities, local RAS chapters sponsor or cosponsor minisymposia, student competitions, and continuing education workshops. Local RAS chapters also provide valuable professional contacts, especially for engineers who may have few co-workers who are robotics or automation professionals. Congratulations and welcome to the following newly organized IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Chapters.

Congratulations and welcome to the following newly organised RAS Chapters:

Region 1

USA

• Trinity College Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Connecticut Section

Region 5

USA

• IEEE Denver Section Joint Chapter, Information Theory/Computer/Robotics and Automation Societies

Region 8

Jordan

• Princess Sumaya University for Technology Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Macedonia

• Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Region 9

Brazil

• University Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Bahia Section

Chile

• Concepcion University De Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Chile Sur Section

Colombia

• Universidad de los Andes Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter
• Universidad Tecnologica De Bolivar Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Mexico

• Instituto Tecnologico de Toluca Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Region 10

Australia

• New South Wales Section Robotics and Automation Society Chapter

Bangladesh

• Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter
• Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

India

• NSS College of Engineering Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Kerala Section
• A.D. Patel Institute of Technology Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Gujarat Section
• Maharaja Surajmal Inst Of Tech Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Delhi Section

Pakistan

• University of Engineering and Technology - Lahore Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Sri Lanka

• University of Ruhuna Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter

Published: 27 September 2019

Congratulations to the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society members recently elevated to Senior Member status by the IEEE Admission and Advancement (A&A) Senior Member Review Panel.

To be eligible for application or nomination, candidates must:

• be an engineer, scientist, educator, technical executive or originator in IEEE-designated fields;
• have been in professional practice for at least ten years;
• have shown significant performance over a period of at least five of those years.

In addition, candidates for Senior Member grade must supply three references from current IEEE members holding the grade of Fellow, Senior Member, or Honorary Member.

For more information, visit https://www.ieee.org/membership/senior/ or Email senior-member@ieee.org.

Published: 26 September 2019

On the recommendation of the IEEE Standards Association’s (IEEE-SA) Awards and Recognition Committee (ArCom) and the approval of the association's Board of Governors, we are pleased to announce that Craig Schlenoff has been selected recipient of the IEEE-SA Standards Medallion “For significant contributions to IEEE Standards through by serving as the Associate Vice President of Standardization in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, Chairing the Core Ontologies or Robotics Standards Group, and serving at the Vice-Chair of the Robot Task Representation Standards Group.”

The IEEE-SA Standards Medallion is awarded for major contributions to the development of standards. Further information about the award, including a list of past recipients, may be found at: http://standards.ieee.org/develop/awards/med/index.html.

The award will be presented on 8 November 2019 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.A. 

Dr. Craig Schlenoff is the Group Leader of the Cognition and Collaboration Systems Group, the Associate Program Manager of the Robotic Systems for Smart Manufacturing Program, and the Project Leader of the Agility Performance of Robotic Systems project in the Intelligent Systems Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. His research interests include knowledge representation/ontologies, intention recognition, and performance evaluation of autonomous systems and industrial robotics. He has led multiple million-dollar projects addressing performance evaluation of advanced military technologies and agility performance of manufacturing robotic systems. He has published over 150 journal and conference papers, guest edited three journals, guest edited three books, and written four book chapters. He is currently the Associate Vice President for Standardization for the Industrial Activities Board in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the co-chair of the IEEE Robot Task Representation Working Group, was previously the chair of the IEEE Ontology for Robotics and Automation Working Group and has served as the Program Manager for the Process Engineering Program at NIST and the Director of Ontologies at VerticalNet. He also teaches two courses at the University of Maryland, College Park: “Calculus” and “Building a Manufacturing Robot Software System.” He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, his Master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his PhD from the University of Burgundy (France).

Published: 24 September 2019

Supporting IEEE’s Mission via Ethical Considerations of Technology

1 hour FREE webinar
Tuesday, 1 October 2019 - 12:00 pm edt

Advancing technology for the benefit of humanity is the IEEE tagline. In order for technology to benefit humanity, it is essential to address ethical concerns and societal implications. Join a panel of IEEE members as they discuss the various ways in which IEEE helps address the ethical and societal impacts of technology, why that's important, and how people (especially members) can get involved.

Panelists

Raja Chatila | Chair, IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems
Heather Love | Member at Large, IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology Board of Governors
Stephen Welby | IEEE Executive Director and COO
Mark A. Vasquez | IEEE TechEthics Program Manager (moderator)

Published: 24 September 2019

IEEE/IFR Innovation & Entrepreneurship Award

for Outstanding Achievements in Commercializing Innovative Robot and Automation Technology

in conjunction with:					co-located with:					sponsoring organizations:
IEEE/IFR Joint Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation (IERA)					17 & 18 June 2020 and
17 June 2020 Munich Trade Fair Centre, Germany					16 to 19 June 2020 Munich Trade Fair Centre, Germany

 DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 15 MARCH 2020

https://www.ieee-ras.org/awards-recognition/society-awards/

The purpose of this award is to highlight and honor the achievements of the inventors with value creating ideas and entrepreneurs who propel those ideas into world-class products. This is a key element to the continuing success of robotics and automation today. Active infusion of innovation and entrepreneurship into technological advancement is regarded critical at this juncture to strengthen a healthy balance between research and practice as well as a healthy growth of industrial and commercial sectors in robotics and automation. In a joint event the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the International Federation of Robotics will therefore recognize and honor outstanding achievements of entrepreneurs in the commercialization of innovative robotic and automation technology.

These achievements will be recognized in a specially organized IEEE/IFR Joint Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation, which is being held in conjunction with the International Symposium on Robotics. The selected finalists will have the opportunity to present their story of the genesis of a successful innovative product in robotics and automation from its very inception to the final state of commercialization in a series of plenary lectures. The ultimate winner will be chosen by an evaluation board consisting of distinguished individuals from industry and academia. A prestigious plaque will be awarded to each finalist and a US$ 2,000 prize will be awarded to the winner.

Applications should describe the original work that has been translated into a commercial success. The application must include statements regarding:

Applications should not exceed a maximum length of 5 pages. Product descriptions and public relation material will not be accepted as an application. References and links to online material are permitted.

Submission of Applications

Please send as PDF document (< 6 MB) no later than March 15, 2020 either to secretariat@ifr.org or to RAS@ieee.org.

Schedule

15 March 2020- Submission of applications

10 April 2020- Evaluation of applications and selection and notification of finalists

17 June 2020- Plenary lectures of the finalists and selection of the winner at the IEEE/IFR Joint Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation

17 June 2020- IERA Award Presentation at the ISR Gala Dinner

For inquiries please contact: 

Dr. Robert O. Ambrose

Vice President for Industrial Activities of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society

phone: +1 281 244 5561 e-mail: robert.o.ambrose@nasa.gov

Published: 23 September 2019

The 2020 IEEE 6th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2020 is the premier conference of the IEEE IoT Initiative This conference is attended by the most active participants from research community, government and public sector, small business, multinational corporations and industry. The technical papers, presentations and events at this conference are focused on contributions to nurture, cultivate, enhance and accelerate the adoption of IoT technologies and applications for the benefit of humanity. WF-IoT 2020 will include a multi-dimensional program of technical research papers, presentations, panels, workshops, tutorials and industry forum on the latest technology developments and innovations in many fields and disciplines that drive the utility and vitality of IoT solutions and applications. WF-IoT 2020 will be held at New Orleans, the Jazz music capital of the world.

The WF-IoT 2020 seeks submissions of technical papers and proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• RFID, Sensors, and Actuators
• Power and Energy for IoT
• IoT Enabling Technologies
• Computing Platforms for IoT
• Data Acquisition, Storage and Management for IoT
• IoT Applications and Services
• Security and Privacy for IoT
• IoT Social Impact
• Design, Integration and Testing Methods
• 5G and IoT Networks
• IoT Data Analytics
• Signal Processing for IoT
• IoT Experimental Results and Deployment Scenarios
• Machine Learning for IoT

Conference content will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore as well as other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases.

WF-IoT 2020 will include a rich, industrial-based program presenting the latest results and future strategies of IoT applications. Speakers will address the following Verticals: Smart Cities; Oil, Gas and Energy; Agriculture; Health Care; Environment; and Industrial IoT, and the following Topicals: AI and Machine Learning; Security and Cyber Security; Sensors and RFID; Computing Infrastructure; Data and Data Engineering; and Communication, Connectivity, and Networking. 

WF IoT 2020 will also feature the following:
              > Special Sessions on Emerging Technologies
              > Tutorials on Research and Industrial Hot Topics
              > PHD/MSC Forum
              > Demos and Exhibits
              > Student Paper Contest

View Submission Guidelines

The submission site: https://epapers.org/wf-iot2020

New Orleans is one of the world’s most fascinating cities – it’s home to a truly unique melting pot of culture, food and music Come down and experience New Orleans, one of America’s most culturally and historically rich destinations. The official New Orleans tourism guide, NewOrleansOnline com, is full of information about things to do, where to eat and more.

The conference venue is the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, which is located on the banks of the Mississippi River It serves as the perfect central location for business and pleasure. It’s attached to the Outlet Collection at the Riverwalk and just a few blocks from the French Quarter.

Published: 20 September 2019

Congratulations to the following 2019 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2019) Award Recipients! Winners were announced and honored during the Awards Ceremony which took place on 24 August 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. Presentations made by CASE Award Chair Leyuan Shi and Steering Committee Chair Bengt Lennartson.

IEEE-CASE Best Conference Paper Award

The award is given annually to the author(s) of a paper presented at the IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE) that contributed to the notable advancement in automation research: abstractions, algorithms, theory, methodologies, and models that improve efficiency, productivity, quality, and reliability of machines and systems operating in structured environments over extended periods, or that improve the explicit structuring of environments where machines and systems operate.

“Selecting the Optimal System Design under Covariates”
Siyang Gao, Jianzhong Du, Chun-Hung Chen

IEEE-CASE Best Application Paper Award

Best application paper presented at the International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE)

“Tool-center-point control of a flexible link concrete pump with hydraulic limitations using quadratic programming”
Julian Wanner, Oliver Sawodny

IEEE CASE Best Student Paper Award 

This award recognizes the best paper authored primarily by a student and presented by the student at the IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE). The award is supported by his academic family to honor Professor Yu-Chi (Larry) Ho, a Past President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Council, which later became the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

“Real-time control for large scale additive manufacturing using thermal images”
Feifan Wang, Feng Ju, Kyle Rowe, Nils Hofmann

IEEE CASE Healthcare Automation Award - NEW THIS YEAR!

This award recognizes the best paper in Healthcare Automation presented at the IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE). The purpose is to promote research and development of automation techniques and application in healthcare, which is an area with promising opportunities in automation research and significant impact to economy and society.

"Evaluation of E-Consults in Healthcare Delivery"
Aditya Mahadev Prakash, Qiaochu He, Xiang Zhong

Published: 20 September 2019

Congratulations to the following Authors for their outstanding achievement as recipients of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science & Engineering Best Paper Awards!

The following awards were announced and presented at the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2019). 
22-26 August 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada

IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Best Paper Award

Congratulations to the following winners of the 2019 IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Best Paper Award. This award honors the best paper printed in the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering in the previous year, and will be presented by Michael Wang - Editor in Chief.

“Chiller Plant Operation Optimization: Energy-efficient Primary-only and Primary-secondary Systems”
Danxu Zhang, Peter B. Luh, Junqiang Fan, Shalabh Gupta
vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 341-355, 2018

IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Best New Application Paper Award

Congratulations to the following winners of the 2019 IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering Best New Application Paper Award. This award honors the best paper printed in the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering in the previous year, and was presented by Michael Wang - Editor in Chief.

“Correctness Guarantees for the Composition of Lane Keeping and Adaptive Cruise Control”
Xiangru Xu, Jessy W. Grizzle, Paulo Tabuada, Aaron D. Ames
vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 1216-1229, 2018

Published: 18 September 2019

How to banish manels and manferences from scientific meetings.

A Nature analysis finds that several fields of science are moving away from male-dominated conferences and panels — but it’s easy to slip back into old habits. Nancy Amato, RAS Vice President for Member Activities, discusses how the Society is working to address diversity issues. Some progress has been made, but there is more work to be done.

To read full article see:  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02658-6

Published: 18 September 2019

IEEE 6th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2020)
5-9 April 2020 // New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
https://wfiot2020.iot.ieee.org/

The 2020 IEEE 6th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2020) is the premier conference of the IEEE IoT Initiative. Every year the conference is attended by hundreds of most active participants from research community, government and public sector, small business, multinational corporations and industry. The technical papers, presentations and events at this conference are focused on contributions to enhance and accelerate the adoption of IoT technologies and applications for the benefit of humanity. WF-IoT 2020 will include a multi-dimensional program of technical research papers, expert presentations, panels, workshops, tutorials and industry forum on the latest technology developments and innovations in many fields and disciplines that drive the utility and vitality of IoT solutions and applications.

WF-IoT 2020 seeks submissions of technical papers and proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• RFID, Sensors, and Actuators
• Power and Energy for IoT
• IoT Enabling Technologies
• Computing Platforms for IoT
• Data Acquisition, Storage and Management for IoT
• IoT Applications and Services
• Security and Privacy for IoT
• IoT Social Impact
• Design, Integration and Testing Methods
• 5G and IoT Networks
• IoT Data Analytics
• Signal Processing for IoT
• IoT Experimental Results and Deployment Scenarios
• Machine Learning for IoT

Accepted papers that are presented at the conference will be included in the conference proceedings and will be published in IEEE Xplore®. All papers must be submitted through the conference web site.

The conference presentations will address the following Verticals: Smart Cities; Oil, Gas and Energy; Agriculture; Health Care; Environment; and Industrial IoT, and the following Topicals: AI and Machine Learning; Security and Cyber Security; Sensors and RFID; Computing Infrastructure; Data and Data Engineering; and Communication, Connectivity, and Networking. WF IoT 2020 will also feature the following:

• Special Sessions on Emerging Technologies
• Tutorials on Research and Industrial Hot Topics
• PHD/MSC Forum
• Demos and Exhibits
• Student Paper Contest

Submit your paper or proposal today to be part of this premier IoT conference and to experience New Orleans, the Jazz music capital of the world, and one of the world’s most fascinating cities of rich culture, great food and music.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Submission Guidelines: https://wfiot2020.iot.ieee.org/wfiot-2020/authors-proposers/
Submission Site: https://epapers.org/wf-iot2020
Submission Deadline: 3 November 2019

For further information, please see https://wfiot2020.iot.ieee.org/

Published: 14 September 2019

Call for Nominations: Editors and Associate Editors of IEEE Trans. on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE), Deadline 1 October 2019

The IEEE Trans. on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE, http://www.ieee-ras.org/publications/t-ase) is soliciting nominations for multiple Editors and Associate Editors, with a term beginning January 2020. Editors and Associate Editors play important roles in ensuring the quality of publications and in guiding the general development of the Transactions, in multiple capacities including implementing reviews of manuscripts according to IEEE guidelines, soliciting emerging topical articles for special issues, guiding the overall direction of the publication, and providing feedback from the readership. Active participations are expected in the annual IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (IEEE CASE) and in at least one of the two editorial board meetings held annually in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA) and IEEE CASE. Furthermore, it is mandatory to participate in T-ASE Editorial Board Workshop (to be held on 20 August 2020 at CASE 2020 in Hong Kong).

The term of an Editor or Associate Editor normally consists of a one-year probation period followed by four years (for Editor) or two years (for Associate Editor) of additional service if performance is satisfactory. Candidates should have a strong technical background in T-ASE related areas and excellent English language skills.  Previous publications in T-ASE and participations in IEEE CASE are strongly preferred.

Published: 05 September 2019

The Deadline to vote is 16 October 2019!

RAS members are voting to elect six new RAS Administrative Committee members to serve 3-year terms beginning 1 January 2020. All RAS members (Graduate Student Members and above) have received voting instructions, the biographies, and statements of the candidates by email. RAS membership must be active as of 15 August 2019 to be eligible to vote. Members who do not have valid emails registered with the IEEE or have opted not to receive e-mail from IEEE, have received their election materials by post.

Use https://eballot4.votenet.com/IEEE to access the ballot and cast your vote now. If you do not remember your password, you may retrieve it on the voter login page. Voting must be completed no later than 16 October 2019. Any returns received after this date will not be counted. The online voting site will close at 4:00 pm Eastern Time.

Candidate bios and position statements are here: https://www.ieee-ras.org/about-ras/governance/administrative-committee/election-candidates

If you have any questions about the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society voting process, please contact ieee-rasvote@ieee.org or +1 732-562-3904.

Published: 20 August 2019

The boundaries between Computer Science and Robotics are continuing to be softened. On one hand computers are continuing to be humanized and a large number of cyber-physical systems are being developed to act upon the physical world. On the other hand the robotic community is looking into the robots of the 21st century that are versatile computing machines with high social impact potential, such as enhance transportation safety, reduce agricultural pesticide use, and improve public safety and crime-fighting efficacy, among other things. The barriers that restrain their diffusion significantly correlate to the complexity of developing their software control systems, which must be reliable, maintainable, intelligent, and safe.

Robotic Computing (RC) addresses the synergetic interaction of computing technologies and robotic technologies. The synergy between Robotics and Computer Science is both realistic and strategic. Their mutual benefit is to make it possible to build and evolve new robotic systems, to reduce their development cost, and to enhance their quality.

Topics related to Computer Science

• Formal methods for analysis and design
• Software architectures
• Middleware infrastructures
• Model-driven engineering
• Component-based engineering
• Software product line engineering
• Data, ontology, and knowledge engineering
• Autonomic computing
• Natural language understanding
• Service oriented computing
• Cloud computing
• Semantic computing
• Multimedia computing
• Internet of Things
• Virtual reality
• Computer security

Topics related to Robotics

• RAMS abilities of robotic systems
• Hardware modeling and abstraction
• Resource awareness
• Sensor fusion, integration
• Place recognition, localization
• Object recognition, tracking
• Scene interpretation
• Robot cognition
• Manipulation, grasping
• Robot kinematics, dynamics
• Motion planning, control
• Navigation
• Task planning, monitoring
• Human-robot Interaction
• Robot simulation
• Multi-robot systems

The Conference is also inviting innovative contributions that discuss the future of the field including, but not limited to:

• What are the challenges to robotic computing?
• What are the main unresolved theoretical and/or methodological controversies?
• What are the stakeholders’ (e.g., industries, public bodies, educators) research and development problems?
• What can be learned from other disciplines and what can they learn from robotic computing?
• What is the real world experience of Robotic Computing over the past 10 years, and how might it continue to evolve as we look toward the next decade?

SUBMISSIONS

Authors are invited to submit an 8-page (full), 4-page (short), or 6-page (industry) technical paper manuscript in double-column IEEE format following the guidelines available on the IRC2020 web page. The conference proceedings will be published by IEEE Computer Society Press. Distinguished quality papers presented at the conference will be selected for the best paper/poster awards and for publication in internationally renowned journals.

IMPORTANT DATES

16 September 2019: Workshop proposal submission deadline

27 September 2019: Workshop proposal acceptance notification

18 October 2019: Paper submission deadline

2 December  2019: Workshop paper submission deadline

16 December 2019: Paper acceptance notification

24 January 2020: Camera ready and registration deadline

9- 11 March 2020: Conference

Financial co-Sponsorship by IEEE RAS

http://www.ieee-irc.org/

Published: 07 August 2019

The IEEE Robio 2019 (The 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics) conference will take place in the beautiful historical city of Dali, Yunnan Province, China from 6-8 December 2019:

Dali is famous for its natural beauty and its diversity in culture and people. The natural beauty of Erhai Lake and Cang Mountain in Dali are breathtakingly astounding. The Robio 2019 conference promises to offer the participants a great experience with excellent technical and social programs. High quality papers reporting original research results and innovations in all aspects of robotics, biomimetics, automation, artificial intelligence, computer vision, image processing, sensors, and all related areas as well as their applications are invited. 

Contributed Papers: Papers are solicited in all areas mentioned above. All papers must follow the IEEE Xplore® PDF format for IEEE Xplore database and EI index. Organized Sessions: Proposals for organized sessions focused on new and innovative topics and applications are welcome for submission via the conference secretariat.

Best Paper Competition: All the submitted papers will be automatically considered and evaluated for the following best paper competitions:
- Best Conference Paper Award
- Best Student Paper Award
- T.J. Tarn Best Paper in Robotics Award
- Best Paper in Biomimetics Award
- R\pi Labs Best Paper in AI in Robotics Award

Important Dates:
30 Sep. 2019: Submission of full PDF papers & OS proposals
31 Oct. 2019: Notification of paper acceptance decisions
15 Nov. 2019: Submission of final papers and author registration

https://www.robio.org/

Financially co-sponsored by IEEE RAS

Published: 31 July 2019

 Please submit nominations as a single pdf file to IEEE Robotics & Automation Society at ras@ieee.org by 1 September 2019.