New Robohub podcast by long time RAS Volunteer, and IEEE RA Technical Field Award recipient, Vijay Kumar.

 

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University of Pennsylvania         

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In this interview, Lilly interviews Vijay Kumar, Professor and Dean at the University of Pennsylvania. He discusses coordination, cooperation, and collaboration in multi-robot systems. He also explains where he draws inspiration from in his research, and why robotics has yet to meet science fiction.

Vijay Kumar

Vijay Kumar is the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering with appointments in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Computer and Information Science, and Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Kumar’s group works on creating autonomous ground and aerial robots, designing bio-inspired algorithms for collective behaviors, and on robot swarms. They have won many best paper awards at conferences, and group alumni are leaders in teaching, research, business and entrepreneurship. Kumar is a fellow of ASME and IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Vijay Kumar has held many administrative positions in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, including director of the GRASP Laboratory, chair of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, and the position of the Deputy Dean. He served as the assistant director of robotics and cyber physical systems at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

 

https://robohub.org/coordination-cooperation-and-collaboration/

 

 

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society membership will elect six new members of the Administrative Committee in 2020, each to serve a three-year term beginning 1 January 2021. The AdCom is the governing body of the Society.

IEEE RAS logo 4C stacked small

RESPONSIBILITIES OF ADCOM MEMBERS

AdCom members must attend two formal meetings each year, one in conjunction with ICRA and the other usually in October/November in conjunction with another major conference. Each AdCom member is expected to serve on at least two boards and/or committees of the Society.

ELIGIBILITY

Any higher-grade member of the Society is eligible to serve and all higher-grade members plus graduate students may nominate candidates and vote.

TO NOMINATE A CANDIDATE

To nominate a candidate or offer yourself as a candidate, contact the Society at ras@ieee.org by 1 May 2020.

PETITION CANDIDATES

Candidates may also petition to be on the ballot. All persons who, by the deadline, submit petitions with valid signatures and IEEE member numbers with at least 2% of the year-end voting membership will be placed on the ballot. Only original signatures on paper or electronic signatures submitted through the RAS petition website will be accepted. Faxed or emailed signatures are NOT acceptable. Contact the Society at ras@ieee.org to obtain a paper petition form or to set up an electronic petition.

Completed petitions must be received by 1 May 2020 to be placed on the ballot.

SELECTION OF FINAL BALLOT

The Nominations Committee will consider all nominations and petitions and select the candidates to be placed on the ballot.

 

Call for Participation

robot covid

IEEE Spectrum is planning a series of articles on how robotics and related technologies can help to detect and fight the coronavirus (COVID-19). If you have experience working with robots, drones, or other autonomous systems designed for this kind of emergency, please contact IEEE Spectrum senior editor Erico Guizzo (e.guizzo@ieee.org). We are interested in hearing ideas and opinions on how robotics technologies could be used to fight the outbreak, as well as actual deployments of robots to hospitals and high risk areas.

The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society recognizes and congratulates the following individuals for their outstanding accomplishments and service to RAS and the robotics and automation community. They will be honored during an award luncheon to be held during the IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA 2020) on 3 June 2020 at the Palais des Congrès de Paris, Montreal, Canada. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding recipients!

IEEE Fellow is a distinction reserved for select IEEE members. The honor is conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest.

The tools to meeting your professional goals are at your fingertips – don’t let them slip away! Your IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS) membership can help you achieve them, so renew today and retain access to the resources that will help you succeed! Act fast if you have not yet renewed – your account will be deactivated on 22 February 2020!

Congratulations and welcome to the following newly organised RAS Chapters:

case 2020

Content

The 2020 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE2020) is seeking proposals for Tutorials and Workshops, addressing current and future research and application topics that are relevant to the conference areas.

The IEEE P7008 Standards Working Group, sponsored by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, is seeking volunteers to bring additional perspectives and expertise into the creation of the IEEE P7008TM Standard for Ethically Driven Nudging for Robotic, Intelligent and Autonomous Systems. This standard will provide guidance for developers and ethicists involved in the design of autonomous, intelligent systems that seek to “nudge” humans; that is, influence choices made by humans through subtle means.

The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2019) was held 4-8 November 2019 in Macau, China. Congratulations to the following Award Recipients - which were announced on 7 November during the Awards Luncheon.

Call for Papers has been extended to 1-March-2020.

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.

HRI 2020 Half-Day Workshop, “Mental Models of Robots in Human-Robot Interaction” held in Cambridge, UK on 23 March 2020 is now offering two extended deadlines- One for applicants who want notification before the conference’s early registration deadline, and another for those who don’t.

Call For Abstracts- AGAINST-20

AGAINST robot dystopias: thinking through the ethical, legal and societal issues of robotics and automation (AGAINST-20)

Recommended letter of intent: 28 February 2020

Submission deadline: 30 April 2020

This focused section aims at presenting the latest research advances and the future trends in the development of human-centered based approaches for controlling wearable robots for motion assistance and rehabilitation.

Special Issue on Emerging Paradigms for Robotic Manipulation: from the Lab to the Productive World

Soft Robotics With Gursel Alici

 

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In this episode, we are delighted to have prof. Gursel Alici, the Soft Robotics Theme Leader and a Senior Professor at the University of Wollongong. Prof.Gursel shares with us his profound and rich expertise over twenty years along with reflecting his thoughts about the field. 

You can listen to the episode on the following platforms:  

*SoundCloud:*https://soundcloud.com/user-779248097/soft-robotics-with-gursel-alici
*iTunes:*http://apple.co/342ehCv
*Google Podcast:*http://tiny.cc/vslsdz
*Spotify:*http://tiny.cc/mn2sez

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:

Region 3

USA

  • Miami Dade College Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Miami Section

Region 8

Greece

  • National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Greece Section
Turkey
  • Cankaya University Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Turkey Section

Region 9

Brazil

  • Sao Carlos Escola De Eng Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the South Brazil Section

Colombia

  • Universidad del Magdalena Robotics and Automation Society, Sensors Council, and Systems Council Student Branch Chapter in the Colombian Caribbean Section

El Salvador

  • Centroamericana Univ Jose Simeon Canas Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the El Salvador Section

Mexico

  • Universidad Tecnologica de Campeche Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Mexico Section
Peru
  • Universidad Privada del Norte-Lima Norte Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Peru Section

Region 10

India
  • Indian Institute Of Technology Jammu Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Delhi Section
  • Maharaja Institute of Technology, Mysore Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Bangalore Section

Pakistan

  • Mehran University of Engineering & Technology - Khairpur Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter in the Karachi Section

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.

Azrina Abd Aziz

Malaysia Section

Universiti Malaysia Pahang

Zeyad Al-Shibaany

United Kingdom and Ireland Section

Cardiff University

Kaspar Althoefer

United Kingdom and Ireland Section

Queen Mary University of London

Khalid Arif

New Zealand North Section

Massey University

Carlos Balaguer

Spain Section

University Carlos III of Madrid

Ramon Barber

Spain Section

Carlos III University of Madrid

Avital Bechar

Israel Section

Agricultural Research Organization

Jeremy Bos

Northeastern Wisconsin Section

Michigan Technological University

Laura Celentano

Italy Section

University of Naples Federico II

Youngsu Cha

Seoul Section

Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Wenjie Chen

Singapore Section

Sihe Inc.

Daniel Coore

Jamaica Section

The University of the West Indies

Jose de Gea Fernandez

Germany Section

German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence

Ton Do

Kazakhstan Subsection

Nazarbayev University

Prakash Dwivedi

Uttar Pradesh Section

National Institute of Technology

Ehsan Esfahani

Buffalo Section

University at Buffalo.

Antonio Frisoli

Italy Section

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna

Guillermo Gallego

Germany Section

Berlin Institute of Technology

Chetan Gowda

Bangalore Section

Ekshana Innovation LLP

Evan Hubbard

Jamaica Section

Caribbean Maritime Institute

Jayender Jagadeesan

Boston Section

Harvard Medical School

Wisnu Jatmiko

Indonesia Section

University of Indonesia

Thomas Kaminski

Madison Section

Madison Area Technical College

Andra Keay

Oakland-East Bay Section

Silicon Valley Robotics

Tamas Keviczky

Benelux Section

Delft University of Technology

Solmaz Kia

Orange County Section

University of California, Irvine

Tin Lun Lam

Guangzhou Section

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Katya Le Blanc

Eastern Idaho Section

Idaho National Laboratory

Minas Liarokapis

New Zealand North Section

University of Auckland

Yan Lu

Washington Section

Google

Daniel Luhr

Chile Sur Section

Faculty of Engineering Universidad Austral de Chile

Sabita Maharjan

Norway Section

University of Oslo

Sanjeeva Maithripala

Sri Lanka Central Region Subsection

University of Peradeniya

Eric Marchand

France Section

University of Rennes

Emanuele Menegatti

Italy Section

University of Padova

Francois Michaud

Montreal Section

Université de Sherbrooke

Andrea Munafo

United Kingdom and Ireland Section

Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation

Lazaros Nalpantidis

Denmark Section

Technical University of Denmark

David Navarro-Alarcon

Hong Kong Section

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hyondong Oh

Seoul Section

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

Okoro Okereke

United Kingdom and Ireland Section

Total Technology Consultants Limited

Leonardo Poubel Orenstein

San Francisco Section

GE Global Research Center

Ioannis Poulakakis

Delaware Bay Section

University of Delaware

Hongde Qin

Harbin Section

Harbin Engineering University

Felix Quintanar

United Kingdom and Ireland Section

Smith & Nephew

Beibei Ren

South Plains Section

Texas Tech University

Aslam Shahid

Chicago Section

Governors State University

Desire Sidibe 

France Section

University of Burgundy

Carlos Silvestre

Macau Section

University of Macau

Peter Sincak

Czechoslovakia Section

Technical University of Košice

Raul Suarez

Spain Section

Polytechnic University of Catalonia

Amy Tabb

Washington Section

United States Department of Agriculture

Arun Timalsina

Uttar Pradesh Section

Tribhuvan University

Tarik Uzunovic

Bosnia And Herzegovina Section

University of Sarajevo

Lei Wang

Harbin Section

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Simon Watson

United Kingdom and Ireland Section

University of Manchester

Timothy Wilkin

Victorian Section

Deakin University

Junhao Xiao

Beijing Section

National University of Defense Technology

Chris Yahnker

Metropolitan Los Angeles Section

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Junpei Zhong

United Kingdom and Ireland Section

Nottingham Trent University

 

Don't delay! Nominations are due 15 January 2020 for the 2021 IEEE Technical Field Award in Robotics and Automation (TFA). This is the most prestigious award presented by IEEE in the field of robotics and automation, and includes a medal and a $10,000 usd honorarium. IEEE TFAs are awarded for contributions or leadership in a specific field of interest of the IEEE and are among the highest awards presented on behalf of the IEEE Board of Directors.

Congratulations to the six RAS members elected by the membership to serve a three-year term beginning 1 January 2020. We wish the newly elected members of the Administrative Committee success and thank all candidates for their willingness to serve and for permitting their names to be included on the ballot. 

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