The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society membership will elect six new members of the Administrative Committee in 2015, each to serve a three-year term beginning 1 January 2016. The AdCom is the governing body of the Society.

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 of 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 2015.

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 2015 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.

posted 3 March 2015

 


 

Call for Participation:
*ICRA 2015 Forum and Interactive Display Featuring Robotics in Developing Countries*

Interest in robotics is increasing in many parts of the world, and developing countries are no exception. From research projects aimed at developing novel robotic systems for unique challenges, to education and outreach programs that use robotics to enhance students' interest in STEM fields, the collection of robotics projects in developing countries provides a fascinating panorama of the potential and impact robotics can have around the world.

For the first time at ICRA 2015, a session will be specifically dedicated to highlighting robotics work in developing countries. An interactive display at the conference will feature information on a diverse array of robotics projects in developing countries around the world. Work from a wide range of categories will be featured, including but not limited to research, education, outreach, academic work, industry work, governmental work, and NGO work. This interactive display will also be accessible on the World Wide Web via the conference website beyond ICRA 2015.

Furthermore, a forum during the ICRA 2105 conference will allow for deeper interactions, both in person and via remote participation, with authors of selected projects highlighted in the interactive display. Discussions will center on themes such as relevant applications, current trends and future directions of robotics in developing countries, opportunities and challenges of robotics work in developing countries, and opportunities for "south-south" as well as "north-south" collaboration.

All researchers, educators, and practitioners working in robotics in developing countries, as well as those with an interest in this work are invited to participate.

How To Participate
Submissions are invited in a variety of categories, including (but not limited to) research, education, outreach, academic work, industry work, governmental work, and NGO work. A 2-3 page extended abstract, in the standard IEEE format, describing the project, can be submitted via Paper Plaza (https://ras.papercept.net/). This PDF document should include a link to a representative photo of the project, to be downloaded and featured in the interactive display. It can also optionally have links to additional photographs related to the project. Finally, a short video about the project (3 minutes, 10 MB maximum) can also be uploaded to Paper Plaza with the submission.

The organizers will evaluate the submissions, and select relevant submissions for inclusion in the interactive display, and a subset of submissions for presentations at the forum. Acceptance notifications containing further steps will follow once the selection process is complete. The forum will be held on Friday 29 May at ICRA 2015. There will be an opportunity to remotely participate in the forum, without being registered for the full ICRA conference.

Important Dates
Entry Submissions Open: 30 January 2015
Entry Submissions Deadline: 31 March 2015
Acceptance Notifications (Interactive Display): Rolling, from 10 February 2015
Acceptance Notifications (Forum): 15 April 2015
Forum @ ICRA'15: Friday, 29 May 2015

Acknowledgments
The organizers would like to thank the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the ICRA 2015 organizing committee for the support of the forum on robotics in developing countries.

Organizers
M. Bernardine Dias (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
G. Ayorkor Korsah (Ashesi University College, Ghana)
Chinwe Ekenna (Texas A&M University, USA)

Contact Informationicradevcountries@gmail.com

http://icra2015.org/conference/forums/11-conference/37-developing-countries-forum

posted 6 February 2015


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 (RAS) and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) 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 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2015). 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. An evaluation board consisting of distinguished individuals from industry and academia will choose the winner. A prestigious plaque 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:
- description of the innovation/product/application
- stages of the product genesis
- novelty/uniqueness of the product
- market analysis, economic viability and pathway for commercialization
- sustained competitive advantage
- current and future impact on and relevance to industry

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.

Application Deadline is 28 February 2015

Submission of Applications

Please send as PDF document (< 6 MB) to IFR Secretariat – secretariat@ifr.org

Call for Applications

posted 29 January 2015

 


 

An extremely successful RAS Technical Education Program was held in July 2014 on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, PA USA. International Leaders in the field of Surgical Robotics presented eager students with lectures, hands-on laboratory experience, introduction to novel technologies and emerging themes. 

In efforts to increase the reach of this distinguished group of Educators on such an important topic, presentations were captured and are now available to audiences worldwide! 

Please visit the following for additional information:
Individual Speakers and Presentations
Event Showcase
RASonIEEE.tv

Are we on the right track with providing this type of Educational content? We'd love to hear from you!
Please send comments or suggestions to RAS@ieee.org

posted 27 January 2015

 


 

The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is being held 14-18 March 2015 in Sendai City, Japan. The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society is co-organizing the Public Forum on Social Implementation of Disaster Robotics.

This symposium introduces the current state of disaster robots and the gap to their social implementation by the world top-runners, and discusses the action plans to be taken for the future disaster mitigation.

Robotics is becoming a powerful tool for disaster mitigation, response and recovery after its history of 50 years. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles can quickly survey wide disaster areas, remotely-operated underwater vehicles can repair leakage of subsea oil plants, and unmanned ground vehicles work in contaminated areas of damaged nuclear power plants.

The contribution of robotics is mainly 1) for performing tasks that human and conventional tools cannot (e.g. those at inaccessible places and in contaminated areas), 2) for reducing risks (e.g. those of potential explosion, toxic agents and radiation), and/or 3) for reducing time and cost (e.g. quick surveillance of potentially damaged facilities at high places without scaffolds). 

The recent evolution of robotics and component technologies is rapidly enhancing their applicable areas and tasks. Remote robotic systems, for example, could gather information from sky 20 years ago. At present, they can approach to structures of interest in the neighborhood for detailed visual inspection from sky, and can enter damaged buildings through narrow entrance for searching victims. Autonomy and robot intelligence reduce responders' load, and integrate gathered information with measured 3D maps. For this reason, specialists predict that robotics would become an essential tool of disaster mitigation, response and recovery in ten years.

For complete details visit the link here or under the Education, Outreach, Career & Video tab from the RAS home page.

Posted 26 January 2015 

 


 

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.

If you know of an IEEE colleague who is a Senior Member or Life Senior Member in good standing, has completed five years of service in any grade of IEEE Membership and who has made an outstanding contribution to the electronic or electrical engineering profession, you can nominate this person in one of four categories: Application Engineer/Practitioner, Educator, Research Engineer/Scientist or Technical Leader.

Nominations for the Fellow Class of 2016 are now being accepted. To learn more about the Fellow program and the application process, visit the About the IEEE Fellow Program page. The deadline is 1 March 2015.

Additional information about the IEEE Fellow program, and a list of RAS Fellows is available HERE.

posted 26 January 2015

 


 

The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society recognizes 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 at ICRA 2015, on 28 May at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, WA, USA. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding recipients!

RAS Pioneer Award
Daniel E. Whitney - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MA) USA
"For his fundamental pioneering contributions to robotic assembly and its integration into product development"

RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation
Bruno Siciliano - University of Naples Federico II, Italy
"For his outstanding leadership in the robotics and automation community as a research innovator, an inspired educator, a dedicated contributor of professional service, an ambassador of science and technology"

IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award
Ren Luo - National Taiwan University, Taiwan
"In recognition of his outstanding leadership and distinguished contributions to RAS on administrative committees, publications, and conferences"
Lynne E. Parker - University of Tennessee, (TN) USA
"For her work as Editor-in-Chief of RAS Conference Editorial Board, her service on many RAS committees, and her contributions to RAS conferences"

RAS Early Career Award (Academic)
Sami Haddadin - Leibniz University of Hanover, Germany
"For fundamental contributions to robot safety, physical Human-Robot Interaction, and soft-robotics control"
Robert J. Webster III - Vanderbilt University, (TN) USA
"For innovations in the design, modeling, and control of flexible minimally invasive surgical robots"

RAS Early Career Award (Industry/Government)
Leila Takayama - Google[x], (CA) USA
"For bringing empirical social science research into the development of personal and telepresence robotics"

IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production
Hermano Igo Krebs - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MA) USA
"For contributions to medical technology innovation and translation into commercial applications for Rehabilitation Robotics"

IEEE Robotics and Automation Award for Product Innovation
HandInScan Ltd. 
"In recognition of "Hand-in-Scan" which allows objective evaluation of hand hygiene"

RAS Most Active Technical Committee Award
Technical Committee on Haptics
Chairs: Antonio Frisoli, William Provancher, Jee-Hwan Ryu

RAS Chapter of the Year Award
IEEE RAS Egypt Chapter
Chair: Alaa Khamis

posted 20 January 2015

 


 

IEEE R&A Technical Field Award
Nominations Due 31 January 2015!

Nominations are due 31 January 2015 for the 2016 IEEE Technical Field Award in Robotics and Automation. This is the most prestigious award presented by the IEEE in the field of robotics and automation and includes a medal and a $US 10,000 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.

Visit ieee-ras.org/awards-recognition/ieee-awards for a description of the award criteria and instructions on submitting a nomination.

The 2015 IEEE Technical Field Award in Robotics and Automation will be presented to Rodney Allen Brooks of Rethink Robotics for "For pioneering contributions to and leadership in research and commercialization of autonomous robotics, spanning mobile, humanoid, service, and manufacturing robotics." The presentation will take place at the Award Ceremony on 28 May during ICRA 2015 in Seattle, WA USA.

posted 15 January 2015

 


 

Congratulations to Dr. William R. Hamel for receiving the 2014 Ray Goertz Award on June 16, 2014 at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Annual Meeting in Reno, NV, USA.

The Ray Goertz Award was established in 1985 to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of remote technology in hazardous environments. It honors the late Raymond C. Goertz for his lifetime contribution to the advancement of remote handling systems and for his development of the master-slave manipulator. Starting with the planning of the first formal informational exchange meeting held in 1951, Ray Goertz was also instrumental in the founding of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division (RRSD), formerly known as Remote Systems Technology Division (RSTD). This award is presented approximately every two years, it is an ANS level award, and it is the highest honor presented by the Robotics and Remote Systems Division.

Hamel stated, "The Ray Geortz Award is the highest recognition one can receive from the nuclear community regarding technical contributions to robotics and remote technology. I am deeply humbled and appreciative to receive the award. Over the years, I have admired the contributions and accomplishments of those who have previously received the award. To now be on that list is an unexpected and cherished career accomplishment for me. I am very thankful to have been considered worthy of such a distinguished honor."

This outstanding award was given to Hamel because of his commendable contributions in the area of robotics and remote systems for nuclear environments while at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee, spanning from the 1970s until now. His primary contributions include technical and visionary leadership in the creation of the first microprocessor-based servomanipulator system, the jointly developed Central Research Laboratories (CRL)/ORNL M-2 dual arm force reflecting manipulator system. All servomanipulator systems have since been influenced by that early design. Hamel continued to advance the field of robotics and remote systems by leading the development of the advanced servomanipulator system, a remotely maintainable dual arm system with an architecture amenable to rad hardening designed to support spent fuel reprocessing. He then furthered his professional experience by co-leading, with program managers at various national laboratories, the Robotics Technology Development Program (RTDP) for the Department of Energy (DOE), which is one of the largest U.S. robotics-related research programs ever established. The RTDP was active throughout the 1990s in generating technology solutions for cleanup of DOE sites. Hamel was also instrumental in early experiments in telerobotics, and has consistently contributed technical papers to RRSD conferences since ANS's first topicals in the early 1980s.

posted 7 January 2015

 


 

Congratulations to the six RAS members elected by the membership to serve a three-year term beginning 1 January 2015. 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.

AdCom Members Elected at Large:

wolfram-burgard

Wolfram Burgard
University of Freiburg, Germany

 

Nakauchi

Yasushi Nakauchi
University of Tsukuba, Japan

 

AdCom Members from RAS Geographic Area 1 (the Americas):

Kavraki

Lydia Kavraki
Rice University, (TX) USA

 

Vaughan

Richard Vaughan
Simon Fraser University, Canada

 

AdCom Member from RAS Geographical Area 2 (Europe, Africa, Middle East--IEEE Region 8):

Kragic

Danica Kragic
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden

 

AdCom Member from RAS Geographical Area 3 (Asia, Australia, Pacific Rim):

Wang

Zhi Dong Wang
Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan

 

 posted 19 December 2014

 


 

Congratulations to the following RAS Members - elevated to Fellow grade, effective 1 January 2015!

 

2015 RAS Fellows evaluated by the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society:

 

Wolfram Burgard
University of Freiburg, Germany
"for contributions to mobile robot navigation and simultaneous localization and mapping"

Howie Choset
Carnegie Mellon University (PA), USA
"for contributions to the design, control and planning of highly-articulated robots"

Henrik Christensen
Georgia Institute of Technology (GA), USA
"for contributions to estimation methods for robot localization and mapping"

Dieter Fox
University of Washington (WA), USA
"for contributions to Bayesian state estimation and robotic perception"

Sylvain Martel
Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal (QC), Canada
"for contributions to medical micro- and nano-robotics"

Jean-Pierre Merlet
Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA), France
"for contributions to parallel robots"

Paul Newman
University of Oxford, United Kingdom
"for contributions to robot navigation"

Moshe Shoham
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
"for contributions to robot manipulators and miniature medical robots"

Stefano Stramigioli
University of Twente, The Netherlands
"for contributions to modeling, control and realization of complex robotics systems"

Yu Sun
University of Toronto, (ON), Canada
"for contributions to automated manipulation of biological cells"

Dong Sun
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
"for contributions to robot-aided manipulation of biological cells"

Xiaolan Xie
Ecole Nationale Superieure, France
"for contributions to systems engineering for healthcare and manufacturing"

 

2015 RAS Fellows evaluated by other IEEE Societies:

 

Evaluated by the IEEE Computer Society:
Dan Halperin
Tel Aviv University, Israel
"for contributions to robust geometric algorithms for robotics and automation"

Evaluated by the IEEE Control Systems Society:
Randal Beard
Brigham Young University (UT), USA
"for contributions to the theory and practice of guidance, control, and team coordination of unmanned aerial vehicles"

Evaluated by the IEEE Control Systems Society:
Spiridon Reveliotis
Georgia Institute of Technology (GA), USA
"for contributions to discrete event systems for resource allocation"

Evaluated by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society:
Kiyoshi Ohishi
Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
"for contributions to development of fast and robust motion control systems"

Evaluated by the IEEE Sensors Council:
Weileun Fang

National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
"for contributions to measurement methods and process technologies for micro-electro-mechanical systems"

Evaluated by the IEEE Signal Processing Society:
Robert Safranek
Benevue, Inc. (NJ), USA
"for contributions to perceptual image and video compression and quality"

posted 26 November 2014

 


 

Special Issue on Bioinspired Motor Control for Articulated Robots

Deadline for Paper Submission: 15 March 2015

Publication Schedule: December 2015

IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine seeks articles for a Special Issue on Bioinspired Motor Control of Articulated Robots. The use of bioinspired solutions for controlling articulated robots is considerably increasing. Particularly, the idea of generating movements out of the combination of a subset of basic primitives is very promising for simplifying both learning and control of complex movements in articulated robots.

The scientific challenges related to the use of bioinspired approaches, and specifically motor primitives, for controlling articulated robots can be grouped in the following main topics: learning and adaptivity, smooth rejection of disturbances and stabilization, coordination of multiple (redundant) joints, computational complexity and modularity, and optimality principles for motor planning and execution.

Scope:

The scope of this special issue encompasses articles that address one or more of the aforementioned challenges related to the use of Bioinspired Motor Control of Articulated Robots. Application scenarios include (but are not limited to):

• Humanoid robotics,
• Bipedal walking robots,
• Multi-legged robots,
• Animaloids,
• Swimming robots,
• Prosthetics,
• Exoskeletons and active orthoses for motion assistance and rehabilitation.

Theoretical work will be considered provided that there is a clear focus on possible applications and long-term impact on robotics and automation. Articles shall provide clear evidence of the advantages of the proposed bioinspired control solutions with respect to state-of-the-art approaches.

Timeline:
Call for papers: November 2014

Deadline for paper submission: 15 March 2015

First review: August 2015

Final review: September 2015

Publication: December 2015

Guest Editors:

Nicola Vitiello, The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Italy), n.vitiello@sssup.it
Auke Ijspeert
, Biorobotics Laboratory at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL (Switzerland), auke.ijspeert@epfl.ch
Stefan Schaal, Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California (USA), sschaal@usc.edu

 


 

RAS members are voting to elect six new members of the RAS Administrative Committee to serve 3-year terms beginning 1 January 2015. 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 1 September 2014 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.

2014 Vote button

Click here to review the candidates' bios and position statements.

posted 12 November 2014

 


 

Call for Participation

2-6 February 2015
Sydney, Australia
http://www.acfr.usyd.edu.au/education/ssar2015.shtml

Applications due: 1 December 2014
General enquiries: ssar2015@acfr.usyd.edu.au

The IEEE RAS Summer School on Agricultural Robotics (SSAR 2015) is a new summer school to be held at The University of Sydney, Australia over five days during the southern hemisphere summer, from 2-6 February 2015. SSAR 2015 is supported in part by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and The University of Sydney.

Agricultural robotics is an area of growing interest with the potential to bring about profound economic and social benefits. The School aims to promote robotics research that will enable safe, efficient, and economical production in agriculture and horticulture. The School will consist of presentations by world experts covering a broad range of topics in agricultural robotics, hands-on activities that encourage deep learning, and collaboration activities including a student poster session as well as several social events. Attendance is open to graduate students, postdocs, academics, and industry practitioners.

THEMES
The main technical objective of the School is to cover the motivation driving research in agricultural robotics, existing projects and results, and open research problems in key areas of agricultural robotics. Underlying research topics include systems design of outdoor platforms, perception in semi-structured outdoor environments, planning and control for single and multiple robot systems, and manipulators for harvesting and weeding.

Please check the website for updates on the detailed technical program.

APPLICATION AND REGISTRATION
Application details can be found on the SSAR 2015 website (http://www.acfr.usyd.edu.au/education/ssar2015.shtml).
Applications will be processed as received. Spaces are limited so please send your application as soon as possible.
Applications are due by 1 December 2014.

General enquiries can be addressed to ssar2015@acfr.usyd.edu.au.

ORGANISERS
Robert Fitch (ACFR, The University of Sydney)
Salah Sukkarieh (ACFR, The University of Sydney)
Marcel Bergerman (Carnegie Mellon University)
Eldert van Henten (Wageningen University)
John Billingsley (University of Southern Queensland)
John Reid (Moline Technology Innovation Center, John Deere)
Mingcong Deng (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)

posted 7 November 2014

 


 

The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2014) was held on
14-18 September 2014, at the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL USA. Congratulations to the following winners - announced on 17 September.

IROS 2014 Best Paper Award - two winners this year!
To recognize the most outstanding paper presented at the conference, based on quality of contribution, of a written paper, and of the oral presentation. Sponsored by RSJ and SICE

Aaron Becker, Ouajdi Felfoul, and Pierre Dupont
"Simultaneously Powering and Controlling Many Actuators With a Clinical MRI Scanner"

Ankur Mehta, Joseph DelPreto, Benjamin Shaya, and Daniela Rus
"Cogeneration of Mechanical, Electrical, and Software Designs for Printable Robots from Structural Specifications"

IROS 2014 ABB Best Student Paper Award
To recognize the most outstanding paper authored primarily and presented by a student at the conference, based on the quality of the contribution, of the written paper and of the oral presentation.

Ryan Wolcott and Ryan Eustice
"Visual Localization within LIDAR Maps for Automated Urban Driving"

Best ICROS Application Paper Award
Sponsored by the Institute of Control, Robotics, and Systems (ICROS)

Sungwook Yang, Robert MacLachlan and Cameron Riviere
"Toward Automated Intraocular Laser Surgery Using Handheld Micromanipulator"

JTCF Novel Technology Paper Award for Amusement Culture
This award recognizes practical technology contributing to toys, toy models, and amusement culture.
Sponsored by the Japan Toy Culture Foundation

Hiroki Shigemune, Shingo Maeda, Yusuke Hara and Shuji Hashimoto
"Design of paper mechatronics: Towards a fully printed robot"

RoboCup Best Paper Award 
Sponsored by the RoboCup Federation

Tobias Naegeli, Christian Conte, alexander domahidi, Manfred Morari and Otmar Hilliges
"Environment-independent Formation Flight for Micro Aerial Vehicles"

IROS CoTeSys Cognitive Robotics Best Paper Award
Started in 2010, this award is to produce interdisciplinary research on cognition for technical systems (CoTeSys) and advancements of cognitive robotics in industry, home applications, and daily life. Sponsored by the German Cluster of Excellence, CoTeSys

Juan Fasola and Maja J. Matari
"Learning Haptic Representation for Manipulating Deformable Food Objects"

posted 16 October 2014

 


 

RAS members are voting to elect six new members of the RAS Administrative Committee to serve 3-year terms beginning in January 2015. 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 1 September 2014 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.

Voting will remain open until 20 November 2014.

2014 Vote button

Click here to review the candidates' bios and position statements.

posted 14 October 2014

 


 

The 10th annual IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2014) was held on 18-22 August 2014, in Taipei, Taiwan. IEEE CASE represents the flagship automation conference of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. The conference aims to bring together researchers in automation from both industry and academia, together with industrial practitioners, to present and discuss the latest advances and developments in automation science and engineering.

Congratulations to the following winners of IEEE RAS and CASE Awards:

IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering
Best Paper Award
Authors: Lijuan Xu and Qiang Huang
for the paper "EM Estimation of Nanostructure Interactions With Incomplete Feature Measurement and Its Tailored Space Filling Designs"

Best Conference Paper Award - Two Recipients this Year!
Authors: Yunzhe Qiu, Jie Song and ZekunLiu
for the paper "Simulation Based GA for Multi-Objective Optimization in Patient Flow Distribution"
and
Authors: Zhiyang Jia, Liang Zhang, Jorge Arinez and Guoxian Xiao
for the paper "Analysis and Improvement of Batch-Based Production Lines with Bernoulli Machines"

Best Application Paper Award - Two Recipients this Year!
Authors: Hao Ding, Malte Schipper and Björn Matthias
for the paper "Optimized Task Distribution for Industrial Assembly in Mixed Human-Robot Environments – Case Study on IO Module"
and
Authors: Han-Shue Tan, Jihua Huang and Wei-Bin Zhang
for the paper "Development and Validation of an Automated Steering Control System for Bus Revenue Service"

Best Student Paper Award
Authors: Nicla Frigerio and Andrea Matta
for the paper "Energy Saving Policies for a Machine Tool with Warm-Up, Stochastic Arrivals and Buffer Information"

 


 

The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS) is sponsoring a number of events for IEEE members in conjunction with the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) from 14–18 September 2014 at the Palmer House Hilton - Chicago, Illinois, USA.  They include:

RAS Women in Engineering (WIE) Luncheon
Tuesday, 16 September - 12:10-13:30 – Chicago Room
The WIE luncheon provides an opportunity for all the female and male professionals who are interested in women engineering education to discuss the subjects of career path, career/family choices, and other topics.

RAS Lunch with Leaders - Student Luncheon
Wednesday, 17 September - 12:10-13:10 – Crystal Room
Lunch with Leaders (LwL) offers IEEE student members an opportunity to network with RAS leaders, and get advice and mentoring on their career and research.

Young Professionals Luncheon
Wednesday, 17 September - 12:10-13:10 – Chicago Room
This luncheon is open to recent IEEE graduates, so that they can network with peers and find out more about the benefits of RAS.

There is a $5 USD registration fee to attend each luncheon.  Space is limited and first come, first served, so advanced registration is suggested. To register visit:  https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1605224

For more details on the conference visit: http://www.iros2014.org



This award recognizes the entrepreneurial commercialization of ideas into actual products. Nominations cite and describe the original work that has been translated into commercial application as well as the commercial product and its success. Nominations must also describe the unique characteristics of the transformation into the commercialized product that justify the award. The current and future impact of the commercial product is a fundamental element of the merit for selection.

Selected finalists had 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 during a special session at the conference of China International Robot Show (CIROS) on 8 July 2014 in Shanghai. The ultimate winner, chosen by an evaluation board consisting of distinguished individuals from industry and academia, will receive a prestigious plaque and a US$ 2,000 prize.

Congratulations to Guy Caverot, BA Systemes, France, as the 2014 recipient of the IEEE/IFR Invention and Entrepreneurship Award for the "Mobile base designed to receive an X-ray machine."

IERA AWARD 2014-2

Other 2014 Finalists include:
Yang Yang, Gao Jinrui and Zheng Yongquan, Chaint Robotics, China
"Robotic Automatic Finishing System for Iron Castings"

Charles Deguire, Kinova, Canada
"JACO Rehab edition"

posted 21 July 2014

 


 

"Why We Love Robots," a 5-minute short documentary film co-directed by Ken Goldberg, professor at UC Berkeley and the editor of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE), and his wife, award-winning filmmaker Tiffany Shlain, was nominated for an Emmy Award and won a "Botscar" (Robot film Oscar) at the 2014 Robot Film Festival. The film combines cultural references and found footage to explore our human fascination with robots and emerging research in Cloud Robotics and Belief Space planning.

photo 2

View the Award Winning Video here: http://j.mp/WhyWeLoveRobots

 

posted 21 July 2014


 

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