IEEE Robotics and Automation Society AdCom Meeting Minutes New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Saturday, May 1, 2004

List of attendees showing a quorum
Modified agenda

Due to a personal commitment, Secretary Kevin Lynch was unable to attend the Spring 2004 AdCom meeting. Parliamentarian Robin Murphy filled in as acting secretary. These minutes were written by Kevin Lynch based on the agenda and Robin Murphy's notes. As a result, this is a "bare bones" summary. Some items discussed may appear in the wrong sequence.

1. Introduction

1.1. Welcome and introduction
President Kazuo Tanie called the meeting to order at 12:45 PM.

1.2. Approval of the current agenda and past minutes
A motion was made and passed to accept the minutes of the Friday, October 31, 2003 AdCom meeting, and to accept changes to the current agenda.

1.3. Report on the status of the society
President Kazuo Tanie gave this brief report on the status of the society.

2. Organizational Activities

2.1. Nominations Committee report
Past-President Paolo Dario gave this report from the Nominations Committee and the Advisory Committee. The committee provided two candidates for the new position of Vice President for Industrial Activities: Sukhan Lee and Erwin Prassler.

2.2. Election of the Vice President for Industial Activities
Erwin Prassler withdrew from the election, and Sukhan Lee was elected by acclamation of the AdCom. Toshio Fukuda proposed a motion that the nominations procedures be reviewed by the nominations committee in two calendar years. The motion was seconded and carried by a voice vote.

3. Internal Activities

3.1. Technical activities
3.1.1. Vice President for Technical Activities report
Vice President for Technical Activities Roland Siegwart gave a brief report on the Technical Committees. A motion was made by the Technical Activities Board to appoint Bruno Siciliano as an additional distinguished lecturer and passed by a voice vote.
3.1.2. Industrial Activities Committee report
Sukhan Lee gave this report on the Industrial Activities Committee.

3.2. Membership activities
3.2.1 Vice President for Membership Activities
Vice President for Membership Activities Makoto Kaneko gave this report on membership activities and the new TExCRA technical exhibition conference.
3.2.2. Chapter activities
Paolo Fiorini gave this report on a survey of RAS chapters and this report on the Educational Committee. A motion was made that the Education Committee announce the recipients of travel grants in the society magazine. The motion passed by a voice vote.
3.2.3. Awards, fellow evaluation, and technical field award report
Steve Hsia gave this report on awards and fellow evaluation. A motion was made for a new award for tech transfer and commercialization. The motion was deferred.
3.2.4. Membership and Admission Committee report
Jing Xiao gave a report on the Membership and Admission Committee.

3.3. Publications activities
3.3.1. Vice President for Publications Activities report
Vice President for Publications Activities Bill Hamel gave this report on publications activities and provided this information on the new algorithm for disbursing funds from IEEE Explore electronic publications.
3.3.2. Transactions on Robotics EIC report
TRO EIC Alessandro De Luca gave this report on the final issues of the Transactions on Robotics and Automation (TRA) and the upcoming Transactions on Robotics.
3.3.3. Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering EIC report
TASE EIC Peter Luh gave this report on the Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering.
3.3.4. RA Magazine EIC report
Roz Snyder gave this report on the Robotics and Automation Magazine.

3.4. Conference activities
3.4.1. Vice President for Conference Activities report
Vice President for Conference Activities T. J. Tarn gave this report on the Conference Board.

3.5. Financial activities
3.5.1. Vice President for Financial Activities and Treasurer report
This report was given by the Vice President for Financial Activities Tony Maciejewski and Treasurer Xiaoping Yun. The 2005 budget was approved by AdCom, as well as the membership and subscription rates and the plan to move to Manuscript Central.

3.6. President-Elect activities
3.6.1 President-Elect activities reports
President-Elect Dick Volz gave reports on the business plan and the Long Range Planning Committee. He presented a proposal for a Young Professional Lunch to increase the involvement of young members of RAS. This was approved by AdCom. Toshio Fukuda registered an objection. Dick Volz also presented a motion regarding ongoing negotiations with the Industrial Electronics Society regarding the Transactions on Mechatronics. The motion was passed by a voice vote.

4. New Business

There was no new business.

The meeting was adjourned at 18:30. Next AdCom meeting will be at 09:00, October 3, 2004, in the Shirakashi room of the IROS site in Sendai.