IEEE Robotics and Automation Society AdCom Meeting Minutes 15 April 2007, Rome Italy

Attendees

ExCom Members: Richard Volz, Bruno Siciliano, Antonio Bicchi, Ken Goldberg, William Hamel, Sukhan Lee, T.J. Tarn, Ian Walker, Xiaoping Yun, Shigeki Sugano

AdCom Members
(2005-2007): George Bekey, Kazuhiro Kosuge, Robin Murphy, Klas Nilsson, Stefano Stramigioli

(2006-2008): Aude Billard, Pierre DuPont, Hideki Hashimoto, Seth Hutchinson, Katsu Ikeuchi

(2007-2009): Hajime Asama, Rudiger Dillman, Toshio Fukuda, Roland Siegwart

(Student Activities Committee): Surya Singh

• Other Attendees: Alicia Casals, Paolo Dario, Alessandro De Luca, William Harwin, George Lee, Peter Luh, David Orin, William Gruver, Rosalyn Snyder
• Number of voting members constituting a quorum: 12 voting

PART 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 Welcome and Introduction

President Richard Volz called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM.

1.2 Approval of the Current Agenda and the Past Minutes

The minutes of the October 14, 2006 were approved. The agenda was approved.

PART 2 - INTERNAL ACTIVITIES

2.1 Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee Report

Secretary Shigeki Sugano gave a report on the relation between IEEE Must Haves and the RAS Bylaws and Standing Rules.

2.2 Standards Committee Report

Klas Nilsson gave a reporton the Standards Activities Standing Committee and distributed the draft Operating Procedures and Policies of the IEEE RAS.

2.3 Nomination Committee Report

Toshio Fukuda gave a report on the Nominations Committee.

2.4 Award Committee Report

Katsushi Ikeuchi gave a report on Award Committee and presented the following motions:

MOTION (07-S-01): Time Schedule of Award Events

• Nomination committee
  Nomination Deadline is March 1.
  Each nomination committee consists of three members, (America, Europe, Asia-Pacific), who mainly recruit candidates
• Evaluation committee
  Evaluation Committee (Panel) to meet and discuss all the candidates at ICRA
  Avoid COI
• Awards Ceremony
  Announced at the ICRA Ceremony at the next IEEE conference that the recipient wants

The Motion passed with 12 in favor, 5 opposed and 1 abstention.

MOTION (07-S-02): Pioneer award recipients will be required to give a plenary talk at the next ICRA.
There was lots of discussion on this motion. An amendment as follows was discussed: An award talk should be given at the award ceremony instead of the plenary.

MOTION (07-S-02-1): Amend the original motion 07-S-02.
The Motion passed with 14 in favor, 1 opposed and 2 abstention.

MOTION (07-S-02-2): Pioneer award recipients will be required to give an award talk at the award ceremony of the next ICRA.
The Motion failed with 6 in favor, 9 opposed and 4 abstentions.
The main motion was discussed again. An amendment that an award talk should be at an appropriate time slot of the ICRA conference with the consideration of the PC chair and the awardees was proposed.

MOTION (07-S-02-3): (Amended Main MOTION 07-S-02): Pioneer awardees will be required to give an award talk at an appropriate time slot of the ICRA conference with the consideration of the PC chair and the awardees.
There were considerable discussions on this motion.
MOTION (07-S-02-4): Move to call the question to close the discussion
The Motion passed with 18 in favor, 1 opposed and 0 abstention.

MOTION (07-S-02-5):Amend the MOTION 01-S-02 to require Pioneer Award winners to present a talk at an appropriate time slot of the ICRA conference with the consideration of the PC chair and the awardees.
The Motion passed with 9 in favor, 7 opposed and 3 abstentions.

MOTION (07-S-02-3'): (Amended Main MOTION 07-S-02): Pioneer awardees will be required to give an award talk at an appropriate time slot of the ICRA conference with the consideration of the PC chair and the awardees.
The Motion failed with 7 in favor, 9 opposed and 3 abstention.

2.5 Treasurer Reports, Vice President for Financial Activities Report

Vice President for FAB Ian Walker and Treasurer Xiaoping Yun gave a report on 2006 Actual Financial Results, 1997-2006 Historical Financial Data, 2007 budget and new initiatives/requests. Current Key Financial Concerns are as follows:

• RAS Budget remains hard to monitor in real time
• Income from investments, conferences, IEL/ASPP distributions poorly known
• Dynamically changing financial environment at IEEE
  • New algorithms for pubs distribution in place this year
  • New algorithm for indirect infrastructure phasing in
  • New algorithm for conference distribution planned
• Data (particularly Xplore hits) available from IEEE, but not well exploited
• Ad Hoc committee formed to study these issues

MOTION(07-S-03): Recommendation that primary consideration for 2007 “carry-over” funds be given to initiative proposals submitted to RAS FinCom through any of the other RAS Boards, with deadline of June 15, 2007. Further recommendation that FinCom make recommendations to AdCom, and AdCom subsequently make decisions on which proposals to fund, promptly following above date.
The Motion passed with 18 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-04): Request by Transactions on Robotics move to new paper management system in 2008 - $30k
The Motion passed with 19 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-05): Request by Transactions Automation Science and Engineering for 100 extra pages in 2007 - $10k.
The Motion passed with 19 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-06): Request for increase in AdCom travel allowance (currently $600/$900, depending on region of travel) to $900/$1200, beginning ICRA™07. Cost to Society $6k/meeting.
The Motion passed with 17 in favor, 1 opposed and 1 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-07): Transactions on Robotics requests funds to support a fifth Editor - $3.6k.
The Motion passed with 19 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-08-1): Request for travel support for a Chapter and Student Branch Workshop (concurrent with ICRA 2008) for sharing best practices and developing international links - $20k.
The Motion passed with 17 in favor, 0 opposed and 2 abstentions.

MOTION(07-S-08-2): Request increase in Chapter support limit from $1k/yr per chapter to $2k/yr per Chapter, and increase of overall Chapter support funds from $10k per year to $20k per year.
The Motion passed with 19 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-09): Publications print subscription rates for 2008. New rates suggested:

• RAM: $25member/affiliate, $13 student/retired/other (now $25/$13)
• T-RO: $30 member/affiliate, $15 student/retired/other (now $30/$15)
• T-ASE: $35 member/affiliate, $18 student/retired/other (now $30/$15)

MOTION(07-S-09-1): Amend the original motion 07-S-09.
The Motion passed with 13 in favor, 3 opposed and 2 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-09-2) (Amended Main Motion 07-S-09): Publications print subscription rates for 2008. New rates suggested:

• RAM: $25member/affiliate, $13 student/retired/other (now $25/$13)
• T-RO: $35 member/affiliate, $18 student/retired/other (now $30/$15)
• T-ASE: $35 member/affiliate, $18 student/retired/other (now $30/$15)

The Motion passed with 17 in favor, 0 opposed and 2 abstention.

MOTION(07-S-10): Request for $90k in 2008 for new initiative for RAS Development Initiatives Related to Mission and Membership Competition”. Proposals (for projects to benefit RAS membership in general) for funds to be submitted through RAS Boards. Details of the specifications and organization of the competition to be worked out by the RAS President and Vice Presidents. To be approved by the RAS AdCom.
The Motion passed with 19 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

PART 3 - INTERNAL ACTIVITIES

3.1 Industrial Activities

Vice President for IAB Sukhan Lee gave IEEE Systems Council.

3.3 Conference Activities

Vice President for CAB T.J. Tarn gave a recent progress report.

General Co-Chair of ICRA2007 Alessandro De Luca gave a report on ICRA2007 in Rome, Italy. Honorary Chair of ICRA2008 George Bekey made a report of ICRA08.

Conference Board, Meetings Chair Kazuhiro Kosuge gave a report of Sole-Sponsorship, Co-Sponsorship, Technical Co-Sponsorship Conferences. The Approved Meetings List is here.

MOTION (07-S-11): To approve three Sole-Sponsorship, eight Co-Sponsorship, six Technical Co-Sponsorship and two G&A fee waivers.
The Motion passed with 17 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

3.4 Technical Activities

Vice President for TAB Ken Goldberg gave a report on Technical Activities.

MOTION (07-S-12):

Propose Watchlist for unresponsive TCs.

• Prototyping for Robotics and Automation: Last Updated: March 12, 2006
• Safety Security and Rescue Robotics: Last Updated: August 31, 2005
• Underwater Robotics: Last Updated: March 5, 2006

Propose the new TC on Telerobotics.
Propose Statement of Support for TCs

• Technical Area Development & Growth
  • It is a fundamental goal of the Society to help technical areas develop and grow to their full potential, both technically and organizationally.
• Scientific autonomy
  • • Within broader IEEE/Society polices and procedures and constraints, TCs shall have scientific autonomy in their technical activities, including such areas a conference and publication activities, e.g., selection of committees, editors, reviewers.
    • The society shall encourage TCs and be willing to invest financially in TCs that demonstrate exceptional initiative

The Motion passed with 15 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

PART 4 - INTERNAL ACTIVITIES

4.1 Publications Activities (1)

William Hamel and William Harwin gave a report on IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

MOTION (07-S-13-1): Authorize the development and promotion of the Phase II proposal to the IEEE for the Transactions on Haptics as presented.

IEEE Marketing Survey Results:

• Page count initially (120) too low.
• There is evidence of interest and a market need.
• Will enhance IEEE's reputation for leadership

Parameters:

• Launch in mid 2008
• Frequency: 4 issues/year
• Size: 288 pages/year, (i.e., about 7 articles/issue)
• Promotion: 2007($12K), 2008-2010($14K)

The Motion passed with 15 in favor, 1 opposed and 0 abstention.

MOTION (07-S-13-2): 2007 Request by PAB/TH for $12K for promotional costs.

The Motion passed with 15 in favor, 1 opposed and 0 abstention.

MOTION (07-S-13-3): 2008 Request in support of proposed IEEE Transactions on Haptics for startup costs - $30K. Recurring for several years

The Motion passed with 16 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

4.2 Vote of the Operating Procedures and Policies proposed by Standards Committee

MOTION (07-S-14): To accept the document of the Operating Procedures and Policies of the IEEE RAS Standing Committee for Standing Activities.

The Motion passed with 16 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstention.

4.3 President-Elect Activities Report

4.3.1 Long-Range Planning Committee Report

Vice president Bruno Siciliano gave a report on the current situation and future plans of LRPC.

4.4 Membership Activities

Surya Singh gave a report on Membership Activities.

4.5 Publications Activities (2)

Vice President for PAB William Hamel gave a report on Publication Activities.

PART 5 NEW BUSINESS

5.1, 5.2 New Issues, and Next AdCom meeting & adjourn

The next AdCom meeting will take place at the IROS conference in San Diego, USA on November 3, 2007.